mainneachtain

Failure.

I have a feeling I'm going to be using that word quite often over the next four weeks, ever since I failed my Maths trial... Do you ever get that inkling feeling that you've fallen too far behind in something to catch up? Well, it's more of a fact than an inkling feeling for me now. I could blame the CSC and Mr B, but that wouldn't be fair now, would it? So instead I'm going to blame Mr Pimplicious simply because it's easy to do so.

On the topic of failure, something which has failed even more spectacularly than my Maths trial is the most recent federal election. And I realise that I set myself some guidelines in that first post, like restraining myself from talking about religion or politics, but sadly I seem to have broken that first one immediately before setting it, and now I've broken the second. This most recent election has left me completely disillusioned with a democracy which has lurched to the right. Not only were the major parties' respective policies pathetic and very much the same in key areas like population, economic and immigration policy (which was just shameful in my opinion), but their campaigns were similarly linear and disgraceful, as they engaged in a race to the bottom.

Now I haven't lived long at all, but as far as my memory serves me, I've never seen or heard of a federal election campaign so heavily scripted before. Politics is, like debating, all about the art of persuasion. Neither leader was in any means persuasive or even likeable, as they offered empty policies with no plan for the 'future' (damn you Mr Pimplicious) they seemed to know so well. The lack of real debates (apart from the debate on whether or not to have a debate) was also extremely disturbing, as we're looking at a political system, which has, historically, utilised verbal confrontation as the central means of expounding each party's policies. So, instead of appealing to the intellect of the Australian people, our leaders instead formulated populist policies to strike fear into the hearts of their people. As a democratic socialist, a firm believer in democracy as the 'best' form of government (of the forms we have available to us now, refer to WC's comment on democracy in 1947, although I am at heart an idealistic anarcho-syndicalist), I am appalled by the idea that our Westminster system of government could be transformed, corrupted, or 'dumbed-down' by this election into the insipid, populist democracy championed by the United States.

The fact that this election campaign was so uninteresting meant that I didn't turn on the TV once to see what was happening on the weekend of the election. I just did maths. So, I guess I have to thank Ms Gillard and Mr Abbot who screwed over Australian politics for giving me the opportunity to fail my maths in a less-spectacular fashion than I would have normally, had there been an election which was in any way, shape or form interesting. I suppose I should also thank them for hanging parliament. From this, we might actually get some political reform in areas like the conduct of question time, which is a farce, and political funding, in order to reduce the sway which big corporations hold over political parties (or at least an apprehension of bias). I'm also grateful that the Greens got a large portion of the primary vote this time, even though it was largely due to protest votes. I think they'll have a hard time trying to retain those votes at the next election without losing their political purity, as, to quote an esteemed politician (one of few), Malcolm Turnbull: "There are none so pure as the impotent."

Well, my harangue has come to an end. Looking back at my last post, it seems so strange to me. It doesn't sound like anything I would write under any circumstance. I suppose that's what Ira does to you. Clouds your mind. I should really get around to posting my pro-inquisitorial system arguments some time, and appease those foolish pro-adversarials from English. That reminds me, I have a legal assessment to study for.

Enough procrastinating, 

Slán leat.