Only Half The Folk Vote Apr 17th,2011 Poem by James Bredin

We should be ashamed of a system where less than half the folk vote,
Something like what a Middle East despot dictator might promote,
The Australians are required to vote or they get fined,
Makes for a more democratic system if you don’t mind.

It seems to me that our politicians are reluctant to change,
We have a perfect democracy, they say, so why rearrange?
Then if only half the people bother to vote, then that’s good,
The parties – not the people have control; is that understood?

And why would our politicians be so reluctant to change?
Doesn’t seem normal to me, in fact it really seems quite strange,
Where less than half the people control who gets elected,
Am I missing something here or am I just not connected.

Apr 17th,2011