The 2007 Federal Election (And why I'll turn Punk if Howard wins it)

It's Election time again, and I'm on the edge of my seat (pun intended).

I consider myself no longer a Labour exclusive voter, I have now realised that the only reason why I would vote for Kevin Rudd, is because I am tired of John Howard. However, I would be so peturbed by a John Howard victory, that I would seriously be shaken to the core about my faith in Australian democracy. I support a free society in Australia, and instead of being a Party Bore I have now become aware of my lack of subscription to any one political party. I'll even vote for The Greens if they have a good grounding in environmental policies that Liberal and Labour seem to be slacking off on.

Why am I not voting today? It's simple. I'm not yet 18 years of age, the milestone where a male becomes not a boy, but a Man. I already consider myself a Man in my own eyes, yet my society's structure says that I am not capable of making an informed political decision until I am 18. I say that's bollocks.

What disturbs me even more is that because I can't vote today, I can't have my say and express my views. And the fact that many people my age are not interested in voting at all. A lack of interest in the politics that run your country leads to a slumber of judgement, allowing tyrants to rule over you like despots. Voting solves this problem, in theory, because a democratic election allows for a change of government. Trouble is, if too many people disagree with you, because the majority rules, your choice of government may not be someone else's.

This causes, in the Australian system, to vote in a government for periods longer than it is safer to have them. A new system, where each Prime Minister had a limited number of terms in power, would solve this, instead of forcing Australia to live under one lackluster PM like John Howard for eleven years or more. A lack of change in government results in a lack of change in new policies, and Prime Ministers that hold onto power for the sake of it, as well as not changing Australia for the better. The problem arises: Australians are comfy with one PM constantly in office, and do not care about the effects it has on people who are not big business owners. WorkChoices, that Orwellian double-speak for lowering wages and increasing working hours, does not provide choice for employees at all, and Karl Marx, if he were alive today, would decry such an exploitation of the working class. However, Communism wasn't that good an alternative either, because that system was just as oppressive as the old one. So what do we do?

I honestly will not know until every last vote is counted tonight. And as I have told my mother, if John Howard gets in power again, I will be going Punk. I will not be a violent terrorist, but an example of the friendlier face of Anarchy, peacefully protesting by taking a CD Player with batteries in it to blare my The Clash Singles album at the City, and hopefully, that will wake up Australians from what Paul Keating described the Menzies government as: The Rip Van Winkle Years, a term that equally describes John Howard's geezer aristocracy.

I will be going to pick up my brother from the airport now, as he is returning from Schoolies Week, and I will greet him warmly. John Howard will not be getting so warm a greeting from me if he wins, instead he will be the enemy of my penstroke, which is mightier than the sword...

- Jacob Martin
AKA TeenAuthor