This is a load of old bollocks. I wonder if the author actually lives here. Apparently the electorate threw out Labour because they weren't socialist enough.
Far from being a popular endorsement of Key and the National Party, the vote represents a clear repudiation of Labour and its pro-business orientation by significant layers of the working class.
ACT, New Zealand First and even the Maori party are all "right-wing";
The Maori Party split from Labour over its Seabed and Foreshore legislation, which was designed to cut off Maori claims to indigenous rights over the inter-tidal zone. It then contested the 2005 election, winning four of the special Maori seats by posturing as the champion of the Maori population, which is one of the most impoverished sections of the working class. The Maori Party, however, is a right-wing formation that speaks for a thin layer of the Maori petty bourgeoisie who reaped the benefits of multi-million dollar land settlements and built businesses and careers on the basis of Maori identity politics.
Not once is the anti-smacking legislation mentioned, a significant factor in Labour's downfall, nor the Electoral Finance Act, another. The entire election outcome is explained in terms of Marxism and the evil that is big business. Very funny.
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Labour lost because the country finally got over the illusion of Labour that it's had since at least 1984 - that Labour could be a credible government.
Labour lost because hardworking taxpaying Kiwis return to their natural political home - National - and because the Ratana alliance is effectively dead.
Against this, it is very hard to see how Labour could ever regain government - assuming National and ACT keep leading the country onwards.
The doublespeak of the socialists never fails to amaze me.
The author knows perfectly well that the sort of people (not including you obviously) who frequent that website will lap that stuff up and purr like kittens.
If they wanted more socialism, they would have voted greens!
The anti-smacking (not whacking) bill, the EFA, the ETS, Cullen, out of control Clark, arrogance, sticking by Winston, never listening to majority view, loads of social engieering, what happened to the lovely and understanding Helen of 1999? The party changed its vision from working class to urban eliteness. No wonder they lost, will they ever get back to power? Not for a long time, I reckon.
Oswald, Or any other number of alternatives. Hard left theories never withstand scrutiny.
Recalling, of course, that the "anti-smacking legislation", originally intended to deny child beaters a defence because of their genetic link to the victim, was pushed through by a deal stitched between National and the Greens. Putting aside the facile linkage you're trying to make between Labour and this legislation, the embarrassing truth is that the law on the books we have right now is the handiwork of Sue Bradford and John Key. It's sweet FA about Labour (except they voted for it en-masse). But good luck peddling the "Labour hates parenting" meme.
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