While I concur with Comrade Trotter over the need for Cunliffe to articulate real bread and butter issues for New Zealanders, the eulogies of David Cunliffe being read out by Father Bryce Edwards seems a tad hasty.
The much held up Herald digi poll that gave National 51% had an undecided of over 11%, which is a lot less impressive than the vast landslide for Key being promised.
How Labour changes things is policy, policy, policy. Yesterday’s Forestry plan to promote wood for regional development and employment, followed by an earlier discussion to upgrade the economy, which followed this excellent interview with the brilliant Gordon Campbell is how Labour force the media to move away from the beltway character assassinations and back to the issues NZers are desperate for.
The regions are crying out for economic vision that goes beyond selling our assets for dairy irrigation and they want to see real Government support, not generating-economic-growth-environment lip service which really just sees more being syphoning off productivity gains to those already wealthy.
Matt McCarten has remodelled his office into a war room, a much more crisp media alignment and a desire to use MMP tactically will start to bear fruit. Regular meetings between the leaders of MANA, Greens and Labour will occur, expect to see more joint policy releases.
There are 285 000 children in poverty and 150 000 unemployed. The sentiment that progressives should just buy into a narrative built upon flawed landline opinion polls and declare John Key the winner now 6 months out from the election is beyond absurd.
This election will be close. Don’t believe the hype.
Shane Jones indulged in whacking potential allies on the left with loose talk that smacks of infighting.
And now some of my compatriot bloggers (who, truth to tell, are more skilled at this blogging ‘lark’ than I) indulge in very public defeatist talk as the campaign for the election barely gets under way.
Neither will help motivate activitists, apparatchiks, and rank and file to support a Labour, Green, Mana campaign if we’ve already unwrapping the white flag and checking the flagpole lanyards for mobility.
Leadership – true leadership – does not involve defeatist talk.
It looks at problems and offers ways and means of over-coming said problems. It should leave the listener or reader uplifted and motivated to walk through the rain, cold, and wind (as I did during the 1999 general election campaign, to work for at least one extra Party vote for the Alliance) to drop leaflets; doorknock; sell sausages to raise a few extra bucks; etc.
To misquote horribly the Bard,
“I come to praise Cunliffe, not to bury him,” should be our guiding moment.
We’ll get enough negativity from the Tories; the One Percenters; and the Oligarchs.
I don’t need to hear it from our side.
Frank,
If you want a reason why I have withheld my vote for the last 4 elections, it can be found in the blog by Susan St John earlier today.
Labour continue to display themselves as National lite. How can they defend their stance on this issue.
Andrew, with-holding your vote is a wasted vote. All it does is gives you National Heavies.
No matter whether you lean to the left or right, there are other choices.
You obviously see yourself as being on the moral high ground and are terribly smug about not voting. I see you as being passive-aggressive and defeatist and beg you to reconsider your stance. The Greens and Mana are viable alternatives.
MMP makes your justification irrelevant and pointless
Message from John Key, Andrew – thank you for not voting.
Andrew, you have no excuse. You don’t have to vote for Labour. You can vote for the Greens or Mana.
Consider the likes of Intrinsicvalue or Gosman – as repugnant as I find their selfish ideology, they, at least, will vote for what they believe in.
By not voting, you are not resisting. You have surrendered.
I guess the rest of us will just have to work a little bit harder to make up for your inaction.
That’s unfair. Why should he vote for a government he doesn’t believe in or play a game that is so obviously rigged?
If you play a rigged game, you are a sap, pure and simple. NZ democracy has been set up so that a genuinely left wing party pretty much cannot win. The mere appearance of a potential left wing government brings down the full weight of establishment propaganda with the sort of results we have seen this week. There’s no point Labour trying to push policy when the conservative media is just going to drown out any attempt to do so with pointless attacks and scandalmongering.
Labour are definitely done if they follow Martyn’s prescription, because no matter how good the policies, those in power will not permit them a fair public hearing.
The only slim chance I can see for Labour is if they commit to destroying the government in the next few months. That means an all out attack to discredit as many ministers as possible, with the aim being to force at the very least Collins and Parata to resign in disgrace. About the only thing the media like more than the National government is the smell of blood.
