Saturday, January 21, 2006

Nats' policies scared women, says DomPost

Nats' policies scared women. They scared me. Probably not for the same reason as they scared most women though.

When the last election became the biggest lolly scramble we had seen in a long time I became very apprehensive (understatement). When I realised Don Brash's outspoken opposition to lifestyle welfare was going to be watered down into "tried- and-failed-before" policy I was disappointed (understatement). And when John Key insisted that National would increase government spending, just not at the rate Labour was proposing, I was disgusted.

After years of racial policies we now have people voting on racial lines. We have a party based on race.

After years of feminism it is only natural that people are voting on gender-based lines. The majority of women perceive, quite rightly, that a Labour government will do more for them. But what amounts to privilege for one group means pain for another.

Governments should protect the rights of the individual without favour or discrimination. If that means one race or one sex isn't going to vote for you, so be it. Hold to the principle and put your energy into explaining it better.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good,well-written