U.S. Presidential Race 2012

[SteveO]

Three tiers here also except it's Provinces (provincial) in lieu of states.

Very interesting fact CH, that there is actually Compulsary voting in Australia !!!!! WHy not local voting also ? How is it enforced ?????...good idea actually...must p off the human rights advocates though ????

we have three tiers of Government, local-which deals with localised city infrastucture, State-which deals with "state" issues and "federal" which oversees the country as a whole,
voting in Local Elections is voluntary...voting in State/Federal Elections is compulsar.
we dont have a "house of lords" set up but apart from that our system of elections on a State and Federal level are pretty close the the UK system.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Three tiers here also except it's Provinces (provincial) in lieu of states.

Very interesting fact CH, that there is actually Compulsary voting in Australia !!!!! WHy not local voting also ? How is it enforced ?????...good idea actually...must p off the human rights advocates though ????

every Australian Citizen must enrol on the Electoral Roll at age 18 and is checked off against taxation records,Social Security records, Drivers Licences...ie: numerous Govt Agencies.
when you go to vote your name is crossed off the official register...as long as you turn up to vote on Election Day and get your name checked off it is up to you as to whether you actually fill in your election forms correctly or "void" them....failure to turn up to get your name checked off and you recieve a fine in the mail.

i dont believe in compulsory voting simply because too many idiots just fill in the forms because they have to...ie: dont think about policies etc, therefore they throw their votes away to whoever for no reason!

Local Govt elections have never been compulsory here,the others have...have no idea why,even when i ran for Parliament on Federal and State levels for One Nation Party i never found out why this is so!

i would say that 45-55% of the population are "swinging voters"(not loyal to either Liberal or Labour)

definition:
Liberal: are our Conservative Party
Labor: leftist leaning policies
numerous other parties also;
Greens: environmentalists(extreme leftists)
Democrats: bi-partisan,support what they consider reasonable policies by either Lib's/Labor(mainly leftists)
One Nation: putting Australia first,ie:fix us before helping out other countries basically(conservative)
Christian Family: very Catholic views(conservative)

and then we usually have numerous "indipendants" also who carry their own 'crosses'

human rights?....IMO,they and the UN can go to hell,we dont need outsiders telling us how to live and run "our" country with "international charters"...!!!!

[SteveO]

Wow we have a politician in our midst !!!!

[LMD]

Hey, congrats on running Crazy. Takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and get enough supporters to cause a stir. I hope you don't mind my asking of how you did?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

picked up 18% of votes in State Election, and from memory around 6-8% in Federal Election...not too good really, but i figured that if you are going to criticise politicians privately and via letters to the newspapers...you have to put your hand up and give it a go....so i did!, and let me tell you, it takes a hell of a lot of time,stress and more than a few dollars to campaign, so even though i dont agree or like a lot of what i hear from pollies around election time, my hat is still off to them just for their determination if nothing else, whatever side of the political fence they are on!

[SteveO]

Yes I agree CH. The honest and sincere hard working politicians are to be admired for their dedication to public service ! I personally know one of them so I can appreciate what he goes through on a daily basis !...someone's got to do it, right ?

picked up 18% of votes in State Election, and from memory around 6-8% in Federal Election...not too good really, but i figured that if you are going to criticise politicians privately and via letters to the newspapers...you have to put your hand up and give it a go....so i did!, and let me tell you, it takes a hell of a lot of time,stress and more than a few dollars to campaign, so even though i dont agree or like a lot of what i hear from pollies around election time, my hat is still off to them just for their determination if nothing else, whatever side of the political fence they are on!

[Music Head]

agree
I'm not one of those that thinks politicians are evil or throw all the bums out or any of that bs.
Democracies need stable governments and people to run them.
If they are found to be dishonest, vote them out.
What we need are intelligent citizens.
In fact I am all for some type of test to be allowed to vote.
Everyone is all for getting that vote count up.
Not me, I don't want idiots voting.

[CherieLuamboYampanyaStar]

I feel thatit is so possible that Mitt Romney will win Florida because Newt’s allegedstatement “Spanish is a slang language”. This will hurt Newt very much with the Hispanic base.

[LMD]

picked up 18% of votes in State Election, and from memory around 6-8% in Federal Election...not too good really,

Hey, don't get too down, 18% is incredible. Congratulations on that. And 6-8% isn't too shabby either. Congratulations on both fronts.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

agree
I'm not one of those that thinks politicians are evil or throw all the bums out or any of that bs.
Democracies need stable governments and people to run them.
If they are found to be dishonest, vote them out.
What we need are intelligent citizens.
In fact I am all for some type of test to be allowed to vote.
Everyone is all for getting that vote count up.
Not me, I don't want idiots voting.

i personally only vote Consevative, but as long as whoever is in power does the "right thing" by Australia and doesnt "sell out" to minority groups or to international pressure groups, and/or sticks by their election promises(good or bad) then good luck to them....

it should be all about "honesty" IMO!

not sure how a "test" would decide who should vote would ever work, but certainly a right to choose not to vote would be better, then the idiots just wouldnt vote IMHO!.

oh yeh MH....my dad likes Newt from what he has seen, but my mum likes Romney(which confirms my thoughts that he has that 'charm' factor about him).

if the election 2012 results were in my hands i would give Obama another go, simply because he inherited a lot of debt and crap from the previous Administration(from all accounts) and it takes longer than one term to sort all that crap out and be able to introduce and see the benefits of his policies fully in that time....hey, just my opinion mate!?!?