Let’s ensure that 2019 is a great year for us and our country. At election time we can do this by making sound rational decisions, rather than emotional ones about an issue, a person or a party. Alternatively, failing to make a decision means that decisions will be made that may not be to our liking, especially when Australia is signatory to international agreements that can all too readily rob us of choice at home.

Impact of international agreements

Our politicians compelled to make decisions on matters on our behalf, tend to be swayed by emotional activism of selective compassion. Look no further than the following examples:

• Paris agreement on Climate Change that makes high demands of some countries and relieves others of responsibility, while handing over $billions from compliant nations into the bottomless pit of corruption;
• Migration agreement which opens up borders for the free flow of human traffic, denying local sovereignty over who, and how, people may come to a country, regardless of the cost to us in settling them and stumping up for legal action that clogs our courts;
• Human Rights agreements that seem to apply only to compliant nations who are judged by countries abusing Human Rights like Saudi Arabia;
• Family Law which places international law of the Hague Convention above the interests of Australian children; and
• Environmental laws which forever pillory Australia for its conservation efforts regarding the Great Barrier Reef crossing 2,400 km latitude, linking its survival with a coal mine 600 km away.

The importance of our vote can be understood when we realise Australia’s participation in these agreements has been driven by local activism by individuals, groups and green/left-leaning media (as in their ABC), all of whom operate in an emotional, fact-free environment. Action here drives global decisions that often impose inordinate costs upon those least able to carry them. For instance, pursuit of renewable energy under the Global Warming/Climate Change agreements has increased the cost of energy and reduced reliability of supply, hurting the poor and business, as more power is disconnected for inability to pay the bills on time.

The Maturity Model for decision-making

Those who have read my book Becoming: the ordinary person’s road map to life’s big decisions will know that Choice, Expectation and Responsibility are three elements of decision making that help clarify a sustainable pathway to good personal and policy decision-making.

My Maturity Model clearly shows in visual form that when expectations increase by one party or parties, responsibilities increase on others, whose choice is diminished. In a democracy, this poor outcome is unsustainable. Eventually both parties become less mature and the potential for dissension and division increases, with attendant high social and economic costs. The model applies at a personal relationship level, as well as in a work situation or policy setting.

Policy outcomes of global decisions

In addition to unaffordable and unreliable electricity here, a clear example of such a policy outcome is demonstrated in the “yellow vests” protests in France against the high costs of fuel. Virtue signaling by President Macron increasing taxes on fuel that ‘outsiders’ of the population cannot afford, led to riots and destruction for weeks, and eventual back down by Macron. High social and economic costs were expected to be paid by people without a choice in the decisions affecting them.

Similar imposition of taxes on transport and herd reduction in agriculture is coming our way as the global compact on climate change reaches further into our economy to reduce CO2 emissions in those sectors. Destruction of people’s livelihoods and the economy are mere sacrifices to be made on the altar of the great ‘religion’ of climate change.

Yet the science of global warming is not settled and costly action is taken fact free because politicians face the wrath of the electorate stirred emotionally to “do something” about climate change without accounting for the high, useless cost of doing so. The folly of it all can be put in perspective when we confront the reality of Australia’s minuscule 1.3% contribution to CO2 emissions and the even more minuscule amount 0.04% of CO2 trace gas in the global atmosphere, only 3% of which is contributed by humans, the rest by nature. Emotional virtue signaling rules and we all pay, whether we like it or not. Dare to question or deny and you are likely to be trolled on social media or sacked from your job like Professor Peter Ridd. Play the game, as in socially controlled China, if you wish to prosper in this post-truth society. No wonder politicians fall for it, or at best, take an each way bet.

Our electoral decisions

In the current situation, the importance and value of our vote at the coming elections become clear if we are to make 2019 a happy new year in which we overcome disruption and set upon the path to continued prosperity.

To do that we need to take a more considered approach to voting for candidates who stand to represent us. Respect the candidate who does what we don’t have the courage to do. Seek facts about the person and policies. Truth is another element of the Maturity Model for decision-making.

Look beyond emotion and selfish interests to the national interest. Should both interests coincide, then great. Increasing benefits and subsidies may appeal to those dependent on government, but someone must pay for them. How much do we take from the major tax contributors before they no longer invest here, especially when treated with such contempt as evil by a large section of the community? We would then be in a declining position to afford essentials like health care and education.

Make a rational choice, rather than and emotional one at the last minute as you walk past the sausage sizzle on the way to the booth. Don’t be lazy by lodging a donkey vote. Value the privilege you have in this country to have a say in the outcome of the election and future policies, especially when the conduct is relatively civil, without bloodshed.

On a train between New York and Jacksonville I sat next to an African American woman of my own vintage and asked if she would be voting in the coming (2016) election. “Never miss,” was her answer, “the right to vote was too hard won!”

Learn from history. Socialism is a failed experiment that claimed generations of lives. Creeping socialism where ever more people are dependent on government, means the government intrudes further into everyone’s lives. Individual responsibility is relinquished to unelected bureaucratic power – in Australia, Europe and the failed United Nations.

As mentioned, responsibility is another element of the Maturity Model that calls each of us to step up in truth to make the very best decisions in our own lives, especially as we vote. And we should do so in a spirit of willingness and gratitude.

Make it a Happy New Year!