jordan*taps the sign*
Ho Ho Ho Like The Slur[a sign I will need to tap regularly for a variety of political situations]
If you live in an urban area, suberban or even a rural centre, I need you to understand a lot of political promises are just not on the table for deep rural voters.
This same situation plays out over and over, all over the world:
- a party/candidate offers mostly reasonable positive things (for high population areas only): medical centres, dental care, hospital maintenance and equipment updates, TAFE campuses, preschool, rehabilitation centres. Polite and civil.
- some other parties and independents are mostly focused on posturing and slinging shit, but also refer to one directly locally relevant survival issue, like water rights or heavy industrial worksites. Disruptive and uncivil.
People in deep rural areas are left with a clear choice. Vote for the people who say they will send more dentists to a place you have never been to serve a community you have never met, or vote for someone who claims to support you on one key local issue that directly impacts your survival. You may also have an opinion about polite legitimacy vs aggressive power which makes you swing one way or the other.
The really important thing to remember is when you're in this equation, there is no possibility of you or your family getting socialised health care or education. You are choosing between voting for *other people* to get those things, or voting for a promise get something that impacts your own survival (eg water). You're also certain the parties with both offers are lying and no one will receive much of anything.
No matter how you individually vote (and you should definitely vote well anyway, it will matter), the region overall will decide a punt on [the absolute basics of survival here] is more worthwhile than a punt on [stronger systems in populated areas].
Then a city person blows through your region, you immediately recognise them, with all their healthy teeth, functioning kidneys and well developed vocabularies. They laugh at the lack of resources in remote areas. You simply voted wrong, they say, that's the only problem. You should have voted for the people promising healthcare and education (to the cities)!