Independents enjoying the sunshine

It doesn’t matter whether one has a genetic predisposition towards what the the old school describes as the left or the right of the political spectrum, when voters are forced to choose essentially between moral bankruptcy or incompetence one has the prospect of voting for mainstream parties that are both unspeakable in their own unique way.

Sometimes the major parties exhibit a particularly toxic mix of both incompetence and moral bankruptcy – he said, almost skirting any mention of NSW.

So there is a natural tendency to think well of candidates who profess no allegiance to the mainstream.  And it was with a modicum of expectation that the small clutch of independents currently holding the balance of power in the Federal lower house would exert a magic power and renovate Federal politics, turning back the desperate decline of national government characterised by the Howard government and perpetutated by the Rudd government.

Not to suggest that the Rudd government was as morally bankrupt as the Howard coalition, but with the exception of the response to the global financial crisis, not a lot happened to suggest that we had turned the corner.  Under Rudd and Gillard we walked away from asylum seekers, carbon trading, mining tax, indigenous health, water……..  Stayed in the game for wrangling marginal electorates and sucking up to rednecks.

So to the independents.  A clear message to the main parties that we, the electorate are not happy with either of you.  But what is the message we hold for the independents. ?

Should we expect more from them than extracting the most obscene papered-over pork barrelling in living memory ?  Is it OK for them to be interviewing as many bureaucrats as they wish to get a handle on whether the red team or the blue team are really on top ?

How long are we expected to watch the so called independents sifting through a million and six reasons for anointing Tony or Julia as the next PM ?  Have they had their 15 minutes of fame yet ?

Could they have just tossed a coin and come up with as good an assesment ?

I would argue that they may be independent for a day but as soon as they flip the coin, they are as dependent as the rest of us.  They depend on the anointed government to do the right thing, to not bite the hand that feeds and to at least affect some semblance of competence and civil responsibility.  If they think they can make and unmake a king on a whim, they are more dangerous than the faceless numbers men and they deserve to be discarded with the same energy.

I had big hopes for the independents – until I tired of their sickly smiles on TV and their assurances that they would make a decision soon,  soon, soon.  These are the people who hold the balance of power and they struggle with the simplest of decisions.

For years they have seen the best and worst of both the red team and the blue team and there is no empirical evidence for making a distinction.  The rest is just putting pressure on the majors and leaving the country in limbo.

What is the aphorism – power corrupts – and absolute power corrupts absolutely ?  And apparently corruption doesn’t even require a majority of votes any more – only a balance of power.

So to the independents, I say “Just make a call, you geese”.

Because if either major party does a spit and we have another election, you will not be judged well for your equivocation, for wandering around looking clueless, for inventing whacko terms and conditions and for flaunting naked self-interest.