Saturday 21 August 2010

ELECTION DAY BLUES


“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.” - Charles de Gaulle

It’s our Federal Election day here in Australia today and we got our voting over and done with early in the morning. Just as well, as later in the day it was very busy in all of the polling places and the traffic in the city was particularly heavy. The main contenders of course are extremely nervous as this poll is on a knife edge, with the possibility of a hung parliament. The Greens are becoming a growing force in our politics and perhaps this may be a good thing as the two major parties have become mirror images of one another.

I need something soothing and gentle tonight: Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No 1 for piano, which in this version is orchestrated and strikes the right chord…

8 comments:

  1. A beautiful piece for a quiet Saturday morning here.

    I quoted someone recently who said, "It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in."

    (I should google and find out who said it.)

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  2. I read earlier that it's very tight. Hung parliament maybe as in the UK?

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  3. I was so quick to post that I forgot to mention how beautiful this piece that I'm listening to, is.

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  4. Just seen on the BBC that you have a hung Parliament.

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  5. I found the election campaign nasty, petty, personal and not focused on the big issues facing Australia.

    On the conservative side, I find the idea of dragging the tiny boats out to sea and drowning the refugees so morally repugnant, I am ashamed those politicians are Australian. On the labour side, I am very unhappy that the government dropped the plans for a terrific carbon trading scheme.

    What a nightmare.

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  6. what Hels said above, ditto.
    Thanks for the antidote music.

    I am far from my eternally 68%-of-the-vote blue-ribbon LIB electorate, and voted a week ago in Corangamite where it was ferocious.

    10am The Morning After pill is The Insiders. I cannot repress the image of those four huge black greek-chorus-like women behind Mr.abbott as he tried to make a speech without 'victory' in it.
    We all knew that Bennelong is a collectively-dopey electorate, and now fittingly, they have a matching representative.
    I voted Senate Green.

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  7. Yes, a hung parliament it is, with (on Sunday evening) Labour holding 72 seats to the Coalitions 71 seat. 76 seats is required fro a majority rule government.

    Both major parties now doing the rounds amongst the elected Greens and Independent representatives of the Lower House, trying to scrounge support to form a stable government...

    No doubt this nonsense will continue over the next few days. Both parties gave a disappointingly predictable campaign with the usual hollow promises and attacks on the other side.

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  8. Very beautiful music!
    I hope you get someone to govern you soon, Nicholas!

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