So now the fallout has started with Labor voters blaming the Greensliders for their failure to form government it’s worth looking at this concept. A few people have even said to me that my vote didn’t count, that the only way it would have counted is if I used it to vote for “the lesser of two evils.” I don’t know if the irony has dawned on them yet that they consider their party evil. A “lesser evil” to be sure, but still evil.
Apart from the year I voted Democrat because I thought they were absolutely brilliant, I’ve previously always voted Labor. Do you know why? I was a Labor voter because I hate Liberals. Not on a personal level, I have a number of friends who will have voted for Tony Abbott whether I let them or not. But on a policy level I hate Liberals. Snide rich getting richer, big business in their pockets, poor get poorer, if you can’t afford it sucks to be you policies. Policies that reinforce the class divides that only those enrolled in private schools before birth can imagine as a good thing.
So I clearly knew who I didn’t want to vote for. Labor seemed the natural enemy of the Liberals, so it followed that the enemy of my enemy must be my friend. Originally they didn’t seem to be screwing anything up, no doubt because they were constantly in opposition to a Howard government, so they maintained a sense of hope. They probably wouldn’t have been perfect, but they certainly always seemed “the lesser of two evils.” The day K.Rudd came to power was the sweetest election result I’d ever had. Finally my guys were in and things were going to get better.
Only they didn’t.
Well some things got better. I mean Howard went away somewhere, and that was great, and for a while Malcolm was in opposition, and he actually seems like a pretty good guy with some sound ideas – not enough to make me vote Lib, but he kept the Labs on their toes. He respected climate change science, which is no doubt why the Libs did away with him and let Boatphoney Tony have a go. But Kevin Rudd was a great speaker, he seemed to have a vision, but things didn’t really happen. Not the things I was really interested in.
Enter this election where I really couldn’t tell the two parties apart. Both would stop boats, prevent same-sex marriage, do something with the economy and refuse to tackle climate change in the way it needs to be done. The only difference anyone could see was that one was a male “wingnut” and the other was a female “ranga.” A lot of people shrugged and did what they always do, and voted “for the lesser of two evils.” They were both evil people! Surely there is more to life than electing E1 or E2 to government every three years?
That’s the mindframe I was in when I discovered the Green option. I read their policies. Humane, progressive, ethical, environmental with a nice serving of good old common sense. The Greens weren’t the lesser of the evils, they were actually on the side of GOOD! You can make all the jokes you want about how I’ve “swallowed the Coolaid” but I’m happy in the knowledge that my first preference went to the party I think is best for Australia. Maybe my vote didn’t elect the government, but I’d rather be a loser on the side of good than a winner on the side of evil, be it the greater or lesser evil of the two.
A large chunk of Labor voters gave their first preference to the party they thought would screw them over slightly less. In my best John Jarrat Wolf Creek voice "winnaaah."