Will You Drink to This?

 

Sadly, it’s simple. Both political parties profit shamelessly from generous campaign donations, and both are easily seduced by powerful lobbyists. The brewers have snapped up virtually every big name influencer in town, many of them former Liberal party operatives.

 

Nowhere mentioned in this article are donations of booze to events - fundraisers, for instance, or Party parties at related venues.  No matter.

 

If we're to get to the heart of the matter of this, we need to identify the core problem.

 

People with money donate to politicians and, as a result get their ear.  Those ears are then talked into by former political staffers turned GR agents because, again, that's where the money is.

 

Money isn't the objective of politicians - political wins are.  Money is simply a tool required to achieve victory.  You need to pay for polls, expensive ad campaigns, a whole lot of pizza and car rentals and whatnot. 

 

It's the job of partisans to get elected, and that means votes.  How do you get people to vote for you?  Not by thoughtful discussion of the issues nor carefully balanced policy proposals.  Nope - it's messaging and framing that matters.  Ballot questions pull at emotions - they're not about solutions.

 

People fundamentally don't care about the doings or Parliament - or at the very least they aren't interested.  Or informed.  Or engaged. 

 

So outreach needs to be done.  That costs money.  Money that comes from folk like those behind The Beer Store.

 

What's the problem?  Politics is a sales business and voters are apparently lazy consumers. 

 

What's the solution?  Open Government.  Responsible society.

 

We can keep whining about the problem, but until we agree to be part of the solution, nothing's gonna change.