Politics, Talk
Australia & the USA: are politicians different?
Keeping in touch (Povah)
There are many similarities between my birth country, Australia, and the USA but there are also many differences, and they’re not always noticed at first glance. One that took a while to become obvious lies in the attitudes of politicians towards their constituents – and I’m talking about “us mortal critters here at the headwaters,” to borrow from Pogo.
Anyone who’s ever lived in Australia will tell you that pretty well every time you move house (I’m getting better, I used to say “shift”), among the first items to arrive in the new letterbox (you can’t win ’em all) would be letters of introduction from the Government Members of Parliament, both State and Federal, their equivalents on the Opposition benches, the odd one or two from political hopefuls on the fringes and usually a couple from the Shire or Municipal councillor for your district. Each letter also gives you the pollie’s contact details.
I know that the reason they send this stuff lies more in spreading propaganda than in a genuine desire to know your concerns, but it is still, in my opinion, a Good Thing. Deep in your heart of hearts you know that despite the rhetoric these coves aren’t really Working Tirelessly on Your Behalf, but at least they did you the courtesy of letting you know where they could be reached, thereby saving you the trouble of having to hunt for the information.
I’d been in Kentucky for about four months before it sunk in that I’d not received one single piece of unsolicited mail from any elected member of any level of government and it came as quite a surprise. It’s not as if I’m invisible; I have a Permanent Resident card, a Kentucky Driver’s License and my name is on the property deeds for Butterfly Bottom. I also must pay State and property taxes and am liable to the IRS for any taxes owed by me to the Federal Government. Neither do I think it has anything to do with the fact that I’m not a US citizen because my wife is, and she hasn’t heard from them. Anyway, I thought, wouldn’t permanent residency suggest that I had more than a passing interest in who my elected representatives are and what they stand for?
The information booklet I’d received along with my Permanent Resident card informed me I have limited voting rights and am entitled to almost all the other benefits enjoyed by US citizens (including gun ownership!) and for that I feel grateful and privileged – apart from the bits that scare me this is a great country in which to be a guest. However, when I tried to find out what these limited voting rights are, I hit a brick wall. I couldn’t find anything on the Federal Government’s website (though in its defense I’ll say that Australians have a different way of presenting information to the researcher) and was getting a bit frustrated until I was almost blinded by the obvious: I’d write to my Elected Representatives.
Not wanting to do things by half I sent a letter via the US Postal Service to my State Senator and another, identical, message to my Elected Senator in Washington, DC. This last was sent by email, the Senator’s postal address not being disclosed on the website.
I raised two issues, one, the matter of my voting entitlements, being a very minor thing. I am, after all, just a grain on a very big beach. The other, however, I consider to be of some importance: the appalling state of telecommunications in my area of Kentucky. This is a very productive little region, with lots of working farms turning off sheep, cattle, goats and other livestock as well as large amounts of grain, vegetables and fruits along with tobacco and so on.
You’d think that we’d be able to get decent high-speed internet here not 30 minutes by back roads from the State Capital and only 20 from a largish regional center, but not so. Very poor cell-phone coverage also. I’d also seen figures suggesting that less than half of the USA has access to high-speed internet service, so, being a country boy from way back, I pointed this out to the Senators and politely asked their opinion.
Well, about six weeks or so passed, then I got a letter from my State Senator’s office, signed by an aide, thanking me for my letter and telling me, in half a dozen lines or less, that if I went to the Federal Government’s website, there I would find out about my rights and that the Senator was aware of the need for good telecommunications (though at the time there was no email address listed for him on the State Government’s website). It’s been three months now and still no word from Our Man In Washington.
Shall I put this down as just another Cultural Difference and is it a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?
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Ah, the ole “taking their constituents for granted” trick. I would imagine your guy in Washington has no idea just how terrible the lack of high speed access, and cell phone service is. It’s common practice in my experience. Probably why a lot of folks are disengaged from the process in the first place. I’d also wager to guess that even if your elected officials actually responded to you, they wouldn’t have any answers, because most of them don’t anyway.
Thanks for sharing that Frank.
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Thanks Matthew. Telecommunications here are a disgrace in my opinion. 2010 in the richest country on earth and supposedly the most technologically advanced and I can’t get an internet connection above about 1990s speed and reliability. And there are people even worse off. As for satellite TV…
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Meg Gerrish says: Here’s a thing my brother-in-law told us about Australia and its citizens (he being an illegal resident for most of his 30 year residency in same): every adult in Australia votes. I’m just saying what he said, that everyone votes and not only that, but the votes are counted by people rather than machines.
