Race-Baiting And Vote-Buying.

Tomorrow, of course, is Saturday 21st August. It's a big day - not only are the mighty Sharkies playing the Melbourne Raindrops down in Mexico, but it's also my dad's birthday the next day so I have to get his gift. Not sure what it's gonna be yet.

And, of course, the fucking election.

I'm studying politics in addition to my journalism degree, so naturally I'm following the wankfest that has been this election campaign pretty closely. Waste of time that it is.

Before I go on, I should probably explain my political beliefs. I belong to what's often called the "wet" wing of the Liberal Party - that is, conservative on the economy (in my case, very strongly so - for an idea of where I'm coming from, I count Ayn Rand and Frederich Hayek as some of my intellectual heroes) but lean to the left on most social issues. I personally strongly support gay marriage, abortion rights and I even compromise my economic principles on matters relating to the environment and climate change.

In another country I'd probably be called a libertarian (Except the US, where that term apparently applies to Bible-thumping, Obama-hating bastards like Glenn Beck) but since Australia doesn't really have a Libertarian party, I just identify with the Libs.

That said, the man in the budgie smugglers is about as far from my views as you can get in the same party. Not only is he one of the Bible-thumpers (something that, as an atheist, always scares me in politicians) but this election he's basically compromised all his conservative economic principles by throwing money around like the proverbial sailor in a brothel.

I'm not exactly a fan of the ranga either. Anyone who deposes their boss, a sitting prime minister (don't feed me the bullshit that she had no role in the process - anyone with a brain knows she did) after making promises that they wouldn't can't even be trusted as much as you'd trust a common-or-garden pollie - that is, none. I look forward to seeing her coming good on her promise and moving forward...as the full-forward for the Western Bulldogs once she loses the PM job. I might actually watch the AFL if that happens.

To be honest, this entire election campaign has been a fucking joke. I know that election campaigns are generally about 10% info and 90% bullshit - but this one has been more like 2% bad info, 98% BS. It's been a campaign of race-baiting (BOATPEOPLE! EVIL! TERRORISTS!) and vote buying (Paid Parental Leave! No Great Big Fucking New Whatever Tax, instead a Minute Small New Tax!).

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm following Mark Latham's advice tomorrow and dropping in an empty ballot. You should too.