Sometimes little things are bombshells. My Mum and Dad came for tea. My mother has voted Labour all her life. When I was apolitical she used to harass me to vote because women had worked so hard to secure that right. She is a teacher and a great believer in democratic responsibility.
At some point (we weren't even talking politics) she turned to me and said that I would be pleased to know she is never voting Labour again. Sadly, she says she isn't going to vote for any party. Such is the turn off politics has become.
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I believe that this is the hope of many of the politicians.
That Joe public will get disillusioned with politics and ignore everything political. Leaving them free to push their own agendas through...
If you are right, the trend is in their favour.
The time is ripe for someone with funds and connections to capture the attention of the electorate for one election, like Bob Jones did.
We need for someone to throw in a monkey wrench to upset the numbers, and make the incumbent parties scrambling to protect their support base. Not being able to take things for granted cleans up people's acts, at least for a while.
It is however an international trend that voters feel they are left with no choice other than to vote for the least objectionable choice.
If we put the Greens, Maori Party and Destiny Church in charge for three years, would that really produce a result that's much worse?
Go on, at least it's fun to think through as a thought experiment - an Government where Labour and National are both on the cross benches... ;-)
(I'm sad you're mum got to that position, Lindsay)
Hi Lindsey
The real sadness is that just as "The King is the Glory of the nation " our politicians are our Glory.
They are us.
They were voted by us and chosen by us so they represent us.
We shouldn't moan when we ourselves glorify the behaviours that they exhibit.
To highlight this I use the old adage "You value what you spend time on and spend time on what you value" . This is true today as it was years ago when first coined.
To use as an example (as it's easy to do) Just look at the fare provided by the TV stations to get an idea what the average Joe/June allows into his/her world (mind)and endorses by spending time on. (by watching).
We have only ourselves to blame for our politicians and hopefully we will take proactive steps to remove them next election.
But this is futile unless we look at what we are and stand for.
You see you can't have common sense without common values.
Hence we need to be honest with ourselves about what our values are otherwise we'll end up in the same pit again.
As for your mum's responce I trust she understands that the Labour she was inculcated on isn't the Labour of today.
Just as the National of today doesn't truely represent the National of yesteryear.
I voted National last time, UF before that and yes Labour before that (before I knew better).
I didn't want to vote National this time as I consider them as corrupt as Labour but they were the only credible alternative to Aunty Helen's Labour.
The bottom line was she had to go. (still does)
Sad but true in my mind.
So I voted for them and wrote a letter to the press on it which was printed the SAT before the election.
We were in the US so had an early vote.
Please tell you mum from me to abdicate her responsibility to us all is not just cowardly but sets a very poor example to the next generation.
by all means vote with angst but vote.
Blessings
Michael Mckee, Seatoun.
Would you kill someone if you thought this would protect your family? Or go to the police and hope for the best?
Peter, when you have convinced yourself that "the other side" is so completely devoid of decency, and is - as they have stated - evil, it becomes very very easy to break some 'small rules' to prevent that 'evil' taking root.
Linsay...you alive? Jims been trying to mail you but no response...also this blog has not been updated. You ok? or busy?
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