How long are we going to continue letting ourselves off the hook?

The usual brigade of conservative knockers are having a field day commenting on columns in the media about the senate mess. And, the compromises made by the government in getting legislation through over the past few weeks. Many of the comments are along these lines.

“You can't blame voters for voting in cross-benchers.  More and more voters are desperate for a decent government.” True, we are desperate for better government across the board. But, YES I CAN AND I DO blame voters for some of the mess. I wonder how long we are going to continue letting ourselves off the hook.

Never has the comment ‘you reap what you sow’ been truer. .

You may not agree with what I am about to say, but it's what I believe based on my experiences. What I read and hear.

We are never going to change how major parties function if we don’t get involved. The percentage of voters who join political parties is pathetically small & it continues to fall. We will never drive the necessary change sitting on the outside chucking rocks. Or, if we continue to simply use the ballot box to wallop parties at election time. That achieves nothing but the chaos we have now.

I believe in the values of the LNP. But, we have problems. We are a diverse group. A mix of Liberals and Conservatives. It is indeed a broad spectrum or 'broad-church' as John Howard labelled it. That causes a lot of friction both within and outside of the party. We appear incapable of reaching a middle ground where everyone feels they have won something. That goes for our elected representatives as well as those of us out here in 'voter land'. Far too many expect everything to go their way. That's not fair nor is it facing reality. We should be critical of silly decisions, absolutely. But many of the criticisms levelled at the current government in my opinion are unfair. The constant whinge that they do nothing is wrong. They may not do everything you or I desire but they are getting things done under difficult circumstances. Trouble is a lot of people use FB or Twitter as their reference source without looking at what is actually being delivered.

I know I shouldn’t read the comments sections in the media. All it achieves is to make me feel more desperate about our country and our society. But, I do read them. More fool me. Ripping into politicians in the comments section achieves little. If it did, things would be changing. They're not. Neither will whinging about it on social media.

People have to be involved where it matters. We need more on the front-line. We need more to join parties. Or get involved where they can help drive the change we so desire. I accept many people don’t want to join political parties. But numbers are dangerously low. This has to be addressed. People need to given a good reason why involvement is important.

We live in a democracy. Albeit a democracy that is a tad flawed. But, it's better than any alternative I’ve seen. This means “rule by the people”. It is therefore important that people should have a say in what happens and what is decided.

Politics is all around us. Decisions people make on our behalf affect our everyday life, from jobs, economic security, physical security, health, schools to travel to our environment.

So how do people have their say and influence what is decided? There are many ways; some of them include

•          Campaigning,

•          Signing a petition,

•          Joining political parties and,

•          Becoming involved in pressure groups,

•          Voting. Voting it appears is the only thing far too many people do.

Let's face it; there is a hell of a lot more non-members than members. We have power. But it's got to be directed to where it gets the greatest traction. I believe that's working at party level. We’ve heard ad nauseam that branches are stacked. True, many are because there are not enough of us who are not driven by blind idealism signing up.

Far too many people don't do their homework before they vote. I've tested that time and again. I never cease to be amazed why people vote for candidates they know so little about. Politicians don't just lob up. We put them there. So whilst we can all be outraged and hacked off with those senators who we've witnessed over the past week playing politics and embarking on ego boosting power trips. We put them there. A little bit of homework prior to the election might have just given people the hint of what to expect. I do wonder how many of those throwing bricks at politicians are actually prepared to stand themselves. Obviously, it’s not very many.

One of those commenting in the Australian today, in fact, one of those who said ‘don't blame voters’ came up with this list.

In the next election, can we please have it writ large…..

• Career Politicians - DO NOT APPLY.  Taxpayers will doubtless shoot you on sight.  Your day is done.

• Requirements for Politicians: HONEST, blunt speaking, patriotic persons to apply ONLY. Not declaring past illegal behaviour will ensure you receive a jail sentence.  Any candidate who thinks they must do and act instantly on instructions from any and/or all unions will be refused entry to the parliament.  (Guards are now armed with live ammunition to take care of such miscreants. 

• Deterrents:   Unions/unionists need NOT apply.  ANY past association with unions will immediately disqualify you.  Any unionist who has appeared before TURC.

