At this election, a massive protest vote is expected on both the left and the right. Bill Shorten’s position as Labor leader has already come into question, even before the election, as Labor’s chances appear very weak, at least according to the polls.
Malcolm Turnbull’s position as leader of the Liberal Party has continued to stoke a growing anger among conservatives – although he has remained firm on border security, he has failed to speak openly and honestly about the nature of Islamic terrorism, and has in general embraced a politically correct language and outlook.
The size of the protest vote, and whether it will only impact the Senate, or the House of Representatives as well, will only be known on Saturday evening. But if I can focus on one key issue delineating Liberal and Labor, it is this: Labor, if elected, will introduce legislation to legalise same-sex marriage. That is, we have “progressed” to the stage that the legalisation of same-sex marriage is an open, stated platform of one of the two major parties, going into an election. Malcolm Turnbull, to his credit, has maintained his predecessor’s pledge to hold a referendum on the subject. That is, he will put it to a democratic vote.
So, effectively, a vote for Labor is a vote for same-sex marriage. A vote for the Liberal Party is a vote for direct democracy.
The arguments for the superiority of the latter policy only need a brief revision. For a change of this magnitude, it must be put to the people. The arguments raised against this simply do not hold water – to argue that it will hurt the feelings of those it will supposedly benefit, when to pass such a law would go against deeply held beliefs of those opposed, is extremely weak. The assertion that 70% of Australians support same-sex marriage, an apparently unmoving, set-in-concrete number determined by one unrepresentative survey, is undermined by same-sex proponents’ apparent panic to avoid a referendum to settle the matter once and for all.
Like most people, and as I have said before, I actually don’t care. But I care about democratic process. I care about people being able to state their opinion without being labelled a bigot. And I care about memory, about history – I remember when the stated aim of the homosexual lobby was to destroy marriage, not to attain it, and I am suspicious when the tables can be turned so completely in so short a time.
So with this in mind, I think it is important to take care with how those opposed to Labor and the Greens, but are eager to punish the Liberals for their disloyalty, wield their protest vote: Not for any moral or religious reason. Simply for the sake of democracy.
Photo by torbakhopper 