Australia, Australia, Australia, We Love You – Amen!
One of the faults we Americans have is that we often assume nations that are close to us in cultural matters have pretty much the same governments as we do, and that is true in that we share rule of law and a lot of the same freedoms and liberties. However, there are important differences that highlight why, in the end, we have the best of them all.
As an example, Great Britain does not have a constitutional protection of free speech and, thus, the folks there are ultimately dependant on the members of the House Of Commons honoring this basic right. And, as we’ve seen under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, when they don’t, curtailing of this precious right occurs.
So, it is important, as I said, to understand the differences.
Australia is one of those countries that is close to us, yet I don’t think many of us understand how their system works. Thankfully, Paco has set out to explain said differences in two very informative and eye-opening posts.
A highlight from Part I:
…The government is headed by a “Prime Minister”, who is selected from among the members of the majority party of the House of Representatives. This is accomplished in the following fashion:
All of the majority party representatives climb into the beds of a convoy of Holden Utes, which are driven at high speed down a bumpy dry-wash. The convoy proceeds back and forth until all of the representatives, save one, have fallen off of the vehicles. The person who has succeeded in clinging on to the end becomes Prime Minister.
A highlight from Part II:
Although Australia is a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister is only the head of government; the head of state is the British monarch (currently Elizabeth the Second, who was named after a famous cruise ship). This arrangement stems from Australia’s membership in the “British Commonwealth”, an organization of independent countries that were formerly British colonies (“commonwealth” is a term that refers to the tendency of those countries to treat private wealth as if it were the property of the state).
Having long been a consumer of Foster’s Lager, this excursion by Paco has been quite a treat for me. I would urge you to take the time and head on over to Paco’s joint. But before you do…
FOSTER’S LAGER GALS!
Yep, Foster’s does like the large cans….
If I was a guy, I sure wouldn’t like to get “down under” that big fat one on the left.
You’d have to drink about 2 CASES to have her looking good.
The funny thing is that no one in Australia actualy drinks Fosters.
Hellrider: That’s what I’ve heard. I like it as a starter beer.
The stuff you find when you go looking for something completely different on the internet… and I confess, I’d rather a G&T than a Fosters any day.
GN6: A G&T sounds good.