Politics

from here

I was quite keen on politics earlier this year. I was so keen, in fact, that I donned an XL-sized blue t-shirt and waddled the streets of Cranebrook to doorknock with David Bradbury, our local MP at the time. (My efforts earned me the title of Volunteer of the Week, which is only because I made doing the same thing as everyone else look more impressive by being heavily pregnant.) I remained keen even after Rudd elbowed Gillard out of the Prime Minister position, and I felt hopeful for the Labor party for the first time in a little while. And then, on July 19th, I gave up on politics for a bit. A few years max, I hope.

I remember the date because it was the day Rudd announced his harsh PNG “solution” for asylum seekers, which came as such a shock to me.* It was also the day my church emailed to tell us all that they didn’t want women having any say in the church (in different words, of course). That night I cried during dinner over the fact that men were ruining the world, and then, sometime between that moment and the next morning, I gave up caring. I stepped back. I realised I couldn’t be bothered fighting anymore; all of the hope for change I’d held onto seemed to have dissipated as I slept.

I voted for neither Rudd nor Abbott, and then I ignored the count and I ignored the result and I’m still – a few months down the track – only vaguely aware that the Liberal Party is back in power. I’m fairly certain that Tony Abbott is now Prime Minister, but I’m making no effort to confirm it; it sounds lazy, but I have no energy to face that kind of disappointment right now. I’ve been wondering if, after Hazel starts consistently sleeping through the night, I can find some other way of ensuring I only get 2.5 hours of rest at a time so that I can spend the next few years in this foggy land of ignorance and then we can vote a better version of Labor back in and the world can be right (righter. Lefter) once again.

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* I know this is a complex issue, and I don’t know what the solution is. It wasn’t just the harshness of the policy, though; I was upset by Rudd’s adoption of the callous language I’d always associated with the Liberal Party, and frustrated that it looked more and more like voting would be more of a lesser-of-two-evils thing than a “Woooo, go Labor!” thing. If you know what I mean.***

** I was very tired and hormonal, and I only speak in generalisations in these circumstances.

*** If you have no idea what I mean, or if this post makes you cranky, just pretend it doesn’t exist. I probably shouldn't be allowed to publish posts while this sleepy.