Agreed; good example is the majority of Australians never supported the
war in Iraq. A federal election occured not long after this highly
unpopular event - what happened? Imcumbent won, by focusing on the
swinging voters and what would sway them, namely tax cuts, baby
bonuses, interest rates, etc. People with strong party alliances aren't
going to switch teams because of policy changes, so it becomes those
who will who must be targeted.<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/18/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Adrian Whitehead</b> <<a href="mailto:ccserac.project1@ecoaction.net.au">ccserac.project1@ecoaction.net.au</a>
> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>Majority Opinion is not really that
important.</span></font></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font> </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>An astute political player what is important is
the opinion of the swinger voters in marginal seats these are the people that
need to be won over. </span></font></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font> </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>Sadly rusted on voters don't matter, and safe
seats don't matter.</span></font></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font> </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>Howard has been a master at this game, and governments
who do it well can keep them selves in power or win elections,
i.e. Richardson with the Franklin.</span></font></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font> </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>Poor players will often confuse their goal and make a
mess of their own politics, such as Biesly in 2001 election on
refugees.</span></font></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font> </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span>Adrian</span></font></div><br>
<div align="left" dir="ltr" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b>
peakoil-bounces+adrian=<a href="mailto:ecoaction.net.au@act-peakoil.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">ecoaction.net.au@act-peakoil.org</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au@act-peakoil.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au@act-peakoil.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of
</b>Antony Barry<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 18 January 2006 11:10
AM<br><b>To:</b> Keith Thomas<br><b>Cc:</b> ACT Peak Oil
discussion<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Peakoil] 78% favour renewables (in
UK)<br></font><br></div>
<div></div><br>
<div>
<div>On 17 Jan 2006, at 9:27 PM, Keith Thomas wrote:</div><br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font style="font-family: Andale Mono; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;" face="Andale Mono" size="4">
It would be nice to think that democracy in mass society would come up
with the best solution. That works OK for traditional politics, but not for
peak oil and climate change. It matters not a whit what the majority - or even
ALL - the people say or favour.</font></p></blockquote></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>Politically it DOES matter what a
large majority thinks. A government which ignores strong
public opinion risks being kicked out and it's actions negated.
Governments can lead but it's risky. The present Commonwealth Government has
taken a risk with Iraq, Telstra and industrial relations presumably because
it thought the majority opinion was wrong and people would come round to
their way of thinking.
<div><br></div>
<div>We want the government to take action to steer us away from the
disaster which peak oil will bring. To do so we need to bring more people to the
view that this is a problem which must be faced urgently.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Decisions such as the Gungahlin Drive Extension might not have been
made if the likely future of fuel supplies was considered.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At least Canberra planning now looks to be trying to keep development
closer and cutting back on continual sprawl.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Tony</div>
<div><br>
<div><span style="word-spacing: 0px; font-family: Andale Mono; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; text-transform: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal; letter-spacing: normal; border-collapse: separate;">
<div>phone : 02 6241 7659 | <a href="mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au</a></div>
<div>mobile: 04 1242 0397 | <a href="http://tony-barry.emu.id.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://tony-barry.emu.id.au</a></div><br></span></div><br></div><br>
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