We found that shocking, being that we’re from here and hardly anyone votes and even people who volunteer to work for the voting departments wouldn’t sit at a table and COUNT votes. You saw the photos from the 2000 Florida election debacle? Did you see how bored those folks were?
But I would say that you’re likely to find different systems in different states, counties and cities, and among those who represent the people to the Feds. Where we live, a Major Metropolitan Area, the local “pollies” aren’t introducing themselves by letter or door knock, although you can’t be shed of them when election time rolls around. That’s when they become our best friends, and would we mind giving them money for their campaign?
But the names of all our reps, from local to federal, are listed in the front of the phone book along with how to reach them. Not that it would do any good, but it’s good to know we COULD contact an aid in the office if we were so inclined.
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Mary Dorval says: Frank,
I think you are allowed to vote in some local and state elections for issues that do not require you to be a citizen. I have worked the polls for the past few years and I have not personally known of any of these issues in Kentucky but there is a very knowledgable woman named Kitty in voter’s registration at the Fayette County Clerks office 859-255-VOTE who should be able to tell you if these “issues” ever come up in our elections and, if so, how you would register to vote for them. Or maybe they were just referring to American Idol??
Sorry, can’t help with the phone/internet problem. Still think a cell tower at Butterfly Bottom is a good idea.
(I’m still giggling over the fact that you actually tried to get a answer from an elected official. I suppose they are all in a secret meeting right now trying to figure out what to do with Sarah Palin.) -
You are cruel Mary D to laugh at my my naivety. But thanks for the tip – and thanks for reading me.
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Mary D you are mean to laugh at my naivety, but thanks for the tip. Is there anyone in Lexington you don’t know? Dewers, Mary is a hardworking woman and a great advertisement for her profession.
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Mary – you should have warned me before you recommended this house. Regarding the vote: is there anyone in Lexington you don’t know?
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C Smith says: Frank if your congressional or senatorial representitive is up for reelection this November you should begin to recieve phone calls wanting your support. At this time you can tell them what you think with all the four letter words you can think of to bestow on them. It is going to be a recording and no progress will be made toward your plight but it will relieve some tension for a day or two.
I was born 65 years ago in Savannah, Ga and have a birth certificate that states the fact. I receive the same treatment from our elected officials that you have experienced. As election time grows closer their aids will try to become your best friend.
I too live in a rural area with satellite broad-band as my only high speed option and cell phone signal is pretty much non-exsitent. -
Thanks C Smith – and my apologies to other Dewbies for the multiple comments to Mary – there’s a glitch in the system, they didn’t come up so I kept writing and sending. You know how it is. There really SHOULD be an inquiry into satellite TV (and probably cable). Talk about false pretenses – here we are paying good money for programs that repeat every few weeks for years.
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C Smith says:
Frank if you are in my situation, dial-up internet, the addition of video to the Dew has slowed and disrupted most operations.
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Why there can’t be a huge roll out of fiber-optic cable in this country (and in Australis, though it has been proposed there as a government infrastructure project and lobbied against by the vested interests) I’ll never know. It’s 2010. It’s like saying – “Well not everyone can expect to have electric power”.
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Lee says: CSmith-we’ll create an alternative home page for the dew without some of the gadgets that slow it down so we can serve you a faster page. Give me a day or two.
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I promised a faster dew for those of you on dial up or just impatient and here’s a simple solution – go to: http://likethedew.com/2010/02/
That is the archive page for February and shows excerpts of the most recent 10 stories with page links at the bottom for more, but with no video or many bells or whistles. When we get to March, just change the last number in the sequence to a 3 (http://likethedew.com/2010/03/) and so on in subsequent months. Using this method, just click on a headline for the complete story. When you get to that page, notice the navigation at the top (headline and arrow in each direction – those will navigate you to next stories in order in which they published.
Please report back to me if this helps solves your problem.
I really expected to be able to give a more elegant solution with a handful of different templates that load at different speeds to choose from (I did it). The problem came when I realized that I’d have to turn our cacheing system off for to work consistently and that would slow down the original site such that it was just too great a compromise. I’ll keep working on it, but it will be a while.
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