What do the dumb people do?

Well, my standard four hours of sleep did not improve my mood. I remain gutted.

I have decided to rant. It was supposed to be cathartic, but I think I might be getting angrier by the minute as I keep thinking of more things I need to include and very few of them make me feel better.

To be fair, I will still have a roof over my head. I will still have food on the table. My life will not be markedly different tomorrow, to what it was yesterday. There are large numbers of Australians for whom that is not the case. These are the people we have left behind.

Like many of my generation, I grew up in “The Land of the Fair Go”. It's a fucking myth but it has been perpetuated, hijacked even, by those with the money and privilege to drag the rest of us along. Take the time to consider the fact that there are people here who, despite it being part of our legal history, refuse to acknowledge that we are living on stolen land. How can you be the LOTFG when from day-fucking-one, that notion has been contradicted? Yet, the trope survives.

As I often do, I had my seven-year-old granddaughter with me yesterday. She is the light of my life and I do the best I can to encourage her to be an inquisitive and knowledge thirsty human. Yesterday's lesson was democracy.

We talked about teams:
The two big teams, Red (note my annoyance below) and Blue with their own supporters and the smaller teams who look at smaller and more specific issues, like the Green team who like trees.

I explained that - out of the two big teams - some people like the Red team. They tend to represent the poorer folk (more than the blue team that is) and those who want a better country and world for the many, not just the few. I explained that the Blue team represent the rich and also sometimes pretend to be good guys to the poor, but the smart people could tell the difference. Her next question now resonates, “What do the dumb people do?” – I think we now know the answer.

As I have said, I will not be as severely impacted as many, yet I genuinely lament the opportunities we have missed and the hopes I had had for a better nation and better world. Adani, Live exports, ICAC, Indigenous Voice, Climate action, Refugee resettlement, Penalty rates, Newstart and many other issues matter to me. My hopes in regards these is now dead in the water. I think the Labor Party as we know it, is also dead in the water.

"What do the dumb people do?" - I think we now know the answer.

I am not saying there will not be an ALP. There will be, but in order for them to ever gain power again they need to change. If you have a product to sell and it's not what the market is buying, you either change or you're cooked.

There are a number of areas this change needs to manifest. In no particular order, here goes...

Bill Shorten ran an amazing campaign.

He did as much as anyone could do to try and reverse the perception that his lack of popularity, and seemingly bland character, could be overcome. I was convinced. Obviously, I am in the minority. It saddens me that he has had to resign the leadership, but it is absolutely the right decision.

The line that Labor were a strong and united party is just rubbish.

I live in a very safe seat, an ALP stronghold and is the corflute for my representative

How can an ALP candidate have a lime green corflute? I was tempted to finger paint the Labor logo with the sauce from my Democracy Sausage to remedy the situation. Ms Bird received 64% of the TPP vote and a whopping 47% of the primary so I guess I was one of the few concerned.

Who is the ALP base? Traditionally the party of the unions, the wage earner, the blue-collar worker. That's gone. Union membership and manufacturing have been decimated. Who does ALP represent today? Again, I don’t believe they will wither and die. I do believe they need to change. In her recent article, Noely Neate pointed out that the Queensland LNP in particular would benefit from the number of right-wing independents and smaller parties. Not only do these allow swinging and disaffected voters a home, they allow a protest vote without entirely diluting the final result. Other than the Greens, there are very few such options available to ALP. That needs to change. Fast.

If you have a product to sell and it's not what the market is buying, you either change or you're cooked.

Labor will draw lessons from this result.

I hope for the well-being of the nation; they draw them swiftly and move forward quickly.

There are a stack of other things annoying me, too much to write in one rant. Let me mention though that if you're blaming farmers for this, there are less than 300,000 of them. Wake up to yourself. If you think Clive got nothing for his $60,000,000, you're wrong. This is a massive win for him. Not only does he have to go through the boredom and apparent indignity of sitting in the Senate, but his Alpha North venture will likely reap a billion dollars for him- Well played Clive, I guess. If you're rejoicing in Abbott's demise, I'll raise you Morrison, Dutton, Cash, Joyce, etc, etc

If you're hoping for a minority LNP government, good luck with an LNP -One Nation formal coalition.

Many who follow me on Twitter know I am not a fan of the current Prime Minister Scott Morrison and I am also an atheist. Mr Morrison says he will, “burn for us”. I don't believe in Hell, but he sure does so there's that.

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