File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_1999/anarchy-list.9906, message 163


Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 14:25:28 +1100
From: Lorax <atc25-AT-student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Cthulhu for president...Why choosing the lesser evil ?


> Many people here in the US believe that not voting is a means of
> registering their protest of our "one dollar, one vote" system.  I was
> among them until my racist, Republican uncle pointed out that that is
> EXACTLY the kind of protest vote the Republicrats love to see.  (Gawd
> it's painful to admit I learned anything of value from him!)
> 
> These days, I never miss a chance to vote.  I vote against all
> incumbents, never vote for either major party, and otherwise try to
> randomize my votes over the entire ballot.  If enough people would join
> me in this, eventually we might get the Republicrats' attention.
> 
> As an interesting aside, there is a movement afoot here in California to
> get "None of the Above" offered as a choice on ballots.  While I hate to
> deviate too much from my generally pessimistic outlook on life, I think
> this initiative could actually be the beginning of meaningful change
> here in the Land of Nuts, Fruits, and Flakes.
> 
> 
Maybe you should get proportional representation(MMP).  We have that 
here in Aotearoa.  The coalition that resulted from the last election 
sucked just as badly as was to be expected, but the interesting thing 
was how it exposed the dominant party, who had narrowly managed to 
regain power after hooking up with a minority party led by one of 
their own ex MPs, as the fascists that they really are.
The National Party, our own answer to the Tories or the Republicans, 
while doublespeaking about the need to make the government smaller, 
have done absolutely everything to stay in power.
Their plot seems to be to do as much damage as possible, blame it all 
on MMP and then ditch the system which means that the two major 
parties end up having to share power.
We changed to MMP on the results of a referendum, which was actually 
the second of its kind on the subject after the first one was 
ignored.
The NZ government loves to ignore referendum results.
The trouble is that the general population's strongest reaction to 
this obvious sign of runaway autocracy is kind of a mild sulk.
More alarmingly is the fact that the only NZers that actually bother 
to vote enmasse are the ones that admire "Strong Leadership".
Worrying times ahead on these here isles methinks.
Lorax

PS During the 60s and 70s the National Party was right up the 
backside of its South African namesake, which eventually resulted in 
widespread rioting and damn near civil war during the Springbok Rugby 
tour of 1981.

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