a million times a trillion more (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dolorosa_12) wrote2022-02-10 06:07 pm
dolorosa_12) wrote2022-02-10 06:07 pm
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The AEC is my fandom
I think I have a new fandom, and that fandom is the Australian Electoral Commission, or, more specifically, its Twitter account.
I loathe a lot of Australian politicians, my contempt for the country's current government knows no bounds, and I deplore the generally mercenary attitudes of Australian voters (elections tend to be lost due to fear of supposed tax increases, and won by the party which suburban voters believe will save them money in some way), but wow do I love our electoral system.
A rigorously, zealously independent electoral commission at local, state and federal level, preferential voting (if you're not going to do proportional representation, this is a good alternative), and above all, compulsory voting which means that not only is voting easy, quick, and straightforward, the AEC goes out of its way to get ballots to Australians in the most remote and inaccessible of locations: basically if your 'democracy' doesn't have these things, it feels like a very watered-down example of democracy to me. (This should not be interpreted as me smugly placing blame for said watered-down democracies at the feet of their citizens and voters, obviously.)
My love for all these things is directly proportional to how much the right-wingers in Australia detest them, and how obvious it is that they are unable to get rid of them precisely because these things exist and hinder them in doing so. (That said, we should never get too complacent; the fact that the right-wing government keeps making noises about getting rid of compulsory voting should be a massive wake up call to everyone. As an Australian immigrant in the UK, my current home country is an object lesson in the terrible consequences of voter complacency.)
I loathe a lot of Australian politicians, my contempt for the country's current government knows no bounds, and I deplore the generally mercenary attitudes of Australian voters (elections tend to be lost due to fear of supposed tax increases, and won by the party which suburban voters believe will save them money in some way), but wow do I love our electoral system.
A rigorously, zealously independent electoral commission at local, state and federal level, preferential voting (if you're not going to do proportional representation, this is a good alternative), and above all, compulsory voting which means that not only is voting easy, quick, and straightforward, the AEC goes out of its way to get ballots to Australians in the most remote and inaccessible of locations: basically if your 'democracy' doesn't have these things, it feels like a very watered-down example of democracy to me. (This should not be interpreted as me smugly placing blame for said watered-down democracies at the feet of their citizens and voters, obviously.)
My love for all these things is directly proportional to how much the right-wingers in Australia detest them, and how obvious it is that they are unable to get rid of them precisely because these things exist and hinder them in doing so. (That said, we should never get too complacent; the fact that the right-wing government keeps making noises about getting rid of compulsory voting should be a massive wake up call to everyone. As an Australian immigrant in the UK, my current home country is an object lesson in the terrible consequences of voter complacency.)