I rant and I vote

** Start rant **

Nothing speaks more to me about the Australian political psyche and decision making process than the proliferation of 'I xxxxx and I vote' bumper stickers. That someone's world view can be so tiny and so self centred that a government's policy on fishing or dogs or horses or any of the other stupid things that get substituted into the above phrase will be the most important issue in deciding their vote fills me with despair about our country and the people who live in it.

This truly represents John Howard's Australia, where everybody's petty concerns about their own overly comfortable lives completely override any ideas about other, larger issues. To be fair, these people and their attitudes existed well before he came to power, but more than anyone before him he has created an environment which validates and approves of their insularity. In this world it's not necessary or even desirable to care about anyone other than yourself, to have compassion or concern about others less fortunate than ourselves and anyone who thinks otherwise is held to be either politically suspect or naive (I've always been mystified at the use of the term 'do-gooder' as an insult - yeah, doing good, that's definitely a bad thing.)

** End rant **

This is my first post and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with this blog. It probably won't be overly political despite the name and the above rant. The name amused me, and hopefully some of the other stuff here might be amusing as well, to me at least.