“Boo hoo. Life is so unfair. Why can’t I get everything I want and why can’t everybody agree with me”
Just paraphrased your last posting.
You are always free to set up your own version of society some place. But then you won’t have anything to moan about I suppose.
Frank, much as we disagree on most things, you are on the money with this. If the roles were reversed I would be making the very same points, and encouraging people to vote somewhere in the spectrum of the political right. Some take our democratic privileges all too casually.
To Avenging Angel, Priss and others
I take the points each of you make, and I will be voting..
But unemployed and underemployed people in this country have been brutalised ever since Ruth Richardson’ attack on them in the 1990’s.
Putting Labour into power is not the aim of a decent society, caring for all people is. Labour needs to play its part in that fight and voting as they have fails that responsibility.
We should be talking about that.
Some sort of 3rd or 4th way under Labour is still Neo liberalism
The responses by “Bloodyhell”, “Priss” and Frank to Andrew on the subject of not voting, I consider deserve commendation, as you’ve provided advice without resorting to insults but a more respectful manner.
That’s the type of attitude that can win the non-voter around. We receive enough insults from those above. When the rest of us hurl insults at each other, we are not being constructive.
Andrew, to not vote is to support the status quo. Is that what you really want, to allow this bunch of despots to carry on trading us off, selling our property (assets), abusing the low waged work force, dragging children down into even more poverty? It’s not what I want.
You really need to seriously consider what a no vote means.
Since 1984, voting Labour has been as much a vote for the status quo as voting National. Unless Labour make a clean break with their neo-liberal years – and that starts with an admission and an apology – there’s nothing to vote for.
Sure we can vote Greens or NZ First or whatever. No doubt some of us will hold our noses and do that in the desperate hopes of kicking the smiling assasin out of government. But if that’s effectively just a vote for another unreformed neoliberal PM, you can forgive most people for not bothering. If all the restaurent serves is animal shit, lecturing people about using their buying power to improve the menu just makes you look like a useful idiot.
Great stuff, Martin. Much better than Trotter’s gloomy and unfair prognosis.
Labour IS putting out policy, policy – for jobs, to help families – and we’ll see it roll out more over coming weeks as Cunliffe really gets to grips with the job he has to do. And the polls don’t tell all of the story ….. there’s much more unease among the population than the polls are indicating.
NZHerald, the National Party Organ, hard at it again. Labour bad, National good. But most important, Labour bad. That’s how you get the 11% undecided to vote for un-electable policies. I wonder if they really believe their own b/s or if they just type what they’ve been told.
“Hooton blames Cunliffe’s leadership for Labour’s doledrums, arguing that ‘Labour is doomed if it keeps him’.” – Hey, Cunliffe must do something right!
Someone should ask the NZHerald if we really need an other party other than National, I’d be so curious as to the answer.
The whole neo-liberal modus operandi involves incrementally consolidating wealth into fewer and fewer hands, with the implicit understanding that when a Labour government gets elected, the winners get to keep their spoils, while the incoming government can try to do what it can with what remains.
The problem now is, as Susan St John’s piece shows so succinctly, that John Key has managed to wage a highly successful war on the poor while reassuring the better-off among the middle-class that all is well and they are still nice people. This means that a Labour contender that tries to be remotely left comes across to these guys as a threat to the spoils, while one that doesn’t seems irrelevant to the people from whom those spoils have been wrested.
This has been the problem since Helen Clark left – Goff and Shearer, damned with faint praise by the media and irrelevant to potential voters. Cunliffe, invested with huge hope by those who voted him in as leader, but vilified by the media.
We can get past this and win, so long as we understand that it is a battle now, and not just a passively approved change of guard.
“The whole neo-liberal modus operandi involves incrementally consolidating, blah, blah, blah YAWN”
Olwyn, with the greatest of respect, the folk out there at “Planet Voter” dont give a toss about “neo-liberal modus operandi”. You are speaking in terms maybe used in cafes by University educated “progressives”, and not by “normal people who vote”.
Most “normal people who vote dont even watch the news for more than five minutes unless something has blown up, or a plane is lost, or the All Blacks are mentioned.
