Because we can only vote for the people that run...which leads to a government which is neither particularly astute nor particularly representative.

(Not that I'd WANT a government that was representative of the Australian people...if the polls are any indication, the average Australian is a lazy self-entitled racist. Even our governments aren't quite as bad as the opinions that come through in the polls)

There's plenty of people who are unsatisfied with the status quo - and it only took 5 of them to form a band ;o)

(Oh, and I'd question the assertion that we're the most politically backwards country - the United States government appears, to the outsider, to be an exercise in corporate funded corruption. Some say that's progress...)

- Chris