Quote, ‘The Daydreamer’ -”For the vast majority, what is happening in Iraq (and other places) doesn’t effect or touch them personally, so they are unconcerned”. Don’t you find this statement a bit ‘broad’. How can you know and express the opinion of ‘them’? I think you’d be quite suprised how ‘they’ feel surrounding this somewhat ‘delicate’ subject. ‘They’ after all, are still human…

Quote, ‘The Daydreamer’ -”As a serving member of Australia’s armed forces, you would hope that should you ever be sent again into harm’s way, that it is for a just and noble cause”. There will always be people that disagree with what the government is doing. Being a member of the ADF is not a democracy…it is a job, more than a job. One which one does as is told, not what one necessarily wishes or believes to be correct/incorrect, wrong or right. Something that comes when one signs the dotted line. Having said that, as you know from my previous statement, that I am for our government and Howard. I might not agree with everything this party has to offer, but in my eyes it sures beats any replacement.

Quote, ‘The Daydreamer’ -”The most striking example of this is the efforts of the ADF in the days following the Tsunami that struck Indonesia”. Having been one of these people, what I saw I have very strong opinions on…one which I’ll share over a beer…not on paper/monitor.

Quote, ‘The Daydreamer’ -”As someone who served (or perhaps didn’t) in the Middle East, the blood of innocent Iraqi’s is literally on your hands”. Yet again, over a beer, I’d love for you to elaborate on this one!

Quote, ‘The Daydreamer’ -”Take your head out of the fucking sand!” Reading this makes me laugh. Where I come from, if you want people to even contemplate looking at another angle to a given situation/scenario, you would approach the subject in a manner that would encourage people to consider your opinion. Yes, they might not agree with you, but at least they will have taken the time to consider. All you managed to do was make me angry and dismiss any attempt at trying to see your side of the argument.

For Jimmy James: Although our visions on the argument are different, I value what you said and like your response in regard to the ‘Big Wide World’.

Quote, ‘Jimmy James’ -”I’m unlucky enough to be from a very working class family that struggled”. Maybe you’re not unlucky at all - maybe in a weird way you received some sort of gift. You now know the plight of a struggling individual/family/group? Maybe now you cherish/appreciate things moreso than what one may if not from a similar upbringing?

For Oz:

Don’t like the Liberals? Stiff shit. Want to throw away your vote on a third party? Be my guest. Fact of the matter is, the economy remains viable and that’s all Australia gave a shit about at the last election. As long as everthing is going well for a lot of us, why rock the boat?

There is no one who can hold this government accountable for its mistakes. Forget the Labour paty - they’re too busy fighting between themselves over the scraps to really worry about the issue at hand. Expect to see the garden gnome in power for another term, assuming he doesn’t break a non-core promise.

I don’t know what some people mean by “Real World”, and I guess if you live in it it feels real, even if others see it as a crock.

What I mean by “real world” is where the average Australian lives and tries to carve out a living. Its where government policies can mean the difference between meeting a housing repayment and losing everything, and where a tax tweak here and an inflation point there can change your life. Its also where the new IR laws can make you lose your job, or be offered a pay cut with the threat of being replaced.

I don’t live on the breadline, and my real world doesn’t feel real, as I know what people are going through. I’m unlucky enough to be from a very working class family that struggled.

For most of Australia that struggle is day to day, and lets face it, many of them are not particularly well educated or enlightened, especially regarding politics and their place in this so-called democracy. Unfortunately that suits the majority of the rest of us.

Can’t have too many people taking a piece of the pie.

For Jimmy: can you please elaborate on “The Real World”. I hear this term used so often at my place of work, but fail to see how someone can be in it and not experience it. Is The Land of Oz not the real world? I would enjoy hearing your comments on this one.

For Princess: Good luck…may the force be with you…

I have similar discussions with the Daydreamer and we basically agree to disagree (sort of), but acknowledge each side (although I think he still thinks he can change my views - good luck there…). I do get fired up, and I agree with you that it is important to feel passionately about how the world is being run around you.

