Impotence!

[jonesfam]

Bet that got your attention, but it's not what you think it is.
I feel impotent regarding the way this country is & has been heading & I want some advice.
I do not want to get into a political debate, so lets just say that at the moment I do not like the ideas or policies of any political party (in general) so I don't want to support any of them.
But, I do want to try to influence or express my opinions regarding their policies & ideas be it either to agree or disagree.
How do you go about this?
Do you write to every pollie & hope 1 or 2 take note?
Start my own party? No, got no money.
Sit & stew?
Like I said, don't want a political debate, just some ideas on how to reasonably express my opinions as I believe we all should be able too.
Thanks
Jonesfam

[wardy1]

G'day,
Taking on board that you don't want to start your own party, you could stand as an independent. That is a right we all have and the costs are minimal. It can be hard work getting the votes but there are some in the Senate now who achieved very small percentages of the vote.
The way to write to a politician is to have your subject matter well sorted and VERY specific. Make sure you've done your research and base your communication on facts, not anecdotal evidence.
You also need to be very polite, abusing them or expressing your frustrations an angry tirade will simply move your work into the bin.

Hope that helps

[DiscoMick]

Another option is to get involved in news site response items and express your views, but you have to be very targeted and clever about it if you want to make an impact.
Don't bother writing to newspapers - very few letters to the editor get published out of the total received. Online is where the action is.
Opinions are great - only the dead don't have opinions - but you have to be well-informed, so I would suggest you allocate a certain amount of time daily to researching topics that interest you. The web is a very big place.

And don't forget to post on here...

[ramblingboy42]

Jonesfam.....must admire you for your guts.

There are many platforms to work from in this regard , one of them being involved in political reform.

There are many reformist groups which you can source through google.

Most of them have agenda which prevents them being effective.

I wanted to go down this road but was advised against it by my sister, a retired senator with 15yrs experience.

Main stumbling blocks are the major parties who seek, crush and destroy any person or group who wants to bring accountability to bear on our nations political forum.

Secondly there are actually hundreds of active people and groups all trying to be noticed and seeking funding for their cause.....of course there's none.

Thirdly, the established politically active people who are thinking like yourself believe their cause is more deserving than yours.

If it's in the political arena , then I can just about guarantee you it will be dog eat dog.

I was once up for senate selection and after being involved in debate with a senior parliamentary member and was censured to prevent my views from being aired at a State Council Meeting, I resigned from my branch and then the party.

Due to my treatment, I too , wanted to seek some way of expressing my opinions and hopefully changing some things , but as you can see from my comments , smacking your head against a brick wall is not good for the soul.

Best of luck with those endeavours.....good to see you care.

Dennis

[ugu80]

Go to place of polling. Vote.

[jonesfam]

Thanks for the replies so far.
I do vote, always, but who to vote for? I'll vote for A because he/she is not quite as obnoxious as B or C? It's a bit of "I don't agree with any of you but I will vote for the lessor evil."
Stand for the Senate as an independent. It has some merit, but it's a while to wait & I want to do something now.
Joining some 1 or 2 agenda group is not for me, yes I like some of their ideas but it takes more than a couple of hobby horses to run a country.
I will investigate the idea of online activism.
Look out Wikileaks!:D
Maybe I just want to vent but really I want to wake the people in power up & get them to do some good stuff.
Jonesfam

[bob10]

Where would we be if these people thought it was all too hard, Bob


Ballarat Eureka Stockade (http://www.ballarat.com/eurekastockade.htm)


and this


Shearers' Strikes (Barcaldine) (http://ausnatinfo.angelfire.com/1shearer.htm)


don't let the fire go out too early, keep the bastards honest.

[bob10]

Just a paste from the shearers strike, Bob


The present Labor Party hierarchy and many of the current union leadership would be treated with contempt by the workers of 1891, as traitors to their vision of the future of Australia. edit- HEAR, HEAR!.

[Pickles2]

So, what are your "opinions", that you wish to get across,...what is your "platform"?....Please, be specific.
Pickles.

[bob10]

So, what are your "opinions", that you wish to get across,...what is your "platform"?....Please, be specific.
Pickles.


