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| Distressed, sedated and broken | |
Anyone who misleads the Australian population to
take their hard-earned tax
money to satisfy their own desire for power surely deserves severe
punishment. It is reprehensible and unforgivable act, well deserving of the
full severity of the law, and a
long prison sentence. Of course that would put every politician in Australia
into prison. A good start, some might say, but not something that most
politicians would agree to. Maybe that's why so many politicians have criticized the 3 year prison
sentence given to Pauline
Hanson, recently convicted of electoral fraud. Everyone from Johnny ('a bit
harsh') Howard down to Natasha ('I don't agree with her but ..') Stott Despoja
has joined the chorus of 'awwww's as soon as they realized which way
public opinion has gone. With 85% of public opinion against a prison sentence, showing
sympathy is the vote winner for the major parties, particularly with reports of
Pauline suffering a nervous breakdown in her less than comfortable
prison environment. Pauline's defiant spirit has finally been broken. Only Mark (Maddog) Latham was crass enough to point out the irony - that
Pauline had spent the last ten years lobbying for tougher prison sentences, and
then got what she demanded. Pauline Hanson has been convicted for what many see as a technicality. She
(along with fellow One Nationite David Ettridge) received $AU500K to spend on
electioneering, which they did - just like all the other politicians who get
electoral funding. Pauline's crime was her organization wasn't actually a
political party according to the bureaucratic definition, and of course
individuals are not eligible for funding - just political parties. In other words, gentle taxpayer, your money is taken from you by force, and allocated according
to a formula which favors the existing major parties. Surprised? Rightly or wrongly, people will interpret Pauline's imprisonment as what the
system will do to people who try to take on the major parties through fair
electoral means. This overwhelming force, in many people's eyes, will legitimize the use of
force to change the system. Far from protecting our democracy, this decision has
undermined it. The memories of Timothy (Oklahoma Bomber) McVeigh, and Theodore (Unabomber)
Kaczynski are fading too quickly in the shadow of September-11 and Bali. It is not only members of the Religion of Peace who resort to
acts of terrorism.
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