OTOH, if only Murdoch had been happier at home, he might not have felt the need to metastasise?
I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I dare say the peak of Murdoch's influence may be somewhere behind us.
I did become more like my dad; but mainly on personal matters, not on economic or social issues.
[1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/?amp=1
Top line is, the drift to conservatism as we age no longer holds. The thread goes into more detail as it’s a bit nuanced.
But as one LNP strategist said dejectedly on national television during the LNP wipeout “you can make new conservatives if they have nothing to conserve”. If the status quo doesn’t serve the majority of voters why would they do anything but vote to change it.
https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1608746369505976323?...
> In 1912, the former Electoral Act was amended to make enrolment compulsory. In 1924, to increase voter turnout and reduce party campaign expenditure, the Electoral Act was amended to make voting at federal elections compulsory.
Our election cycles are short, and there’s a small defined period where we talk about the election. After which we all get back to what we were doing. Contrast to some other countries, when the elections (even 4 years out) are always on the cards.
But to your point, even if they don’t know the issues, or care their vote is worth as much as mine. They have a responsibility to submit a vote. They don’t have to fill out the vote correctly, they can submit an informal or donkey vote.
They can partake in the classic Aussie tradition of drawing richly detailed genitalia on their ballot for the poll worker to admire.
What you do with your ballot is between you and that piece of paper.
But short of a few very limited circumstances you need to do you duty and make your voice heard. We’re not asking the informed, the educated, the wealthy, the elite or any other subset who they think should run things. We’re saying, your job as a citizen is to record your opinion on who should be running things (even if your opinion is “I don’t know”, you still need to record it).
And the key part here is that no one can take that away from you. The alternative is the game of voter suppression, making you think your vote isn’t wanted or won’t change things. Dropping you from electoral roles days before an election. Damaging the postal service to hamper mail in votes.
We’re one of a tiny number of countries that do it, and almost a century on I think it was a brilliant idea.
We don’t have a draft, and other than Jury duty (which you can reasonably get out of), voting is _the responsibility_ you have as a citizen.
[0] https://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/backgrounders/...
Most voters are "the base", likely to be extreme in their politics, and mostly irrelevant to political outcomes (as they can safely be ignored, since they are voting for their team regardless).