Mumblings on self-censorship, depression, the republic debate and the forthcoming Wallabies tour.

I have been looking at last Mondays entry with a view as to whether or not I should delete it. At the moment I am still unsure, so for the time being, it stays. If this is meant to be a accurate and therapeutic (for me anyway) record of my current existance, any self censorship would be pointless, it would defeat the purpose of this blog. So as I said, for the time being it stays.

Anyhow.......

Found this quote the other day;
"The West won the world not by the superiority of it's ideas or values or religion but rather by it's superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-westerners never do."                     Samuel Huntington

Not quite sure why I put that in, but I like the quote.

It's clear, to me anyway, that I am trying to avoid writing anything, to be truthful, I am a bit of a broken man at the moment, some times are good, others, I linger in that big black hole that I have dug for myself. This intrigued me http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26302732-5013945,00.html. I do not like the people who run my state, in fact I put it on record here and now that for the first, and only time in my life I will vote for the Liberal Party at the next state election. This is for no other reason than the fact that I would like the cabal of small time political players running South Australia to FUCK RIGHT OFF. I am not for a minute suggesting that I think the opposition will do a better or worse job, but I am voting for them because they are someone else. Not an ideal use of my democratic right, more an indictment on the state of affairs here.
I have digressed though. After reading that article I found myself feeling sorry for Kevin Foley, he's a man who (in my opinion) has made a lot of errors, is a bit of a thug and a bully boy (like saying Hitler was a bit anti-semetic) and who's personal demenour has done no favours to himself. But if he is suffering, as the article suggests I feel for him and wish him all the best.
We are coming up to a pair of noteworthy anniversaries. Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall came down and ten years ago Australians, myself included (it was a cold wet morning that I cast my vote at Australia House in London) rejected our becoming a republic.
As is befitting a man with the amount of time that I have on my hands I have been reading a lot about both events. The former I will bore you with at another time, although I did like the timing of the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by the Czechs, but the latter, is worth commenting on now.
Let me say from the begininng here that I am a republican, I think that it is high time that we broke the apron strings of empire. But I also think that an Australian republic won't happen until  the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a figure who is, rightly in my opinion, much admired.
With this hypothesis in mind, and the probable (at least) 5 years we have to work through it's nuances  it is worth seeing what sort of form a modern day Australian republic should take.
So here's a few ideas.
Election of the head of state directly by the people. One of Howard's greatest political triumphs was the wording of that referendum, the crafty little cunt.
Let's get rid of compulsory voting, what is democratic about forcing people to vote?
A Bill of Rights per chance? I don't think that being the only liberal democracy in the world without one is a really good look. If you are interested in this I can heartily recomend this; http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9781741666823. Maybe because we never fought for our rights we seem to take a rather casual view towards them.
Formal acknowledgement of Aboriginal ownership of Australia in the constitution, even the aforementioned crafty little cunt thought that was a good idea. But I would take that a little further and put in place some sort of representation for the Aboriginal people in parliament. An emotive and complex issue but I think it needs to be done. Off the top of my head I can only think of one Aboriginal parliamentarian (Neville Bonner). Not sure how it could be done (must give it some thought) but I think it should be done. Maybe something along the lines of the N.Z. system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_seats. I know, wiki, but you think I could find anything on the N.Z. parliament website.
Good article in yesterdays A.L.R. on the republican debate; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26267822-25132,00.html
So there you have it. A few ideas. I think the republican debate should be seen as the perfect oppourtunity to redifine the Australian political system, it is not just about who is our head of state.
And on a note to finish. The Wallabies won the 1999 World Cup on referendum day and gee, haven't they come on in leaps and bounds since then. We've got a Grand Slam tour coming up and I fear it's going to be more 1981 than 1984.