Listening to the complaints from fellow Aussies that the election is boring, the media circus is ridiculous and the government is hopeless anyway, I wonder how many of us would give up the right to vote. Would they really want other people to choose for them?

I suspect not. The same people who claim the government is useless would be outraged if they were not allowed to have a say in who represents them. They would claim that it is their democratic right to vote.

Everyday, people in other countries die for that privilege. Women and minority groups have fought for that right and we should cherish it.

This is indeed a lucky country because we live in a real democracy. We don’t have the sham elections that Iraq had in the past where 100% of the “voters” chose Saddam Hussein. We don’t suffer the military juntas of South America or the tyranny of some African states.

We can select our political reps without fear of repercussions. They actually have to court us for our vote. How great is that!

Whatever we think of politicians, in this country we can vote them in and we can vote them out. And that is a privilege we should respect.

So bring on the election today. I look forward to casting my vote and I look forward to watching the election results on TV tonight … which will probably be deadlocked, anyway.