Pickled, I don't have the patience to waste my time with you. Bob

[Chucaro]

Hang on, let me recharge my caffeine levels and I will post a reply as soon as I am ready if my blood pressure it is under control.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/01/15.jpg

[NavyDiver]

LOL get a group of people whom will jointly invite the politically involved to come and promise what you want? video them doing this!!:D

Just read ED or erectile dysfunction is usually cardiovascular in the vast majority of men and might be indicative of or a precursor to cerebro-cardiovascular ( bloody doctors:D) arterial clogging leading to heart attack strokes and similar in my simple mind:o

Seriously holding politician accountable is important. I am not liberal, labour or otherwise inclined but happy to engage with each of them to resolve important local issues- I am not able to understand local problems to a point commenting on national or world issues might make more even more of a goose than I might some times be:angel:

[dero]

politicians act in accordance with party policy , party policy is not influenced by the Australian public . I knew a conscientious man , active in one of the major parties , he too resigned .

[jonesfam]

I don't want this to end up a political debate so I'm not overly incline to state my opinions here.
Lets just say that I feel Australia was once a very progressive & ambitious place to live.
I now feel that we are frightened, regressive & overly governed.
If your an idiot & dive into a shallow pool & turn yourself into a quadriplegic, how is that the pool owners fault?
Why don't we give huge tax rebates on R&D in Australia?
Why are we not spending as much money as we can afford on education?
Why are we supporting the Yanks re foreign policy?
Why can't we come up with a fair but secure border protection policy?
Why can't we reconcile with aboriginals?
Why aren't politicians held to account for their actions or words. What is a core promise, where is the budget crisis if it can wait months to be fixed?
Why is it wrong to run a small deficit?
Why give 8 billion to the RBA?
Why do some companies have so much market power?
How can some companies sell milk for $1 a litre when it cost $1.50 to produce?
Why do you need a fenced pool when you have a dam & 2 creeks on your property?
Why do we send Nauru millions when they have just shafted their legal system?
Why can't we reform the tax system?
How is being drunk an excuse for injuring someone?


Look, it's not all doom & gloom but surely we can do better, be an example without being extreme.
It would seem to me that the major parties are so middle ground & popularist they are just reacting to what ever is in the paper that day, yet most others are so extreme they are scary.
I just want this to be a
Great
Fair
egalitarian & progressive country. The best that we can be.
I think that the past several governments (I would capitalise that if I respected them) have let us down badly.
Jonesfam

[jonesfam]

As you can see from the above I don't have the answers or a political platform!
I just think that a mob of people with university educations & years of government experience should be able to at least get it half right & do a sight better than they have been.
It all seems so "Yes Prime Minister"
We are he first country in the world with plain cigarette packaging but we can't decide if we want educated children!
We need Help.
Jonesfam

[Pedro_The_Swift]

The one and only important project to any pollie is to get re-elected.

nothing stands in the way of that.

not common sense, nor fiscal responsibility, nor resolution of character.


Good luck with the fight.

[olbod]

We are he first country in the world with plain cigarette packaging but we can't decide if we want educated children!
We need Help.
Jonesfam

The problem with having educated children is that they are educated.

Meaning that they can think for themselves.
You run the risk that they will want a fair society with good government on all levels.

They might even expect pollies to act for the good of all and behave like adults and work hard at the real issues rather than staying as an elected member.

They might expect that graft and corruption and corporate greed is kerbed and not in a position to rule.

That sort of thing but she'll be right mate, eh.

[Chucaro]

.................................................. .............
We are he first country in the world with plain cigarette packaging but we can't decide if we want educated children!
We need Help.
Jonesfam

Wrong, Uruguay was the first ;)

[DT-P38]

Wrong, Uruguay was the first ;)only cause the can't afford colored printing!

[DiscoMick]

Yes, like others I think this country has stagnated over the last 15 years and our society has become more selfish, inward-looking, paranoid, suspicious and meaner and nastier. I blame both sides of politics for this.
There, now I really do sound like a Grumpy Old Man!