So they see John Key for maybe 60 second per day looking presidential & like hes got everything sorted and going well.
You may not like it, but you guys are largely irrelevant to the normal people who vote.
But hey, if Labour brings out some good policies, I may vote for them for the first time ever.
What an odd thing to say…
Olwyn’s point is not directed at the general public. Olwyn has used terms that most people visiting this blog understand. Sorry, but we don’t come here to dumb ourselves down.
Your say that “you may not like it, but you guys are largely irrelevant to the normal people who vote” …but Olwyn already mentioned that – it’s essentially Olwyn’s point!
Except Olwyn articulated it more succinctly.
Thanks Fatty, for sticking up for me. My point, most of all, is that this government has entrenched inequality. Any politician who challenges this state of affairs is not going to be treated kindly by the media, who will do their darnedest to ensure he is not elected. So we have to do our darnedest to ensure that he is elected, and that he sticks to the principles he espouses. That said, it would be good to see a game-changing policy that give hope to the poor, fires up the activists and scares the horses.
Hi Olwyn,
I’d be interested in your list of things that NACT have done in the last 5 years to entrench inequality.
In my opinion they’ve done very little to unwind the state of the most recent term of the Labour/Green Govt.
there has never been a labour/green gvt, i wonder where you have been for the last 30 years coming up with a comment like that
Hi Bevan. Superficially, you are right. There has not been the overt hacking and slashing that people feared from Brash. However there are two ways in which inequality has been, and continues to be deepened. The first lies with government actions and non-actions. The second arises from the attitudes propagated by the government and its flunkies.
One such action has been the “fiscally neutral tax switch” from income tax to GST. This effects the poor, who spend most of their money on getting by, negatively, and the rich, who get the greatest share of the tax break, positively. Another such action has been the attack on state housing – in Glen Innes currently, with plans in the pipe-line for its extension. A further action is the turning of legal aid into an interest-bearing loan, thus ensuring that people emerge from prisons shackled to debt. Then there is the bill recently before the house, by which the partners of beneficiaries who cheat would be charged with profiting from the proceeds of crime. Not to mention, in the face of high unemployment and precarious employment, the more stringent tests for getting on a benefit, such that you can be destitute and still not qualify.
In the non-action category there is the neglect of the property bubble, which has divided society sharply into haves and have-nots, and leaves people terrified of what will happen to them if their landlords feel the need to oust them. Also, the callous indifference to job losses, to the point of treating them as “gains” where the jobs are shed by govt. departments.
Then there are the attitudes propagated: the round of beneficiary bashing, for example, whenever a distraction is needed, and the implicit assurance that the various draconian measures listed above are aimed at people who are beneath contempt and not worth bothering about – not the “nice” people like your good self.
Obviously, there is not enough space here to write a book on the subject, but I hope I have answered your question. My apologies to teachers for not entering into the education fiasco. And to Christchurch for not addressing the disaster capitalism to which it is subjected. And to the Pike River families who have been denied honesty and justice. I have tried to stick with matters in which the question of entrenched inequality is the salient one.
In can think of two right off the top of my head.
1. Tax cuts for the wealthiest.
2. Increase in GST which hits lower paid the hardest.
3. Not raising a finger as company after company has gone bust resulting in the loss of over 40,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, throwing people onto the charities of Paula Bennett’s reconstructed “welfare” system.
4. Accepting a pay rise for all parliamentarians when most of the country sees their earning power reduce or stay the same.
5. Total inaction when the dream of owning your own home is an unachievable fantasy for vast numbers of hard working, WAGED, responsible kiwis.
Oh, thats five, not two. bet if anyone cared to do some research they could come up with more.
That’s much more heartening – as was the number of comments articulating where Chris had gone wrong with that last article.
The more the mainstream media guns for Cunliffe the more I want him as PM – and yes everyone should read the interview on Scoop to get an insight into just how switched-on Cunliffe is.
I beg to differ. I saw plenty of comments supporting and adding to Chris’ analysis, and the only rebuttal I saw was along the lines of “quit your bitching, honest criticism might lose us the election”. If Labour apparatchiks care more about winning elections than honesty, and refuse to take fair criticism on the chin, they are no different from National, and there’s very little point in anyone voting for them. Remember 1984.
