http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/aurelien-mondon-/ Aurelien Mondon is an independent researcher. His work focuses mostly on populism and racism and their impact on democracy. He is the co-founder of the Melbourne Free University and some of his texts can be found on his blog (http://www.briefandfalseadvertising.net). en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/democratic-by-name-not-by-nature/ Whenever I mention to people that I am a researcher in politics, they talk to me about elections, the government and how they often feel slated by the behaviour of their politicians. Ask what the best political system is, and people will tell you it’s democracy, of course. And if you ask them what’s most important in a democracy, clearly they’ll answer it’s the right to vote. Why?Because it gives ‘us’ all some sort of voice; a say in who will represent us in parliament. If it wasn’t for voting, a minority would certainly take power and rule only for their own interest. Let’s consider these statements and ask ourselves a few more questions. How many of us really think our vote matters and truly influences the way our country is run? Apart from token measures, who truly believes there is much of a difference between our two major parties? More to the point, how many of us vote for the ‘least worst’ rather than for a party which truly represents our ideas of what society should be? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Aurelien Mondon ) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/democratic-by-name-not-by-nature/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/democratic-by-name-not-by-nature/#item6174 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:45:16 +0000 Aurelien Mondon | Author bios | The Punch