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

[DT-P38]

Yes, like others I think this country has stagnated over the last 15 years and our society has become more selfish, inward-looking, paranoid, suspicious and meaner and nastier. I blame both sides of politics for this. There, now I really do sound like a Grumpy Old Man! Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

I sort of can't help but thinking our traditional values have been watered down by the rise of the PC brigade, the life experience lacking uni grad bleeding hearts and a lot of recent immigrant cultures settling in with out integrating more. And perhaps the latter by being able to deceptively get in here dishonestly (via bribes and back doors).

Example. I watched some young middle eastern lads front a lifeguard at the pool today when they were reasonably told to follow the signage and stay out of an area (obviously for safety). The poor young lady was taking backward steps until someone yelled out "throw them out" and it sunk in that they were being watched by more than one female lifeguard.

I really morn our old fashioned values of (?) fair(dinkum)ness, (common) courtesy and mutual respect.

It seems I can't even join a queue these days without some new Australian jumping in somewhere in front of me. Just about every single time. It all seems worse the further away from my WASPy, leafy, suburb I go, but improves again when I hit proper country areas say an hour or more from Melbourne.

Are we now assimilating with our new Australian's values instead of vice a versa? Have the PC brigade and the bleeding hearts destroyed the real Australia or just shouted it down with their cancerous vitriol? Could I be a grumpy old man at 46?

**** it's hot, I need a beer!

[Chops]

Jonesfam,,
You are right to ask the questions, and like you, I ask similar questions too. Good luck and keep us posted on any progress you make.

As Pedro said, they're all worried about being "re-elected". Politics can be a rewarding job apparently, or so it must seem.
We have become a pandering nation where no one can say anything, unless of course its "politically correct",, seems we might hurt someones feelings.

Our traditional values are rapidly disapearing in a multi cultural world. I have no desire to be labelled as a racist, but how can our imigrants understand our problems when they cant, or wont, even learn our language, but they can vote?
The questions just keep on coming. And regardless of what some people think,,, they need answering and addressing.

So,, it has been revealed, that I too, am a grumpy old man :cool:

[olbod]

In a few years there wont be any Australians including Aboriginals left to remember the good old days. Lord knows what it will be like, I know that I could not accept it.
In the mean time those of us that do remember will have a harder time trying to fit in and accept the change.

I dont like today.
Life is what you make of it but without a free pass it gets harder to do in isolation.

I dont stand in line nor visit public pools and will never again visit a big city but I make the most of it.
Sadly a lot of the time by reading about it and looking back.

Oh well.

[tonic]

I really wish you the best of luck.


I have been trying to get something started myself, non political but need a law made to make it work. My plan is to use the internet and in particular Facebook to get the numbers on a petition.


It involves how some industries are forcing people against their will to work in uncomfortable conditions. The reason for this is to protect industry from being sued over an OHS issue that has hardly ever happened.


I also intend to find a legal firm to work with me to find a way to fight back in the opposite direction as there are now hundreds affected, but by only a few companies, one would hope there is force in numbers. In my case everybody talks about it but nobody knows how to form a group to fight. They are also lead by fear of losing their jobs so don't want to rock the boat.


I will put my 2c in and say, If we want politicians to work we need non compulsory voting, people will probably want to debate this and go for it because I'm going to bed and you can win, I'm too tired. Goodnight all.

[DiscoMick]

There's a crowd called change.org which runs online petitions, maybe they would be interested? Just a thought...

[jimr1]

In a few years there wont be any Australians including Aboriginals left to remember the good old days. Lord knows what it will be like, I know that I could not accept it.
In the mean time those of us that do remember will have a harder time trying to fit in and accept the change.

I dont like today.
Life is what you make of it but without a free pass it gets harder to do in isolation.

I dont stand in line nor visit public pools and will never again visit a big city but I make the most of it.
Sadly a lot of the time by reading about it and looking back.

Oh well. Hi mate , I agree with you , because I feel the same , I would like to say the town I came from in the UK. has a forum called the Luton I remember , so many people on there remember the town as It was say in the 50s 60s and 70s ect . Like here in Oz. have seen so many changes , that they are not happy with , but were made by pollies that have there own ideological agenders , also like here It's the choice we have of who to pick at election time , when you don't like any of them . The other point about our pollies , is many come from family's of former pollotitions who will say or do whatever It will take to keep the arses on those leather seats .