1. The main slogans for the Sense’07 Campaign are:

Slogan 1a:

Liberal / Labor

Howard / Howard Junior

Aussie Low / Aussie Lite

Rat Race / Chicken Run

Or, in other words …
Slogan 1b:
If you accept that either

Howard or Howard Junior
- ‘Aussie Low’ or ‘Aussie Lite’

can represent you,

then you accept we can only live in a

‘Rat Race’ or ‘Chicken Run’

Or, in other words …
( Slogan 2:)

If you are satisfied to vote for the Major Parties,
or if you are one of those awful ‘swinging’ voters who waits until you see what’s in it for you then…

you may be the reason they appeal to the Lowest Common Denominators, Fear and Loathing…

If so, please …

Don’t call  yourself  a ‘Real’ Australian -  just  Call yourself a ‘Lucky’ Australian …

‘lucky’ that ‘someone else’,  ‘the Powers that be’,   are looking after you
… because you’re just bludging on the country, bludging on the Enlightenment, bludging on the sacrifices of the generations who cared enough about how we all live to create the great institutions (‘Representative Democracy’, the ‘Nation State’, the ‘Common Law’ etc.) that underpin the unprecedented level of personal wealth we all enjoy…

by the way, a reminder of what the campaign is for …

About the Sense ’07 Campaign

The intention of the Sense ’07 campaign is to contribute positively to current political debate – by drawing attention to the fundamental role of philosophy in politics.

The main activities of the campaign are:

candidacy in the upcoming Federal Election and

the provision of a public platform for discussion of a consciously agreed philosophy we might use [and express in the Constitution] to enhance our democracy.

The philosophy is intended to establish the legitimacy of our jurisdiction on solid (i.e. honest and rational) ‘ground’, from which we can work together through the many challenges we may face – prepared to deal intelligently, rationally and above all, honestly with the issues induced by our own conflicting needs …
Particularly for those who only think in ‘Two Party Preferred‘ Terms ..

Accepting that you only have a choice between
Howard and Howard Lite
is accepting that you only have a choice between
living in a Rat Race or a Chicken Run

This campaign starts by assuming that, to be any ‘use’ or any ‘good’, Political Philosophy must establish understanding of ourselves and of the relations between the satisfaction of our own and others’ needs, and those between our own and others’ identities. Any political philosophy must allow for the ‘fact of life’ or ‘reality’ that no man is (or ever could be) an ‘island’, that only open, rational discussion – in shared terms – can be meaningful and therefore useable.

Obviously, only honest (in good faith), accessible (meaningful) and assessable (open and applicable) communication can deliver the rational space in which to discuss philosophy.

Lies, half-truths, spin, the promotion of ungrounded ideology … All corrode the public debate, reducing it to an uncivilised screaming of interest groups and a babble of dissatisfied voices. All are tools regularly used by the major parties. Standard Party vElectioneering Procedures [developed by discussion of the ALP, exemplified by Mark Textor and the Liberals] include push-polling and the repetition of half-truths etc. to drag the public debate down to an unEnlightened, stupid competition between amoral figureheads, rather than a civilised discussion of the possibilities actually available to us…

The SenateSense campaign is designed to promote the view of democracy outlined by Peter Singer (in “The President of Good and Evil”, Text, 2004, and elsewhere):

“… democratic politics [is] not so much a battle for power, settled by elections, but rather [is] a kind of public conversation about issues of common concern with a decision procedure for reaching temporary closure on those issues when the time for action has come.”

Singer continues that to take part in this public conversation we must seek to justify ourselves to others. Thus we must “acknowledge the fact of political and religious pluralism”, and “show that recognise that we live in a community with diversity”.

We do this, Singer explains “by offering reasons that can appeal to all” – i.e. being rational and honest. We establish trust and legitimacy by making “…the issue not one of who may say what, but of what reasons should be given weight.”

Singer also reminds us that we use reason all the time in our normal lives and clearly shows that extending it more consistently to the public domain is the only way we can arrive at shared solutions for shared problems.

The Sense’07 campaign hopes to contribute to the provision of the type of public discussion space we need to jointly and sensibly decide what we do…

there will be a competition to

           devise a better slogan

for a candidate trying to represent the electorate in ways which are consistent a mature view of democracy, something along the lines Peter Singer has described, something like:

‘Democracy is the set of processes we use to hold publicly accessible discussion on issues of public interest or importance, and to achieve rational temporary closure on these issues as the need arises…‘

- Prizes  of     $100,  $50,  $25

-  Enter by posting it as a comment

- headed Sense’07 Competion 1 – on the Sense’07 website:

http://www.pariahnt.org/maurice-foley

The Competition will be Judged on whatever entries are made by Thursday 1/11/’07.