It’s not that we don’t want honesty – but with the MSM doing it’s best to ‘swift-boat’ Cunliffe we have to be careful not to give them too much help. Reading a lot into a Herald poll is giving it more credence than it’s worth.
I wasn’t too keen on him when he came back from the States, but I’ve been paying some attention to our Labour leader & it seems to me that he gets it. He wants to keep good books, and may need to be persuaded on a couple of matters, but the decent prosperous happy society we used to have is very much what he wants too.
He’s rather good at taking criticism as it happens – but if that nordic style social democracy is your aim too you don’t need to criticise Cunliffe. Frame your discontents as opportunities – in the progressive surge that sweeps Key and his weasels out of government like cow poo from the Augean stables, many wrongs will be righted – and addressing your concerns will only help to build that momentum.
Fair cop Stuart. There’s a number of issue I intend to bring to DC’s attention over the next month or two.
Obviously there’s the grossly irresponsible support for fossil fuel mining, even deep sea drilling. Then there’s his gutless refusal to take a stand against the escalating injustice of the War Against (Some) Drugs. He could at least have criticized some of the more bone-headed measures brought in by the NatACTs, such as drug testing of beneficiaries, or expressed concern about the number of people being imprisoned for non-violent drug offences, or the warrantless seaches of people’s rural land being carried out by expensive police helicopter.
An overwhelming majority of people under 50 – a large proportion of last election’s non-voters – want an end to prohibition. What does DC offer us? An Obama-style laughing off of the issue, as if people being unjustly imprisoned, and families being broken up for months or years, don’t matter.
a link to that interview you mention would have been most useful
a google search with just results of the last month brings up something quite brief and not useful with Paddy Gower…
Sure, the election will be close, but the problem is that Cunliffe has failed to turn his rhetoric into policy.
This election shouldn’t be close.
People want, and need, Cunliffe to attack the wealthy. Policies like the forestry and baby bonus are not the solution, they are the problem. If we want third way tinkering we will listen to Peter Dunne.
Nobody was in the forest yesterday, and nobody heard Cunliffe’s dead-wood policy. Nobody cares.
When is Cunliffe going to say he’s taxing the rich because they take and don’t contribute. When will he announce the new minimum wage – and not just give it to government workers. When will he do something about the cost of housing. When will he do something about student loans and the lifetime of debt students get loaded with – we all want to pay the fees that Cunliffe did.
The solution to Cunliffe’s ideological contradictions is not third way tinkering for forestry workers and new parents, its to get to the root of our problems. By all means have those baby, insurance and forestry policies, but Cunliffe must be smoking crack if he thinks they will get people talking about, and then voting for, Labour. The election is going to be close, but like Bryce Edwards said the other day, that’s pretty much every election under MMP.
Cunliffe needs to steal Mana’s economic policies. There’s no shame in that, they’re good policies. Stealing Mana’s economic policies would mean that Labour returned to its roots
Anyone who has watched the documentaries Capitalism A Love Story and Hot Coffee both from the US would notice a direct correlation between the Corporate control and manipulation of the Government and the MSM which eminates from the US and is galloping along in NZ at an alarming pace and sadly all the sleepy hobbits are not aware that they
are being brain washed as a result when they do wake up to the fact they are supporting a regime that doesn’t govern for them it will be too late.Getting fed up with Trotter’s negativity just as an aside despite the fact that he has some valid points
Yes, I agree with much of the above, the left, the progressive forces, the poor and disadvantaged, also many in the middle class, have suffered a whipping and otherwise endless lies and empty promises from this government, enough is enough.
The MSM is responsible for having tried all to undermine and discredit David Cunliffe. We all know now he made mistakes and was not up to the odd challenge by the media. But while he got hammered, Key and National were treated with a soft brush for anything that was raised about them. Only as of recent have I noticed that now National and Key are also coming under a bit of scrutiny by the mainstream media.
Maybe they are feeling a bit guilty now, having let Key and his ministers off lightly too often?
