I was thinking last night, after listnening to some 'power to the people' type punk music, the giving power to the people would be both a. not possible and b. not something worth doing.

It occured to me, that generally, most people who enter politics, normally enter because they would like to make the world a better place, however warped that vision may be. Some would attempt to make their country a more equal place, while others are more focused on the world picture. Some enter because they feel their contribution would improve the standards of living, or the financial wealth of their town or village.

Many of these people believe that their solution is the best one. Some swear by communism over capitalism, some are Right-wing, some are Left-wing, others believe their should be no governments or laws at all. In this article I'm not trying to push any of these, nor my own agenda, but simple point out a few flaws in peoples thinking.

When someone enters power, be they Gandhi, Hitler, Bush or some other person, the generally have a belief that their system of governence is the best, and to this end, try to make sure that they stay in power to achieve the best result they can. There are always, and will always be people who see otherwise and wish the power was returned to them, or to the people. This will always turn to some sort of conflict, even in a democracy. Being an Australian, I'm always bombarded with protests and various group say how their method of rule should work, or as is usually the case, how our current leaders are not doing this.

Now this is legitimate stuff in a democratic society, but sometimes I wonder if these goals could ever possibly be achieved. What is the point of these endless protests. Of course the answer is that these protest remind those in power of what the people think, and how they should be shaping their policies to meet these needs.

The problem I see is that (from my point of view anyway) most of these protests and messages sent to our politicians are very short-sighted, and are frequently knee-jerk reactions to problems.

For example, I'll use the issue of a radioactive waste dump, proposed to be built in the Woomera Protected area, in far north South Australia. I'm an ex-South Australian, so the last thing I'd like to see is a radioactive dump being created within our borders. However, as a (somewhat) educated person, I see that some sort of radioactive dump will need to be built, somewhere in the world. Now as far as I'm concerned, if we've created the mess then we are obliged to clean it up, not ship it off to some third-world country where a tin-pot dictator sees a few bucks to be made by storing the waste at the bottom of a mine.

As we have a responsability to take care of this waste, it is neccessary to build a dump within Australia at some point. Why is this neccessay? Mainly because the current radioactive waste disposale schemes are dangerous and would cause an uproar if the general public knew about it. Research, presuming it's legitimate, indicates that areas around Woomera, are both geologically stable enough, and financially viable enough to warrant the dump being built there. To my mind if this is correct then I see no reason why it should not be built, and if the SA government is clever enough, profit from.

However this kind of argument doesn't seem to work on the general populace. All they consider is the destruction of the environment, and the second someone mentions 'radioactive', shivers are sent down peoples spines. Some would argue that we shouldn't be using radioactive materials in the first place (usually the same people who enjoy the benefits of these products).

Now if I were a politician, in charge of a country where this is happening, due to my opinions on this issue, there's no way i'd let those 'damn-hippies' come close to taking power and changing this. I'd do whatever it takes to retain power and do what I feel is both right for the country, it's people and the environment. I'd fight to keep power so that I could make sure that the people could enjoy my vision.

But hang on, now I'm starting to sounds like a dictator protecting his turf, or even a politician guarding his votes. My thoughts on various issues have effect me, and my ideas of power to the people. By serving my own interests in keeping power, I believe I am giving power to the people my making right decisions for them.

Now lets presume that some 'damn-hippie' gets into power. He or she is very much interested in power to the people, and preserving the environment, etc. but at some point, the people will disagree with this stand, and will protest, leading to a viscious cycle of power being granted to the people, after the original power to the people have been removed (democratically or otherwise).

What's the point of all this crap, not much really, but the next time someone says return power to the people, think very carefully about what they say, because the only real power people have, is in their own homes.