Why is it that so many Aussies will confidently share their views on Trump, Netanyahu, Meloni, Macron, but might not be able to name their own local member?

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Simple. We don't want to bury ourselves in the bother of understanding policies. We want to revel in being a virtual team player for personalities. That's OK in one sense.

We have a representative democracy because we had to work out a manageable way of coming to policy decisions that we could accept as binding on all of us.

We divide ourselves into electorates, each chooses a member and that member has the responsibility of making what they think is the best choice when the decisions have to be made. They also (unless they're Pauline Hanson) play a vital role in keeping a check on the government. Government is formed by the party or parties that have the numbers to get supply through Parliament.

Some stupid people still insist that because they voted for you, you have to do what they want. What a joke.

If only just a few votes over half the electorate voted for you, that's tens of thousands of people. You can bet there's a whole variety of views in those numbers. That's why we elect someone not to do the bidding of our point of view, but to listen to everyone, look at the problem, the information and to make the best decision. We as individuals just can't and aren't expected to follow every policy. Which leaves us free to follow personality rather than politics.

There's a great way to explain how with representative democracy people not taking a huge interest in policies is, in fact, OK. And it's this.

You can take the best shoe designers, probably Italian, the best shoe leathers, probably South American and the best shoe makers, Italian. But only the wearer can tell you if it pinches. Spend as much as you want, if the shoe is uncomfortable, you won't want it.

So it is with government. We don't need all the policy detail with all the quality input. We just have to decide if the shoe fits. We give federal governments three years to come up with the goods, so to speak. Is this government making me, my family, our nation better? Does it feel right? Comfortable? No? They get voted out.

That's what elections are; a........

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