After Tomorrow.
I guess with the election not happening until tomorrow, it is a little early for post mortems. While I tend to be an optimistic person I am not counting on seeing headlines in the Sunday papers saying: -
Shock Result
LDP wins 47 seats and leading in all Senate races.
At this point I would like to congratulate all candidates on their efforts, I’m proud of all of you. The campaign has been remarkably disciplined probably due in no small part to the efforts of David L, Terje, and John H, and to the common sense of all of the other candidates.
I loved the press releases, Its a pity more of them didn’t get through, we should look at that, I’m not sure what we can do about it. Perhaps if we are lucky enough to have Terje get through this might be solved.
As a matter of interest we briefly had a Senator in the Progress Party back in the late 70s or early 80s. Someone secretly negotiated to get a WA Liberal Senator whose name escapes me now to defect on the eve of an election. It was all a done deal and John Singleton went to the airport to meet him and take him to a press conference to announce our triumph.
Unfortunately the new star recruit arrived stone motherless shitfaced drunk, and we were unable to sober him up in time for the election, never mind the press conference. It turned out that if Malcolm Fraser had known we were taking him he would have gift-wrapped him.
But I digress.
Most of the people around me were positive when I stood for Kennedy; my boss was Ron Kitching who was also one of us, although there were a few practical jokes. One morning on the way to work, I found that the night shift had spent an inordinate length of time on the way home putting up signs reading “Jim Fryar for El-Presidente.”
I don’t believe our campaign or candidates deserve any criticism, we probably could have benefited from some ‘candidate training’ and advice however we are all beginners, and the most important thing is that we share and learn from experience, and that the post mortem be positive.
For anyone who feels that they made mistakes, remember that anyone who hasn’t stuffed up hasn’t tried anything. For anyone who cops any shit, The following is for you: -
“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly… who knows the great enthusiasms,the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919), “Man in the Arena” Speech given April 23, 1910
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Early Shock Results!
LDP swept into government in a landslide!
Labor, Liberals and Greens relegated to oblivion!
LDP revises Australia’s statute law and repeals any act that bears against the liberty and property of the subject. 80 percent of laws repealed! Housing, groceries and child care suddenly become more affordable for working families! Environmental quality improves when relieved from the fat farty arse of government bureacracies! Hooray! The people cheer in the streets! The socialists admit what a crackpot of deluded fuckwits they were all along! Free sex and poly-amory breaks out all over the place as LDP suporters are showered in kisses by beautiful young ladies without any clothes on!
Jim
What a great quote. Too true. Congratulations in particular to David, Terje and John.
Right away the thinking ought to begin for the next election. If we have to move towards the centre in the leadup to an election its even more important for the rest of the time to be advocating a very fast unravelling of non-defense government.
The next election we face very high energy prices and a world oil price that is likely to be over 120USD per barell. It is around these high energy prices that we could be getting our brand out there pre-emptively.
No lame facsimile of a Liberal Right faction is going to break through the wall of sound of the media talking about everyone else but us. No moderate pitch that lets taxeaters feel secure in their jobs will convince anyone to take their vote away from their preferred choice of one of the two main parties.
No compromise with the global warming fraud will convince people that we are serious about killing that evil racket in its entirety and spitting on its grave so that we can let businessmen and investors deliver for us cheaper energy every month.
We need a extremely RADICAL agenda, even if we have to pull back on it just before the next election.
I’d suggest just a flat 20% GST and no other taxes as the first wave of moderate reforms. It is affordable if we get rid of churn and duplication.
I reckon that the revenue should be split equally at each level of Government. If it means more local Government, so be it. Australia will always have fiscal imblanaces. They are not important enough to hold back such a sweeping and beneficial reform.
We drop it by 2.5% p.a until it hits 10% and we keep it there.
They beauty of it is that it can start off as a simple and mild rationalisation of social democracy and as wealth increases, the need for social services drops away and we become a free enterprise culture, whilst everyone is better off without any losers from the change.
It would be interesting to see a list of all taxes: federal, state and local, and how much money each brings in to government, and then a list of each government department and how much money they cost. It would enable us to say we’re going to get rid of x tax and y department at the same time.
Graeme; Its nice to see you back, and I agree that we should be looking to the next election. We have local council and state ones coming up and we can do something and gain more experience and get known in them before we take on the bigs again.
You are probably right on energy prices, and will have added on to that the cost of whatever Rudd does to make the greens and company love him.
In the eyes of the public we are probably already radicals but should not shy away from it, but at the same time we must explain our ideas and ideals and sound as reasonable as hell on them.
Whatever we advocate we must be able to explain in terms of smaller government and lower cost. There is a freedom and hip pocket nerve that is a powerful influence.
Tim Quilty; You stroppy bastard, the first time you commented to me you complained about being a farmer and spending too much time covered in shit (been there done that); You did well, You deserved a lot better, I’m not sure what went wrong but in following your campaign I really felt you deserved to do well. Maybe not 55% but 5% would have been nice.
The rest of you, Thanks.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/costello-wont-stand/2007/11/25/1195947541163.html
Peter Costello says he ‘would not seek nor accept’ a nomination to be the new opposition leader
A bit of a shock I think.
Mr Rudd:
1. Where are these razor gangs?
2. When will you restore States rights?
3. When will you repeal the ASIO Act?
Let mw simply say, the next person to tell me they put me number 2 on the ballot is getting a punch in the face… Call it tough education about the preference system…
Tim; I stood for a council election once with the Nationals determined to stop me. Up here we have divisions and to win I had to beat both existing divisional councilors, and get the second vote of the majority of the urban area in the middle, where a Liberal solicitor was standing and was unbeatable.
The nationals stood one of their best known people against their own two to split the vote enough to block me. I beat their stooge, one of their councilors and missed out by seven votes.
If all of the people who told me they had voted for me had done so, I would have pissed it in in first place.
It’s a pity so many people don’t understand the preferential system… I think it’s a better system, but so many people just don’t understand how it works.
My voting method – selecting somebody who would not reach 4% on primary votes as my first preference so as to deny electoral funding – had more than one otherwise intelligent person tell me I was wasting my vote (“You shouldn’t bother voting if that’s the way you treat the process”)… *sigh*