In any case, yes it is policy, and it should be policy and long term planning and capacity to bring about real changes for the betterment of the whole country that count. To throw it in early, before the election campaign has even started in earnest, is idiotic.
I call on the ones like Chris Trotter, take a holiday, take some time out, do not dwell so much on present negativity, we all know, things can change swiftly, there can be sudden surprise revelations, there can be some reflections by the public, there can be many things happening yet, before the election date is even there.
Also much more can be done, people can be motivated, informed, alerted, involved, shaken up and appealed to in their conscience, to finally decide to vote, which they may not have done for years.
Any intelligent person does not give up on this one now, as the election date was only announced two weeks ago.
And yes, it would be true betrayal to the 285 thousand kids living in poverty, to the over 300 thousand living a meagre existence on state benefits, and the working poor, working for a minimum wage that does not even cover basic living costs over weeks, unless you live in cramped, poor housing conditions, to survive.
Do not allow a betrayal to the worst off, the ones most in need of support and solidarity, do not betray the reformation and economic and social re-organisation this country desperately needs, do not give in to a dealer and wheeler and his apparently incompetent and corrupt ministers, who do nothing for your and my basic daily lives, as they are all just too busy feathering their own nests!
I have decided that I want National out. I am sick of the damage they are doing particulary for our education system. The only way to do it is to actively support a political party. I am working for Labour and intend to do everything I can until the election. If you don’t like the way Labour is going stop whinging on the sidelines but join it and have your say. That is the best way to keep it left.
Anyone with even an ounce of observational power can see how the the media is operating, and all it does is make me even more determined to get rid of this hideous government.
Anyone who thinks it’s game over already is a fool .Why do they think the media and National are going so hard out to prevent David Cunliffe from getting any oxygen?Why?Because they know he spells danger with a capital D.
But their pathetic obfuscation can’t and won’t last and as we get to the pointy end of this battle, National are going to be seriously found wanting.They are the derivatives of the political world;based around corruption,high risk and hot air.This is unsustainable.
And that’s all you need to know really!
Yes, we all know that.
Now please answer the question that I and others keep asking in various forms over and over again.
What is your plan for Labour to win the election?
How are you going to counter the fact that the media are all rabidly pro-National to a degree I have never seen before? This means that the main organs through which most voters become informed about politics are poisoned against the Labour Party, and that Labour basically won’t be allowed to discuss policy through the mass media.
How are you going to counter the fact that this is a National government which is more popular than any in living memory and is hardly on its last legs a la the Shipley government?
How are you going to counter the fact that a majority of New Zealanders actually believe the crap that Key spouts? There are an awful lot of people who now believe in this daft “aspirational” view of politics, and experience has shown that you are about as likely to convince people it is wrong as you are to be able to get them to change their religious beliefs.
How are you going to counter the fact that by all objective measurements, there appear to be more of “them” than “us” – they are better organised and have a lot more in the way of resources?
I have not heard a single decent suggestion from anyone on this blog or any other that isn’t obviously silly, or fails to respond to these questions either by avoidance or denial.
Why can’t people just accept that sometimes the dumb, evil people win and there isn’t much you can do about it other than wait it out?
What I find somewhat intriguing is the opinions of commenters who seemingly feel columns and sentiments by Chris Trotter and others critical of Labour’s performance are unhelpful; or even threating the potential electioneering success of Labour and the Left.
Criticism is helpful for learning and understanding, with the exception of the vitriolic variety. I regard Mr Trotter’s criticisms as more towards the constructive variety, as can be expected from most with leftist sympathies. Criticism can often come across as gruff, even though there’s underlying good intentions. The subject the criticism is directed at can often improve themselves by considering it.
What particularly frustrates me is how fairer policies that existed yesteryear are now viewed as radical; policies that basically ensured social justice, a fair go. Such policies are now demonised by proponents of our new economic system. One can’t help but feel that even those who advocate a fairer system, deep in their heart have somewhat lost hope such will ever be fully realised, hence timid policies and silent masses. A good part of thirty years of propaganda and a dramatic shift to the Right, often by governments that demonstrated contempt for the democratic process (like this government), can be held responsible.
