I know it’s an absurd thought, but in this absurd world, what’s wrong with dreaming. If we the taxpayers, are the ones funding the salaries of politicians and public officials, doesn’t that make us their employers? And if we are their employers, shouldn’t we have the power to hold them accountable for their performance?

In any other job, if an employee fails to meet expectations, they’re fired. Yet, when it comes to government, we seem to have little say beyond casting a vote every few years, hoping — often in vain — that our chosen representatives will act in our best interests.

But what if we exercised the ultimate form of accountability – simply refusing to pay for a system that does not serve us? If enough people stopped paying federal and state taxes, if ratepayers withheld their shire fees, and if citizens collectively demanded their rightful authority over the administration, would the government be forced to listen? In theory, it should. After all, without public funding, the wheels of government would grind to a halt. So why do we feel powerless against the very system that exists to serve us?

Take foreign policy, for example. If the majority of taxpayers told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stop blindly following the directives of the United States and Israel, should he not comply? What if Australians demanded an entirely different approach – one where we not only opposed oppression in Gaza and Ukraine but actively volunteered to fight for those being crushed under unjust wars? If we insisted that Australia send humanitarian aid, medical assistance, and even military support to both Palestine and Ukraine while working to bring leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin to justice, shouldn’t our government reflect these wishes? After all, if politicians are truly accountable to the people, they must act according to our collective will. Shouldn’t they?

And, perhaps, once the world has finally stood up for the oppressed in these conflicts — and then turned its attention to the many other injustices raging across the planet, and approached the catastropy that is climate change as one collective species — it will be time to rethink the very concept of nations. National flags have long been symbols of division, of us versus them, of territorial pride often weaponised for war. What if, instead, humanity recognised itself as one collective entity, bound by shared responsibility for the planet? A new flag, one that represents Earth as a home for all people, could mark the beginning of a global identity – one that transcends national borders and political rivalries, finally uniting humanity under a single banner of peace, justice and workable climate change mitigation. Perhaps we could hand this to the kids. Imagine a global poster competition for a single planetary flag with a significant prize offered by the richest man in the world!

Ultimately, the question isn’t whether we have the power to change the system – it’s whether we have the courage to act on it. If we are the true employers of government, then it’s time we started behaving like it.