The joy of being in a democratic nation is the ability to influence the outcome of the country through a single vote. While you hope your candidate, and the party they represent, will fair the best they can—one should never hold their breath.

My own history of voting was marked under the care of my parents, who openly supported the Liberal party. Who they vote for today is uncertain to me, although in the last election I recall my mother asking the polling station whether “None of the Above” was an option.

Since leaving the home and taking it upon myself to be informed, I have voted widely across the political spectrum in elections. My focus is always on my local candidate and who I feel would best represent the issues of my area, as opposed to the partisan politics many hold onto.

Let’s be clear: politics has, is, and will always, be a game for power.

And power has always been abused.

Lately, however, the game has become more overt… more front and centre… and certainly more manipulative.

The word ‘scandal’ has flooded the media so much, it doesn’t even register a reaction anymore. Parties aren’t even trying to create a vision for the future because they’re so busy pointing fingers at the past.

I can’t tell whether they want me to be jaded with the whole process that I merely give up, or randomly vote for anybody because it really won’t matter at the end of the day.

Right now, I would love to see a vision for the future.

Because all I see are people creating romanticized visions of the past.