I remember reading a comment in response to a column Chris Trotter wrote not long ago regarding the new ACT leader. The commenter suggested Mr Trotter had “gone rogue”, it seemed as if the commenter was accusing Mr Trotter of switching sides, a traitor, all because of an article providing an analysis of an opposing political party that wasn’t vitriolic. Even though this blog like all revolves around its political leanings, does not and should not constrain a blogger to be confined to writing columns that are passive, pretty and unchallenging; in essence: propaganda. Perhaps the biased mainstream media feed provided prolifically to us is already causing amnesia in some; independent, balanced objective journalism fading from the memories of some like yesteryear’s system of social justice.
Contrary to what many in the Right like to espouse. The Welfare State was not about transitioning towards communism, or hand-outs, after all the Welfare State was first adopted by Bismarck and then the Fascists. These entities adopted the Welfare State to stifle the influence of Communists and Union militancy. No hand-outs in a system focussed on social insurance, taxes paid similar in a way to a premium provided the safety net when needed and always funded the rights entrusted in the public good; one of those rights: dignified work to contribute and prosper.
Prominent movements and voices are important in maintaining balance, be they from both sides of the spectrum. Most of last century was dominated by two dominant opposing socioeconomic ideologies, both far from perfect in the raft of forms they occurred. With the neoliberal revolution of the 1980’s, which played a role in destroying the Communist Bloc; so we live today with one socioeconomic system predominating. Where’s the balance? This New Right dominated world was a reaction to the New Left whom they found disconcerting.
I think this is a time where a Future Left is developing. The internet is perhaps a device key to its development allowing a great and varied discourse to proceed, however an actual physical communal component is missing – an aspect that was strong in the past. Even in my short life I’ve realised a great change in society, a subject worthy of extensive discussion and understanding. From my experience, until the turn of the millennium, there was more community and dare I say love; emanations of the socially conscientious spirit that was characteristic of last century. Contrast that with the madness of the last decade and today where people seem so distant and separate from one another, despondent and lonely. Who can blame those who don’t vote, they’re probably orphans of society.
The lifeblood of the left is understanding, education and its free proliferation. Censoring and silencing alternative perspectives will not shed light but ensure a smothering veil is cast.
Perhaps in time there will no longer be Left and Right but only truth.
superb
Agreed, Labour certainly isn’t dead yet. Two months ago it was a tie and two months not. But Labour has lost it’s advantage probably because the earlier hope and rhetoric has not translated into substantive policy that expresses a real alternative. Take education: National has released a coherent, convincing, but entirely flawed policy narrative on primary education two months ago and last week. Labour has pointed flaws but offered no real alternatives about school funding and child learning. They can do this here. Housing too. Public transport. Regional development. Youth unemployment. There’s six months to go and a huge policy needs to be announced soon or the narrative will be finalised. Don’t blame the media, Labour need to play the game. They should have done it by now even if people weren’t panicking.
The NZ Herald is basically a National Party propaganda rag which cheerleads the almighty John Key. The political journalists are continually pouring out uneducated tripe in their daily articles.
We are getting into very dangerous territory where we have a media being manipulated by political parties purely to enhance one sector of society in preference to the well being of the broader society.
Agree, Mr Cunliffe has plenty of ammunitions but is he not firing? He’s losing it to the far left and we know what that means…
The problem for Labour is that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place on two main counts. 1. They have a leader installed by, and therefore beholden to, the union movement, who at least half the caucus don’t like. 2. In order to win the election they have to try to look after their core support while at the same time trying to attract enough of the middle ground, many of whom are swinging voters. It is easier for the Nats
to achieve this as they do not have large numbers on the far right as Labour have on what many regard as the far left such as the Greens and Mana.
You are quite wrong. Key and his accomplices are amoral opportunists, they produce far right policies to order for offshore clients. But they know these far-right policies are extremely unpopular and against the national interest. So they enact them a little at a time, all the while currying favour with the sleepy, almost senile, watchdog that is the MSM. Both the Greens and Mana are quite moderate. Personally, I think a gulag is just the place for an asset thief like Key – but neither the Greens nor Mana have that on offer yet.
