There's an iteresting article in the Herald at
http://www.smh.com.au/news/9902/04/national/national10.html about Reith's
support for a directly elected President.
The interesting part? This:
----------------------------
The chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, Mr Malcolm Turnbull,
played down the importance of the Reith opposition. "If Mr Reith feels we
should move to an American system of Government, well he's entitled to
express that view. But you have to face two facts: it's not on the ballot
paper in
November; secondly, it's highly improbable that it would ever be on the ballot
paper."
----------------------------
In light of continual surveys showing that we (as a whole) tend to support
a President we elect ourselves, does this not show absolute contempt by the
ARM for the people they pretend to represent?
This is pretty much what can be expected from Turnbull's jingoistic
flag-waving arguments so far, I guess, but why don't the other republican
groups see it?
As an aside, I saw in the news last night the Senate deputy
president/leader of the Government (can't remember which, and didn't catch
her name) saying that the power of the minor parties in the Senate must be
curtailed - as if they weren't voted for as well.
So far, this has been pretty much a non-issue in the NSW elections, as we
appear to be focussing on why any and all people who commit even petty
crimes should be imprisoned for the term of their natural lives.
Alister
"I simply do not agree that the state, or any other system of
organized power and violence, should have the authority to
determine what people think or say. If the state is granted the
power to shut me up, my counter argument is not that what I am
saying might be valuable. That would be a contemptible position,
in my view." --> Noam Chomsky
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