Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Rex Widerstrom,
And those whom I know to have done so (donkey voted) did it to make a "none of the above" statement in the absence of such an option on the ballot.
Yes, "casting no vote" is different to "not voting". I certainly heard from most of the people who vote that way there, they felt it very important to tell people. I didn't hear much from those who just voted, where they might have otherwise been too lazy to show up, because that is a sentiment that is frowned upon, even though it's certainly quite widespread.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Compulsory voting is only bad if you don't take deliberate steps to counter the hefty level of disinterest that compulsion engenders.
Also, in defence of the Australian way, it's worth noting that most people have an opinion on politics, but some are too lazy/busy to go to the booth on the day. Once you get them there, a substantial portion vote as if they weren't politically disinterested. Yes, there's still the fraction who deliberately random or donkey vote. You can't stop that happening, but you do somewhat eliminate the "rational voter paradox".
This paradox suggests that the influence one has on the outcome is less than the influence one has on one's own life by doing something else with the time. But given that you have to go there, get a form, and go into the booth, and mark your ballot in some way, or you get fined, you have to really take the rational voter thing to extremes to not at least put one tick on the party you hate least. Furthermore, having been resigned to the awful drudgery that 5 minutes worth of voting every three years entails, a few more people end up thinking about the politics, which is arguably a good thing, civically.
I've come around to it - I think we take our "right to abstain" far too much as gospel - it's not really such an awesome right - if you want, you can random or donkey vote in Oz. And the State interfering in our lives to the extent of requiring a three-yearly opinion from you on something as important as who runs the entire country isn't that onerous.
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I'm beginning to wonder if the real renaissance of Labour will rise from the ruins of Christchurch. National could seriously screw things up there if they continue down the ineffectual, bordering on cronyist, response they've come up with so far. Crying out about "politicizing the disaster" will only work for so long - a hard winter for Christchurch could kill National's support in the region.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Rich Lock,
Again, couldn't think of an appropriate collective noun for 'not National, ACT et al' in a hurry, and didn't want to start using 'us', 'you', them'. Got any good suggestions?
How about "The Opposition"?
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Hard News: Libya, in reply to glennd,
It all was an exercise mainly in justifying the exceptional act of taking the US to war without congressional approval but on the President's limited power in the face of a clear and present threat to the US.
Yes, being able to do that is practically the only reason to have a President. While congress dithers over the best way to stall the US economy and hamstring the establishment, Obama gets to do one of the things he said he would do before getting elected - base his foreign policy on international agreement.
But I will confess that I find the way the US does war alarming at all times. Their ability to kill is astonishing.
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Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to Rich Lock,
Again, couldn't think of an appropriate collective noun for 'not National, ACT et al' in a hurry, and didn't want to start using 'us', 'you', them'. Got any good suggestions?
"We"?
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If the All Blacks win the people will feel so good about each other they will all vote Labour out of sheer bliss
If anything, the All Blacks winning would favor the incumbent. But I'd take it anyway. I wasn't really suggesting any correlation, though, just extracting the principle that just because something is hard is no excuse not to try at it, particularly when that is your actual job.
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I fully expect the Nats to win the next election. I also fully expect the All Blacks not to win the World Cup. But I would very much like to see both those predictions falsified, and see it as the patent duty of the Labour Party and the All Blacks to do their damndest this year to falsify them. Biding time should never be an option, even if time is actually the thing most likely to bring the Nats down in the end.
Nothing gives me the shits more in a game when your team sees the other team and just rolls over. Very often they are right, the other team is stronger and will win. But they will certainly win if you roll over, and there have been countless times when surprising results have happened. Between now and the election, it's quite possible disaster could strike National, or a windfall result could drift Labour's way. If they're in loser mode already, they won't be able to capitalize.
People don't realize how close it still is. National has steamed ahead, sure, and could rule outright. But if they don't manage that, and ACT is erased, then the Right side of the field could be looking pretty bare. The Maori Party could play king maker, and their commitment so far has not been to any political orientation, just to their tribal backing, and the F&S, which they have pretty much earned and won back to their desired choice. Where do they go next?
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Hard News: Libya, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Ah yes, the old adage that it's much easier to fight a war if the enemy is a proper noun.
I'd say it's actually usually a harder war, since said proper noun fights to the last drop of blood they can muster. But once won, that's the end of it, which has appeal. Fighting against a mass term, like Rebels or Terrorists or Crime, or Drugs, is probably quite easy, they're basically pretty weak. But stamping them out completely is a never-ending task.
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Somalia was quite a different situation, because there was no clear fight - it was a bunch of warlords going at it. In Libya, everyone knows who the source of their misery is.
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