[AA]
So, what can we offer to the rest of the populace to get them involved
in
Neither (and hopefully that perennial favourite, building the left)?
And
victories have we had? What benefits will we give (or rather - the
benefits that will be gained)?
I'd suggest that breaking the control Labor and the Coalition have over
our
electoral system would be seen as a strong benefit by those who care.
[AL]
Yes exactly. That is precisely the benefit we can offer and the
achievable victory we can promise for those who think it would be worth
caring to achieve it.
[AA]
I feel that initially some would say that with 150 seats nation-wide any
idiot could get elected, and that this is bad, but I think that we can
persuade people that this is one of the things with democracy - and that
an
arbitrary 4% (or somesuch) quota still means disenfranchisement, albeit
of
a much smaller group.
With an approx 0.7% quota, all sorts of strange people would be elected
(like the would-be fascist Citizens' Electoral Council, the satirist
Pauline Pantsdown, the amusing David Mouldfield and the more amusing
David
Oldfield). So be it. That would be the way the voters of Australia
wanted
it, and so that's the way it should be. It's my right to vote for a
complete idiot if I so choose, and should that idiot be elected to
parliament, it couldn't be any worse than the other idiots already
there.
[AL]
Exactly. Not only could we persuade people of this but it could even be
quite easy once we actually get down to it. The hostility to the present
setup is really deep and the enthusiasm for the pathetic ConCon with
slightly more open debate (about nothing) showed how much people want
some kind of representative legislature instead of the current farce.
The hostility of the media and the major parties will only backfire on
them as people are so fed up with both, so their best tactic will be to
completely ignore us for as long as possible.
I maintain that the biggest breakthrough could come from linking a
demand for a representative Parliament as a real instead of phoney
constitutional change to a vote No campaign in the Republic Referendum.
There will be widespread debate about constitutional issues in that, the
media will have difficulty avoiding any mention of our role and there is
a very good chance of our campaign making a real difference in defeating
the turnbullies republic.
I am puzzled about why there has been no comment on my proposals
concerning this so far. Could people who agree or disagree about a
Neither Vote No campaign please say so and/or ask questions, add
comments about it etc.
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