[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Democracy in Australia [was Re: CBS: "Skeptics...are right to be concerned"]

Terry W. Colvin fortean1 at mindspring.com
Tue Nov 16 02:32:46 UTC 2004


FWD (SK) Democracy in Australia [was Re: CBS: "Skeptics...are right to be
concerned"]


On Monday, Nov 15, 2004, at 15:10 Australia/Sydney, Kevin Enns wrote: 

[snip] 

Really. I've always thought it kind of silly that we expect to know the results
of every election within hours of the polls' closing (if not sooner). Why not
wait until *all* the votes have been counted and tabulated before announcing the
results to the public? What's the big deal if we have to wait a couple of days
to find out who won? 


It's not even that bad. We know the results of our elections (national,
provincial, municipal, you name it) the night of the vote. All you need is a
bunch of volunteers to count the damn ballots. Again, the population of your
country is ten times than of mine, so either get ten times the number of
volunteers, or, at worst, wait ten days. You waited longer than that in 2000, so
what's the harm? 

kWe 


I suspect Kevin that we should now be happy that the Usanian colonies rebelled
against the Empire in the late 1700s and went their own way. They do tend to let
the side down a bit. 

In our recent election, with 150 electorates to be decided, it was clear by
about two hours after the polls closed that the government was far enough ahead
in enough seats to be returned. By close of counting for the night, there were
only six seats still undecided and the size of gov't's majority was the only
matter in doubt. As it was well above 6 seats (24 in the final count) the final
few seats didn't really matter. It took a couple of weeks to get the final tally
as they had to wait for postal and provisional votes to be tallied. And this all
happened in a system based on preferential voting, which is far more complex
than first past the post. 

It could happen that just a handfull of seats could decide which side won, but
that is historically pretty rare in our elections. The Senate count took much
longer, but within a day, the first five senators (out of six) from each state
were known with some certainty, although it took up to a month for the final
places in all states to become clear. However the government is made in the
Reps, so the Senate majority is not critical to the election, just to the
ability to pass legislation in the new parliament. As it happened, the gov't won
a majority in the Senate, the first time this has happened since 1979. 

The obvious solution for Usania is to go back to having an hereditary head of
state (disposing of the bloody awful Electoral College) and change to a
Parliamentary form of government. The most logical answer (and I offer this
gratis and with no thought of reward) is to find a young male Kennedy, marry him
to a young female Bush - thus taking cognizance of present dynastic realities -
let them reign jointly (the Brits had William and Mary for a time, and that
worked for them) and then the senior offspring could become King or Queen of
Usania, and the line could continue on ad infinitum. No need for them to wield
any power, bung on a few fancy uniforms, crank up some instant traditions, rake
of squillions from tourists to Washington and Robert is your relative. 

Say Thank You Oh Sage of the Great South Land. 

Barry Williams the Skeptic of Oz


This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.printcharger.com/emailStripper.htm


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
      U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
------------
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
   TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org > [Southeast Asia
veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list