Quote Originally Posted by wbute View Post
Perhaps there needs to be a rule that to become a politician you need to have a minimum of 15 years of non political related work experience before getting a run at the job?
Makes sense to me.
Totally agree.
I used to live in a very strong labor seat. Didn't matter how many of the locals didn't vote for them, the local labor guy always got in.
A few years back, a local cop (fairly high ranking, but still in touch with reality) retired young from the Police, and joined the Libs. Next election, with him as the candidate, they stormed home. The people voted with common sense.

During the 2007 election, I had to absentee vote in a lower-class area. At the gate we had the usual tree huggers (the irony of them handing out so much paper that's instantly scrapped...) and the regular major party devotees - one thing I noticed was how many young people the labor party had on hand - we had a couple of young people jam labor "how to vote" papers at us - first time I've ever had anyone under 60 doing that!
Whilst waiting in line to get our names checked off, a couple of young girls - who didn't even look 18 - were begging us to "vote for Rudd 'cos he's gunna give the single muvvers more money." My reply to that was "you've just made sure I never vote for him."

Think of the viral marketing they can do - plant the seed with one dole bludging idiot, who then tells all his mates (after all, they all share their latest scams) and within days, everyone in their government housing neighbourhood thinks they'd better vote for XYZ because they'll be better off. That landslide victory comes one step closer, and they never had to spend a cent on advertising.