•  Independents:  Only those prepared to put their country FIRST and not their petty pipedreams need only apply.  All independents, upon election, must sign (in their own blood) to NEVER EVER hold the Govt to ransom in passing Bills that benefit the country.  ALL Bills must be viewed on their merits - and not what you think will get your own personal thought bubbles passed. 

Another added:

1. Make parliament sit for a minimum of 150 days per year. This year they sat for just over 40 days. The US Congress averages 140 days a year.
2. There should be a law that if the party in government wants to change its leader mid term there needs to be a plebiscite and the Australian People approve the change or it doesn't happen. Political parties need to know we find this dumping of Prime Ministers to be unacceptable.
3. Have fixed elections, every THREE years. Many people propose fixed four year terms but that is too long given how poor our governments are and out of sync with our senate system. You don't need 4 years to get your ideas up and running. Whitlam had most of his work done before the first parliament even sat :-) 

I'm not sure I'd be quoting the Whitlam era as the pinnacle of good government. But, I'm not on the right of politics and it's her opinion.

There are some sensible suggestions, albeit some a tad emotive and perhaps a bit misguided.

I posted my views expressing that I do blame voters. We appoint these people via either ticking the box when we vote. Or by just accepting what is served up by way of candidates.

I think this following reply to one of my comments sort of proves my point.

“I think you are being a tad unrealistic. Firstly, most people only think about politicians only when what they are implementing impacts on them personally.  Secondly, not all people are interested (even remotely) in politics.  Just like the mere thought of studying astronomy makes my eyes glaze over.  Most people rely on intuition, or blind faith in the party of their choice to get the right pollie.”

Well, that intuition and blind faith is really working isn’t. You wouldn't buy a house, or a new car or even a laptop without doing your homework. But there are people who rely on their intuition and blind faith when choosing the group who makes decisions that impact on nearly every area of our lives.

Another suggested I needed to be a bit more respectful. Stating, “It is the politicians who promise much and deliver little. All the research in the world cannot overcome blatant hypocrisy and irresponsibility by the politicians they elect. On almost every issue spoken about you could use as an example.

Voters do not all have to be actively involved in the political scene to be responsible citizens.

We are to be responsible citizens in whatever field of endeavour we are involved. And so we expect the same of those involved in the political scene.

I'm glad voters express their comments here as it provides a great way to provide not only direct feedback to our political leaders, but also some common sense insights that the media often miss.”

Yes, to be fair I do read the occasional commonsense input to media columns. The vast majority however are simply rants.

But if too many people feel the same as those responding to my comments do. If more and more just stand back and put all of the blame on those we elect without considering that perhaps some of this is down to us, how will it improve?

The bottom line is, if we as citizens are not prepared to put our hands up, nothing will change. We’ll just continue to see an endless procession of career politicians, staffers and union hacks augmented by cause activist independents sitting in our parliament. If we as citizens are not prepared to do our homework and just vote on gut feel or a slick PR address then don't complain when we end up with rabble.

I contribute a lot of political input via membership, lobbying, talking to people and yes, writing blogs. But I could do more. I need to look at ways of achieving that.

There is no Messiah out there who is going to save us. At the risk of being accused of over use of cliché, “No pain, no gain.” If we want change and we sure as hell need it, we need to “invest a bit of our own skin.”

The Folly of Labelling Muslims Moderates

I originally wrote this article back in January 2014. It was as a result of reading an article about the folly of branding Islam or Muslims 'moderate'. I'm certainly guilty of that, but I do try not to use the term after reading what was written, and after giving this some thought. 

I was promoted to dig it out, brush it up and republished after reading some very ordinary posts that are circulating on Twitter today. A question was asked, “what really is  a moderate Muslim.” Someone who shall remain nameless posted this. 

 What stuns me is exactly who the people are who RT this crap.  Very disappointing. 

Back to the article I read, in 2014. It resonated with me at the time because of my loathing of being put into little boxes and labelled and the real reason why people do that; largely an attempt to control and bully.  I guess when you think about it, it's the same as putting Muslims into 'boxes'. Carving up the Muslim world into either "good Muslims" or "bad Muslims". Until the collective "we" decides they are moderate which used to mean good, but that appears to have changed now. Or they good they remain bad and in mainly cases perceived as extreme. Granted, some certainly are extreme but the vast majority are not. 

