Election Blues

This has to be the most boring election I’ve lived through so far. No matter where you look the leaders of all parties are dull, colorless and boring. Julia’s red hair is the most vibrant patch in a field of grey conservatism.


What happened to the great orators of the past? What happened to the leaders who used words as their friends? The ones whose voices were their instruments of power and they knew how to use them with passionate energy. What happened to the speech writers who drew upon emotion and feeling?

In this election we have no great speeches. The leaders’ voices don’t rise with passion and fall with emotion. They don’t thump the lecterns to make their point, they don’t raise their fists and they don’t ever let feelings get in the way of their bland intonation and soporific statements.

Our leaders are too scared to sound anything else but “normal”, whatever that is. They are too scared to make promises that might antagonise sectors of the community. They are so intent on staying in the dead centre of conservative Australia that they look dead themselves. There is no passion, no belief and no strength behind these leaders. They have been given their boundaries and they make sure not to straddle any fences.

How can we trust any of these leaders to govern our country with strength and passion if they are too scared to show us how they really feel?

How can we choose between these various shades of grey?

Are these leaders of ours a product of our making? Have we been so apathetic with our governance that politicians think we only want bland, colorless leadership?

Are we so selfish that all we think of is what we can get out of each party? So we sit back, listen to their promises and try to work out which one will give us more money or more benefits and vote for them without any consideration for the country or our children or their children?

Maybe it’s about time we looked at ourselves and changed our mindsets? Maybe we should decide what we want for the future and not for the now? Maybe we should think of our children and our grand children and their children? Maybe we should do what’s best for the environment and for those who are worse off than ourselves?

We really should do something before we end up with a progression of dull, colorless, boring cardboard cut outs of leaders and our country loses its passion.