Ed Said - Life after September 20

 

Apart from clicking over another year for me I very much doubt life will change a whole heck-of-a-lot.

Though there are no signs of any hoardings as yet, electioneering has most certainly started – or does it ever end? Election day, Saturday September 20, is now less than 90 days away and opposition politicians es-pecially are, none too subtlely, turning any number of issues into negatives for the ruling party while promising a better deal from their own. We generally accept that statistics and fig-ures can be made to do what you want them to. Take the latest polls for example. A fort-night ago only National, Labour and the Greens were above the 5 percent threshold leaving a dozen other nonentities fighting over the scraps created by the MMP system which may allow a candidate with less than 1000 votes a seat in Parliament. Is this fair? Maybe, but it’s not democratic. Democracy says majority rules but recently there have been cries of Fascism, Anarchy, Dictatorship and even Naziism against our ruling party depending on how vehement and vocal a particular group is about a particular issue.

Can we really blame the Government, whichever party is in power, for the Christchurch earthquake, Pike River mine disaster, bullying, truancy or poverty? The Act leader couldn’t remember taking a helicopter flight to one of the most opu-lent mansions in the country and meeting with the most ‘unforgettable’ figure in New Zealand in recent times. As I write this the Labour leader is under siege for something he also ‘can’t remember’ but is vowing not to resign. With the latest poll showing a further 6 percent drop in popularity, who would volunteer to captain a sinking ship? Mainstream media can be a politician’s greatest friend or greatest enemy depend-ing on how you play the game and, if you never make a mistake, they can usually manufacture one for you.

For opposition parties it’s easy to criticise or ‘oppose’ the party in power and promise the elixir to all problems but, in most cases they are not likely to gain enough votes to be of any consequence anyway. When Helen Clarke was first elected as Prime minister, in the crowd surrounding her there was hardly a white face, the ma-jority being immigrants settling here and repaying her for relaxed immigration laws that allowed them an easier passage to our fair shores. Now our current Labour lead-er is threatening to put the brakes on im-migration. Laila Harre of the new Internet

Party is determined to appeal to the younger (18-25 year-old) voters of which there is, admittedly a large pool. However this is, statistically, the largest group who DON’T vote.

If you don’t support the ruling party do you cast a vote for another party despite the fact you believe the status quo will remain, or do you simply not vote at all? Then, if you don’t vote are you entitiled to voice your opinion on affairs of state? I believe ‘yes’. It’s called free-thinking. It’s interesting to hear small party leaders say they will not compromise their ideals (politicians have ideals?) to be a small part of the Government but given the chance they all know they would jump at the op-portunity as to remain in opposition is to remain toothless. I applaud those brave enough to put them-selves forward for social service but for most of us who only give politics a cur-sory glance, it’s hard to consider the elec-tion as little more than a circus but sadly devoid of any high-wire acts yet with plen-ty of elephants blundering about. Somewhere in the midst of electioneering will be worldwide coverage of the Commonwealth Games. I wonder if we’ll be able to tell the difference.

Just my humble opinion.
Rob

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