Dear Voters.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Nothing is as Thrilling as The Submission of a Vote.
It is that time of year again, probably my favourite day as an Australian Citizen above Australia, and ANZAC day is nearing it. The day we go and use our democratic right and duty, to submit a vote in the federal Election. I on this day found myself discussing much with a lot of people, political issues, how they felt about voting, whether they’d done it or not. Perhaps my favourite thing about this years election is how close the fight for leadership of the country is. Every vote counts, and that means, every time I slip a piece of paper into that box, I am contributing to the fate of my countries future.
Gallivanting around with a flag painted over my body on January 25th, or holding my head down solemnly on ANZAC day does not give this same sense of pride, involvement and patriotism that the act of placing a few numbers on the two pieces of paper that I am given after having my name marked down. I could rattle onn about how other countries do not have this right, or how some are not forced to perform it as a civil duty akin to jury duty. But that is not needed to be said, what needs to be said is that I only get approximately 24 federal Votes in my lifetime. One every three years, state elections and referendums make up a select few additional votes. If I were to move to say America or another country, forget to go in once, or my life is cut short, I lose that vote. 24 times in my life I will write that number on a ballot, and every time I hope to be able to treasure the fact that I am an Australian voting for the leadership of Australia.
So Australia, stop whining about going in and having your name crossed off, five minutes of your time will not kill you. five minutes to make a difference, and to avoid a fine. Mark Latham, you can leave a blank ballot if you’d like, but as for myself, I will not waste my vote.
-SmilingChaos
