She’s 18, anti-nazi, and wants drugs decriminalized.
Why is this news? Well… her name is Julia Bonk, she looks like this, and she’s been elected to parliament in Saxony.
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What she looks like doesn’t matter. Being anti-nazi and pro-drug legalization are both credible positions, but her contention that heroin is not addictive is … wrong.
Minshuko,
I agree, how she looks shouldn’t matter and drug legalization and opposition to nazis are reasonable positions (being pro-nazi is not a reasonable of credible position).
I’m sorry I didn’t learn to read German. I think she may have moved away from her statements on heroin but I’m not sure.
Do you think that her age is a legitimate issue?
Of course how she looks shouldn’t matter. But just to make sure, and purely for research purposes you understand, can you post up plenty more links to photographs of Madame Bonk?
I agree with TimT. As they say, ‘trust but verify’
Well if she was PM or premier or whatever the chief executive of Saxony is called, I might be more concened, but I think it is good that somebody of that tender age is civic minded enough to get themselves elected. Most teenagers I know , no matter how bright, lack maturity, but I expect being in parliament will be a maturing experience in itself.
Of course the federal constituency I live in (in Canada) was represented by a 26 year old and he was (is ) a disaster, but that didn’t have anything to do with his age.
Lefties (I’m not one) often complain of our government being dominated by middle aged white males, and they do have a point.
“Being anti-nazi and pro-drug legalization are both credible positions”
Erm, drug legalization is a topic most politicians wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Keep in mind here that the most open minded politician would even hold their nose whilst talking about decriminalization.
Minshuko – Here in Australia we had a 26 year old Senator called Natasha Stott Despoja. For a while she was leader of the Australian Democrats.
The party hasn’t done well but Stott Despoja turned out to be a lot more sensible than her middle aged predecessor Cheryl Kernot.
Are you talking about the Canadian Alliance’s James Moore? He’s not to keen on drugs is he. Didn’t he lead a campaign against Rohypnol and GHB?
And Factory – most politicians wouldn’t touch the drug decriminalization issue with a 10 foot pole. True enough. But do you remember Jesse Ventura’s take on the issue?
In an interview with Reason magazine he was asked whether he was a libertarian:
Ventura: Sure. I am a libertarian. I’ve taken the libertarian exam and scored perfect on it. There’s this 10-question quiz that the Libertarian Party puts out. They give you 30, 20, or 10 points, depending on how you answer the questions. I’ve gotten all 30s.
Reason: Doesn’t that include a question about legalizing drugs?
Ventura: Yeah.
Reason: Are you for legalizing drugs?
Ventura: Personally, not politically. When you say “legalizing,” I would use a better term of “decriminalizing.” I’m for giving the addict a way to get it so he doesn’t have to go out and hold up the 7-Eleven store to get enough money to go buy it at these inflated, ridiculous prices that prohibition causes. I’ll tell you why I think the war on drugs is a failure: I believe it because my mom told me so.
Don
I’m talking about Rob Anders, the guy who bragged about being a 28 year old virgin. Which is his business and nobody else’s but why bring it up? I’m sure Anders supports the death penalty for cannabis possession. His 15 minutes of notoriety came when he was the only MP to vote against granting Nelson Mandela honorary citizenship. Because the vote had to be unanimous, the bill was defeated and it was a huge embarrassment for the governing party, but also for his own party who voted for it. They voted on it again later when Anders was conveniently absent.
Ventura is right on drugs. If the amount of resources expended on drug enforcement was directed to drug rehabilitation, the social cost would be much less. The point about robbing 7-11s to pay for a heroin habit is well taken. I believe the British used to give free maintenance doses to heroin addicts.
Back to a young naive politician like Julia Bonk. She isn’t afraid to advocate de-criminalization of drugs, and it at least starts the discussion. Okay maybe not a political credible position but defensible and would would a 35 year old politico take that kind of stance?
Hey, at least she isn’t called Julia Bork.
Yes!
Diversity!
Role models!
Saying the unsayable!
Chaos and light!
not to mention bonging on.
David Tiley. Put the bong down and finish your literacy test.
No wonder you boomers are scoring so low.
there’s a big difference beteen decriminalizing and legalizing drugs
Never mind Frauline Bonk, did anyone notice the photo gallery entitled “Mit Skateboard & Lenkdrachen durch Australien”?
Maybe Julia could emigrate to Australia, run for the Senate as a Democrat and take over as Leader (who is Leader now – I thought Lyn Allison but Andrew Bartlett was still described as such in the Oz today…) – they seem to do better with charismatic young female leaders with unusual surnames.
We must be reading from different versions of the Gospel of Stott-Despoja, Mark. In my copy she destroys the democrats in a misguided push to make them a major third party with presence in the lower house. She drives away Liberal/Democrats back to the Liberals and Labor/Democrats (lefties) switch to th Greens and outflank her.
Sure you’re not thinking of her mugging by Meg Lees and Andrew Murray? The two biggest problems the Demos had were the Lees/Murray GST deal and in its wake, the trashing of their own party by a majority of Demo senators (to varying degrees…)
Mark,
I think your/the Oz’s confusion about the Dems’ current leader is that although Andrew Bartlett has given notice of his resignation, Lyn Allison can’t become leader until the processes whereby she’s endorsed by the Party membership (or at a minimum, that the deadline for alternative nominees passes – leaving her elected unopposed).
The Democrats are bad, full stop.
– One leader, after being deposed (as leader) defected to become an independent senator.
– Another leader sat by and let this happen, and was subsequently ousted herself.
– Another leader defected to Labor.
– Another leader was a drunkard.
– Oh, and they were even STARTED by a defector from the Libs, Don Chipp.
They’re pathetic!
Tim, the Democrats being started by a defector is kinda the point. They’re not supposed to be a party of the left/right/whatever, they’re supposed to be a party of people sick to death of the rest of the scheming bastards.
‘Course, not everybody (including one or two leaders) sees it that way, which’d be why they’re in such dire straits.