I’m often hearing that the political class has abandoned the “Middle Majority”. The first question that comes to mind is – Who are these people?
Is this the group, the majority, of every society since the dawn of time, who are responsible for every major war, currency debasement, hyperinflation, economic collapse, revolution and the fall of every empire? The same group that has walked by every injustice inflicted by governments and rulers since the dawn of civilisation? The same group that is ideologically bereft, just going with the flow of things, hopping into the strongest social current, adopting and regurgitating slogans giving no thought to their consequences? The group that votes for a team (blue, red or other), because they have always done so or because they think it represents the type of person they identify with, regardless of that team’s policies and regardless of whether their team has in effect swapped policies with another? The same group that regards it as socially unacceptable to talk politics, the same group that say they are not interested in politics, the same who say they don’t trust politicians? The same who love to criticise but don’t join political parties, don’t petition, don’t protest, and just accept and obey whatever the ruler of the day dictates?
If that is who the “middle majority” is in a democratic State, they clearly fail in the duties expected of citizens. This failure raises the question of whether they should be deprived of their right of suffrage, their right to vote? There is some merit in the argument that they should not be afforded that right. The problem with that position, is the impracticality of its enforcement. How does one determine what level of knowledge is sufficient and whether a person has that level of knowledge? The compromise, which applies in most democracies, is for voting to be voluntary.
Australia is an outlier in this regard, here voting is compulsory. Is it really in our best interests to force those who have scant idea of political policies and ideology, to vote? It is not. It is however in the best interests of the two parties that have been dominant over the past few decades, Labour and Coalition (Liberals-Nationals). Those dominant teams want compulsory voting because politically apathetic voters will be far more inclined to vote for one of them, no matter what. The two dominant parties then get most of the apathetic votes. Is that in our best interest as a nation? I think not!
Since the Middle Majority is politically apathetic, could a politician or political party rightly claim to represent them? They can’t. A person cannot represent people who don’t know what they want that person to do for them? The politician can do what he or she thinks is in their best interests, but that’s not representation.
The solution? We need to make voting voluntary and all of us who have an interest in politics need to do our best to persuade those who aren’t, to take more of an interest and improve their knowledge. Politics is important. It affects every aspect of our lives.
Written by Mark M. J. Morris (June 2026)