It is also important in my view to accept that opinions are not fact (although they can be based on them) and that an opinion can’t be wrong - it is just one person’s point of view and is no more or less valid than anyone elses. Except in my case when they are all (obviously) right. ; )

As for your question, I am not sure what a viable individual policy for a political party is. I guess it depends on the state of the nation at any given time as to what they feel is appropriate. You can’t please all of the people all of the time (or all of the people any of the time I would venture to say).

And just as a name drop, after I finished off my last firey response in the Emirates lounge in Auckland this afternoon, who should sit down opposite me but Sir Bob Geldof. Very cool, and got me thinking about all the amazing things he has done. Then realised he was flying first class. Kind of strange how the world works really… Oh, and me being me was too shy to say hi to him! : )

Firstly I don’t think that any political party should be in power for as long as our current government. Arrogance and greed are the only possible result, as we now see daily.

I agree that extremism (and/or radicalism) is pretty bad. That sort of single mindedness shows a lack of imagination and intelligence. “Isms” in general for me are too limiting to subscribe to, and I include religions in general in that group.

I’m not a Left extremist. If anything, I am reactionary. If the ALP happened to be in power right now, and was showing the arrogance and American brown nosing tendencies that this government is showing, I would yell and scream too.

The Blogshere is an odd space. People say things that may stay on the page, and are never uttered out loud, and therefore do very little in the real world. I like to think I act ALMOST as much as I talk. I support Unions, more so since the new IR related laws were announced. These laws do hurt people, they have hurt people, and will continue to do so. I was a Union rep, an elected member and now I just show my solidarity with money and my presence.

I think that it is kind of funny that conservative governments pretty commonly carry on about family values, but these are usually fairly narrowly defined as a particular model of family. I’d hate to be a single mother, a single income working class family paying off a house or any other marginal type of family unit under this regime.

I’m going to have to disagree with you on something here. I have to say that Idealism is what makes the world turn. Conservatism and complacency by their very nature champion the status quo. When society doesn’t move forward in any meaningful sense, the ideas that are produced by it become stale and re-hashed. You have to daydream.

Also, just to clarify, I mentioned Beazley only as an outside thought. He is as much a US brown noser as the arrogant bastard who currently holds the position. Politicians of any persuasion tend to be difficult to like, especially the born-and-bred ones this country keeps producing on both sides. We need some people who have actually worked and lived in the real world in the mix.

I’d like to close with a question. What do you consider to be a viable policy for a political party? Granted, the Greens seem to thrive on marginal issues and radical ideas, but that’s what they are there for.

P.S. I object to being referred to as holy, even in a trinity with the good and noble Daydreamer. There is absolutely nothing holy about me.

I am one of the largely conservative asshole offspring you refer to, and am wondering who on earth you think is going to run for office (and win) based on morals and humanitarianism. Sure as hell not the Labour party, and the Greens have enough viable policies (other than those on the environment) to fill a matchbox. And that’s in their extended versions.

And as for you Daydreamer, what planet are you living on??? Do you honestly have such an unrealistic view of the world to think that war will ever cease? Human nature dictates that this is will never happen as greed will win out 9 times out of 10 - why do you think Communism can never work??? Good deeds do not, sadly, beget good deeds in this world, as the last Bali bombing showed.

And to slag off an acting member of the armed forces is EXTREMELY bad form, lets hope you never have to rely on them for protection as I personally don’t think you deserve it after those comments. I don’t see you going out an doing anything to help what you consider to be a just and noble cause - writing a blog, while lovely for voicing your opinions, doesn’t really cut it at the coal face.

To quote yourself - Get your head out of the fucking sand!!!!!

And, just for the record, who says what you think is a just and noble cause actually is?? Who made you God???? Apparently you are part of a holy trinity with Jimmy James and some other as yet unnamed and similarly delusional individual.

The Australian public is made up of way too many over 50’s boomer types and their largely conservative asshole offspring.

I’ve been waiting for enough of the grey set to die off to let the young people ie. the people whose future the politician’s are destroying, have a fair say in who runs this country.

Voting based on morals and humanitarianism instead of share prices will come back into fashion soon.