READING through comments from the SA farmers that completed our election survey, it's clear there's an awful lot of dissatisfaction with our political process.
Much of this seemed to be caused by the behaviour of our elected representatives and the leadership merry-go-round of the past nine years.
Politicians were described as being greedy, always bickering, playing games, bullying each other, lying through their teeth, issuing hollow promises and behaving like kindergarten kids. It's not exactly a glowing report card.
Call me old fashioned, but I thought our politicians were meant to represent the best of society, and be the people we felt proud to have speaking for us in the nation's capital.
We trusted them to know what was important to us, and to always make decisions based on what best represented our interests.
Our Prime Ministers were once widely respected and sometimes even revered. These days, we've got to a point where some people think it's appropriate to throw an egg at the PM in the middle of a Country Women's Association function.
Perhaps part of this change is that - rightly or wrongly - we no longer see our leaders as people with a long-term vision. Instead, based on your feedback, it seems you see many of our politicians as people willing to say anything to get another term in parliament.
One comment that stood out to me said politicians were just "spruiking what social media has dictated is currently popular". I think there's something in this.
Of course politicians have to address the issues people are talking about, but this shouldn't dictate every policy - sometimes the bold, unpopular choice is best for the country.
Let's hope whoever wins on Saturday acts in a way that changes people's opinions.
I've really been saddened by the number of people I've heard proudly boasting about their plans to vote informally or avoid voting at all. By throwing away their vote, surely they also forfeit the right to complain about our taxation system, foreign investment rules and spending on roads, hospitals and education.
As much as I can understand why some voters would be frustrated or disillusioned with the political process, if we don't all vote, how can we expect anything to change?
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