hink of it all - of the life that is! Study your friends and foes!
Study the past! And answer this: "Are these times better than those?" The life-long quarrel, the paltry spite, the sting of your poisoned pride! No matter who fell it were better to fight as they did when the world was wide.
Those Democratic Games
"ONE Federal Coalition figure admits, albeit privately, that being in Opposition can be fun. "You throw a few hand grenades and you run away," he says with a smile.Opposition generally means less stress and shorter hours. Running a guerilla campaign to bring down the Government is largely how you spend your time."
::View Article::
Our politicians spend their time playing games to catch each other out in the eyes of the voters. The main focus is on how one team can injure the other in the eyes of the voting public, rather than on the quest to formulate the best possible policy. Even the politicians themselves are now admitting this.
This, if left unchecked, can only be dangerous. Consider the following analogy...
One Major General and one General are leading a mass of soldiers in a battle. The General was appointed to his more senior position by the soldiers in a ballot before the battle and this democratic practice occurs before every battle: there are only these two General Officers and the one who gets the most votes from his soldiers who were in the previous battle claims the higher ranking position of General in the next one.
Now, imagine that the two Generals, instead of formulating realistic and noble real-time war strategy in the battle, compete with each other to look good in the eyes of the voters/soldiers by cushioning them from the battle. In this way each of the two generals hope to be the one voted in as the General, as opposed to the lower position of Major General, next time around, receiving higher pay and more lip service from the establishment.
What naturally happens? Their side as a whole suffers a crushing defeat due to the commanders of strategy focusing more on what's popular as opposed to the reality of what needs to be done.
While the Australian citizens (the soldiers) and the Labor and Liberal parties (the two competing Generals) might not be crushed by an opposing army, we might well be crushed by the significant internal (social) and external (environmental) tensions which naturally arise from the operation of todays society if we are not lead by strategic thinkers who address reality and not necessary simply the fancies of a mass of voters.
Democracy is slightly insane so long as the elected leaders are purely self interested and also so long as the majority (quantity rules remember) of voters are purely self interested.