The LDP into the future.
Cartoon: by Zeg.
That future is us. We just have to take it.
If one thing can be deduced from the election it is that while the voters were in a mood for change, they were not in any way satisfied with the options that were there to change to. The enlarged vote for the Greens should not be interpreted as a general desire within the population for a move to the hard left, which the Greens represent, but disillusionment with both major parties. The Greens were the only party other than the big two who gained any publicity, so that in the eyes of the voters they were the only known quantity that was not Labor or Liberal.
We had mixed results, from a top of 5.5% in Gippsland where our candidate Ben Buckley was a well-known and popular local councilor, to lower ones in some of the more hotly contested seats. The important thing is that each and every one of them stepped forward and gave it his or her best. Sure there is disappointment, there is more down the track.
The Senate was good for us in the Eastern States; especially in NSW where Glen Druery appears to have made it to the last two left standing for the sixth seat, and Queensland. SA and WA didn’t do too badly for states where we have yet to establish much of a presence. We improved in every contest where we have been before.
We have a lot of scope in Queensland, given the report in the Courier that Labor has lost around 13% since the last state election but the LNP has only managed to pick up a bit over 2% of it. I tend to watch the LNP with a sense of disappointed bemusement in that they seem to have no idea of the way forward, they don't look like a party ready to govern even in comparison with Labor, which is governing very badly. Their only chance of winning is for Labor to stay really bad, and even then I doubt they can have much confidence of getting across the line and if they do, they will be another one term government.
The same applies federally; as with the absolute shambles that Labor is and was, the Liberals were not really able to capitalize on it to the point of winning. They had every chance but failed to really define themselves as a real alternative to what was there already. When Abbott blocked the ETS he made the Liberals look credible, they were a real alternative. Since that time they have lost the plot and ended up going to the election as Labor lite, or not Labor.
We are rapidly moving toward the situation where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission. The Liberals do not offer an alternative to this because they are no longer a liberal party, but a conservative one and now represent just another face of big government and the nanny state.
We have a population looking for an alternative, and we are the only one. We in the LDP are the only party that intends to halt this decline into authoritarianism and reverse it. We are the only party that understands that the real solution is to reduce the size, scope and cost of government before we reach the situation where every dollar in the country finds its way into the hands of the state to be redistributed at great cost through a massive bureaucracy back to us in the manner that the current social engineers deem to be appropriate.
Let it not be:
“[Tonight]. We are a nation becalmed. We have lost the brisk pace of diversity and the genius of individual creativity. We are plodding along at a pace set by centralized planning, red tape, rules without responsibility, and regimentation without recourse.” – Barry Goldwater. 1964
I was wondering what you would say about the elections. I thought about you the last few nights because we watched two Australian movies: The Road From Coorain and Flirting (1965 Nicole Kidman).
ReplyDeleteHi, good to hear from you. I was sorry to see that you are giving up on your site, but I feel the same way occasionally. I am going through a bit of a down time at the moment, I think as a reaction to three weeks of doing at least one press release nearly day knowing that they are not going to be printed plus all the other emailing needed in these things.
ReplyDeleteTry to keep in touch.
I haven't watched those movies, I am not a great movie watcher, although the second one sounds interesting as I am rather partial to Nichole.
We have significantly improved on our results from last time and I am confident that we will crack the jackpot in the future. Had we succeeded in getting together the preference deal we were aiming for we could have had two Senators, the preference system here is really tricky to understand.
The problem seemed to be that the religion based parties such as the Christian Democrats, Family First etc just didn't like us, and for some odd reason the gun people tend to support the Coalition even though they are gun grabbers, while we have a more liberal gun policy than the shooters themselves. They are too bloody scared of being seen as extreme to support concealed carry which we advocate, and a lot of actual shooters love the idea of it.
Jim, is your system stuck like ours where the press, the parties and the people are all stuck in the "Must Back a Winner" mode and stay away from outside parties because, "They can't win. and I wanna vote for a winner."
ReplyDeleteHere, too, we have a rigged system run by the two big parties to keep anyone else from even being able to get in the game.
The press seemed to be obsessed with the three majors, Liberal, Labor and Greens. None of the rest of us got much of a look in other than occasional interest items on local candidates in the odd provincial. One TV program website did a feature on minor parties, but that was it really.
ReplyDeleteI did notice we got a fair shake in small web based local independents, but they are not big here yet, but I am grateful to them.
People were open to our views where we could get to them and the small government message went across well. The big problem was getting to them with a limited budget and no press. I am thinking that we need to put in a do or die effort in a state by election if one comes up, - smaller electorates, concentration of force and firepower, where we can get a heap of supporters from nearby and smother it, whereas in a regular election everybody is working in their own seats.
The system is rigged in that it is almost impossible to gain state registration but we have federal registration. You need to be registered in the states to stand under the party banner.
From what I have encountered people are looking for something like us, and some were brought in by people who really didn't strike me as articulate in our ideas but the message of small government, getting rid of nanny state, and keeping more of what you earn gets them in. We have a future.