WRITE DIRECTION: How do we choose who to vote for

THIS question is one we all face every three years and, of course, it relates to the next Federal election.

Do we elect the party with the best policies to suit my circumstances?

Do we elect a good local guy or girl because they tell a good tale, or do we actually know them in our community or from not too far away?

Do we adopt the theory that it’s a pox on all their houses so vote for the unelectable alternative so that we can poke them all in the eye, as our response?

It seems that it’s always too early to compare policies as whoever comes out with one can almost guarantee that the other side will go for the directly opposite view, plus reasons why that policy can’t work.

The result of this reality is that no rational policies are released until the last moment by either side and are dictated by the issue being discussed in the media at that time.

Another dreadful reality is that, even when a policy is approved by the voting public by that party gaining the winning votes, the question immediately arises, will that party ever put this policy into practice?

Years of watching for these promises to see the light of day says, “you have got to be kidding”.

The other lot hid the fact that they have already spent those funds on something else, so we can’t afford it.

Promise the world but deliver next to nil once elected and always blame the other lot for it.

Just in case you think that this scribe may have been soured by the realities of politics the way it is being played, what views are held by other experts?

US author John Quinton said, “politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy more tunnel”.

A Mark Twain scholar commented: “politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other”.

One Russian political expert, Nikita Krushchev, is recorded as saying: “politicians are the same all over: they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river”.

And finally, a comment I love, “those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are even dumber.”

By John BLACKBOURN