Too many Americans now don’t trust the credentialed “elitists” with their graduate degrees and years of research. They’d rather go with the charismatic dunce who cheated his way through high school and can barely speak in complete sentences.
Nationally, a study by Yale researchers determined that “the excess [COVID] death rate among Republican voters was 43% higher than the excess death rate among Democratic voters.”
the right wing racists are using a same tactic in Australia to block the indigenous people from having a voice in parliament with a 'if you don't know vote no' campaign. we're having a referendum which means we're changing the constitution, the gist is we're going to finally properly recognise the aboriginal people (the ones that lived here for 60k years plus) and give them a permanant ability to voice their concerns in parliament.
it's disgusting and transparent for the anti information angle, however it sadly seems to be working and now likely the people that have endured mass genocide will again be silenced by the white right elites. Australia will remain one the most racist places on the planet.
The problem with our referendum is that it appears to burn a lot of political capital for the sake of gesture politics that is unlikely to change anything of substance. The voice has no teeth and almost everything about it will be determined by the courts at the time.
Now, it's better than nothing, and I don't expect it'll come at the expense of the lack of better alternatives on the horizon, but it's frustrating we can't do something more meaningful.
A reminder: it's what the First Nation Council asked for. It's a decade of work that has been approved and agreed upon by everyone involved.
That is, what you're complaining about are features, not bugs.
Edit: also, for it to have teeth in the future, Australia needs to get more Greens or other suitable 3rd parties into power which support The Voice.
While hopefully Australia will get The Voice, which will mean it won't be able to be easily removed - what's important (as always) is voting for the future of Australia and not coal.
Exactly. A voice shouldnt have teeth either, but id like it to have some reasonable powers of compelling testimony as well as an ability to formally ask for records but that's just me personally.
Voice also won't do anything though. If politicians want to hear the voice of the people they can go listen to them.
The companies ruining indigenous land have been financing the voice referendum, an advisory body like that could easily be used to justify themselves. It's gone that way before. "Progressive No" has the best opinions, listen to Lidia Thorpe and those that put treaty first, both sides want to assimilate indigenous people into settler colonial society. Both a yes and no victory will be a success for the racists.