Tolling Bell

Ok, so WA is voting, has voted, today about whether or not to have Daylight Saving.  Yet again.  I don't know what the result is, but I expect it's a big no.  Yet again.  Why?  Let me pass on a little story.

My brother-in-law and husband went to vote early this morning (I stayed home with the bears and went later) and stood in line behind an old gent, who was probably best described as curmudgeonly.  You know the kind.  B-I-L was asked, "How are you voting?"  "Yes" he replied, "What about you?"

"No."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"Because it's going to cost more money."

"Why would that be?"

"Because we're all going to have to buy more cool drinks."

"What do you mean?"

"It'll be too hot, we're all going to have to buy more cool drink."

B-I-L made a valiant attempt to explain what 'daylight saving' actually means, but as my husband pointed out during the retelling of the story to me, "This is what you're up against, why bother?"

So, methinks I hear the tolling bell for democracy.  Death is coming, little one.  You were so beautiful and free, so young and in the flower of your life with so much already achieved in your name, and with so much more to hope for...but democracy has to die.  It only works when the majority of those who enjoy it's fruits do so with at least a minimum of primary education in literature, the sciences and history.  I don't mind people disagreeing about things, as long as there is a general basic understanding of how the seasons work, how many hours there are in a day, and exactly what effect turning the "clocks" back or forward one hour has on those things.  

Where does one start with people who are so badly educated (they're not dumb) that they don't know that Kevin Rudd, while the sun may shine out of his arse, cannot under any circumstances, make it shine any longer than it was meant to.  I know it's a state referendum, not a federal one, but the joke wouldn't have worked with Colin Barnett.  Nobody thinks the sun shines out of his arse.

Ok, that was just one guy.  But there are countless letters to the editor over the years that back up such rampant ignorance in the WA populace.  Here's a recent one.

And if you think I'm being dramatic, well you're kinda right.  This is a blog.  But, if this referendum is an indication of the reasoning and intellectual capacity of the electorate then democracy is doomed.  I'm not saying people who vote no are dumb, BTW, I'm saying that people who vote no because they think daylight saving is "unnatural" are badly, badly undereducated.  There is a difference.

Clang...clang...