It's certainly true that people don't spend the same amount of time searching out "good" and "bad" Christians (like Westbro Baptists, the Lords Resistance Army and those other Christians slaughtering people in Central Africa) or Jews (like the Jewish Defence League and those slaughtering Palestinians) or Buddhists (like those murdering people in Burma and Sri Lanka). We can deny all we like but they certainly exist and when this is pointed out it is explained away by the deniers as they are aberrations. The usual answer is "there aren't many of them compared to Muslims". So in the heads of some it's OK because there's "not too many" and they don't threaten us.  That is not only wrong, but unbelievable thinking in justifying wicked deeds. 

Earlier in the week when I mentioned that all religions have extremists and those extremists carry out acts of aggression and terrorism, I was stunned when I received the reply, “But in the west they don’t.” That isn’t true but it also indicates that for some people cuts of terror are OK as long as they don’t happen on our doorstep. 

The Muslims 'bashers' argue that 15-25 percent of world's Muslims are extremists and that the remaining so called "moderates" are irrelevant or it seems just waiting in the shadows letting the extremists do what they won’t. That’s ‘lint for brains, bigoted thinking’ in the extreme. That aside, if the assertion was correct (note no one knows what the number is) and based on the lower end of that range, that’s 240 million of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims that are extremists. That's the equivalent of every single Muslim in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, nearly six times the number of all Muslims on the entire continent of Europe. What utter rubbish. Where are the examples of such supposedly widespread extremism? Sure, there a trouble spots and there have been incidents reported outside of the Middle East and Central Africa, but even if a mere 1 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are committed to violence, why is it that we haven’t seen 16 million individual violent attacks? Another minor detail which is glossed over or ignored. 

As was pointed out in the article on the folly of labelling Muslims, moderate, and to quote, "Proving one’s “moderation” is a trap, anyway. The only way to do it is to meet the criteria set forth by the person making the demand." That is an almost impossible task because the only way any Muslim can do that is to give up their faith. That’s like asking all Catholics to give up their religion because of pedophiles within the priesthood. No one would ask a Catholic to do that, but many demand Muslims do. 

So back to the problem of the  “moderate Muslim”. The writer went on to say, "It empowers anti-Muslim activists by implying that the degree to which a Muslim digests their religious faith is indicative of their status as a potential terrorist. Thus, “moderately” subscribing to the teachings of the Quran is OK, but should they cross over into the world of daily prayers, Friday afternoons at the mosque, and, God forbid, Ramadan, they’re suddenly flirting with extremism. That way of thinking is predicated on the unfounded notion that pious religious orthodoxy necessarily entails Muslims behaving badly. It also implies that religious “moderation” involves swallowing up one particular political narrative." Hear, hear. 

"Moderate Muslims” are continually berated for not condemning violence, or other abhorrent acts (when in fact many are including religious leaders if people bothered to look). Because most people don't look (preferring to rely on social media and right-wing media reports) those doing the attacking presume that every Muslim who doesn’t is a terrorist lying in wait. Those of us who do point out that Muslims speak up are equally berated. I can not tell you the number of times I've had "it's taqiyya" thrown back at me. I've been called naive and an apologist, I've been accused of being easily fooled and they are the soft accusations.  It appears, therefore, that only those Muslims who jump to the beck and call of Islam’s so called 'experts' police are the peaceful ones. What an absurd position is that.

In order to create a more equitable and peaceful place in our world we have to stop pretending we are the authorities on the faith traditions of others and as such entitled to dictate how they must interpret their faith in order for them to be welcomed and accepted. This certainly applies to those whose only point of reference is internet Q & A's, or who are part of the massive get-rich-quick industry riding on the back of islamophobia. Make no mistake this industry is almost as profitable as the climate scam industry, it just has fewer players. But people like the Pamela Geller’s, Tommy Robinson’s (many aliases) do very nicely thank you. Putting Muslims (and other faith believers for that matter, into 'boxes') to fit with our idea of what they should be doing, how they should be acting (even what they should be wearing) is not going to solve anything. If anything, it only serves to create a bigger divide and provides those who do with the opportunity to harass and bully. 

We really have to stop trying to put people into little boxes and stop dictating how others should react and respond.

“Judge me on what I do and how I treat you and not, on what I am or what I believe in” is a lesson a few people would do well to learn.