Fix the housing problem with a simple act of…………ban (or v-similar effect) overseas speculation in the NZ housing market ON THE first morning in power.
That WILL WIN this election, as a lot of left leaning National voters, and I imagine ALL left voters, want this to happen.
The effects on rents and house prices falling will OBLITERATE any financial effect of 10’s of different policies Labour are looking at……..i.e. if rents fall 25% as property prices fall 50% (highly likely) then the poor are better off to the tune of $100+ per week and NO, and I repeat NO, inflationary effect like min wage rise etc.
WAKEY wakey Labour, you’re loosing this election BECAUSE you choose to avoid the IMPORTANT work that NZ needs you to do for US !!! Foolish behavior !!!! And a sure sign of whether you should or should not be Prime Minister.
There is still time David………are you really listening to the people ?????
How does this work? The left who supposedly represent the poor and those who are on low wages have all been running up and cuddling up to a German gentleman who pays his staff far less than the minimum wage. This is far from a good look and reeks of hypocrisy. This is not how to attract votes in election year
@ Theloneharanger . No wonder your alone . You’re either an idiot like @ Gosman who has a fetish for being loathed or you’re a Machiavellian Confederate planted here to spread dissent . You’re the yawn I’m afraid .
@ Andrew Murray . I agree with you in that you say Labour is National Lite . I don’t agree with your tactic to not vote . I understand your emotional rationale but it’s not a flash one . I hate to say this but it’s a bit lazy . There’s more to voting than how your vote is counted for a political tactic . It’s a mark of respect for those who fought for you to have that vote . It also shows in statistics that people actually give a shit , even if after they vote they realize they may have made a mistake . Usually in trusting another liar . At least it shows those who watch with cold dead eyes that out there , people do care .
The reason I can say Labour is the same beastie with different coloured fur is simple . Not one mention of where they’re ( IE David Cunliffe ) going to get their money from to enact their policies . They’ll borrow more money off-shore then feed into the screeching maws of Auckland businessess , industry and the hoards of the other uneconomically employed who cram into it’s glittering facade then pretend that what they do keeps the Earth revolving .
Ah , I hate to burst your bubble .
Cunliffe has never once mentioned the pivotal role farmers and the others who glean their incomes from the land . Not once . ( And who then have it swindled off – shore by fancy people in offices to turn into exponential profit without ever once having to look up a sheeps arse . As they have done for generations ! ) I see and hear plenty of derision and vilification focused on the Farmer though . And even you The Daily Blog guys can’t help the occasional jibe about how the Farmer is the braying Blue Bastard who eat the still – born of the unemployed right off the barbi .
Here’s an idea .
Fly to Southland . Say Invercargill . Hire a car . Carry out a survey of as many farmers as you can as you travel back up the entire length of NZ with regard to their political beliefs then write a piece then post it here . See what you find .
I think you might find a community of frightened , ridiculously hard working people blindly ignorant of their own countries affairs .
And if you mention how wealthy Farmers are now , look more closely . During the later 1980’s , farmers were being driven from their homes , often after having been in the same families for generations to interest rates of 20 % plus ! You think that won’t happen again ? You think that their neo wealth is a coincidence ?
It’s a slackening of the reigns ,is what it is . It’s an exact replica of a financial environment that existed leading out of the late 1940’s .
It does this to a farmer .
It leads to a false sense of security so that money is spent . But not on baubles . The tax structure makes sure of that . All that money must be reinvested into the farm . Then what happens ? That farm becomes more productive of course . Then what happens ? That farm starts operating at a higher level of productivity , and a higher level of cost to debt . Then what happens ? Suddenly , farm product is dropping in value , like a cow shit .
Splat ! ‘
The Banks start circling . And more chilling ? Other , richer , luckier farmers start looking for bargains , the dirty , filthy traitors . Just like city people who go to mortgagee sales . Human nature ? That’s why I have a dog .
They only information that is given to the farmer is via the media , and we all know how that works out for us .
The National Lice are in their hair . The Labour Lice make sure they show no opposition to that infestation while pretending they’re the Workers Alternative .
There’s a good word for that particular construct . Swindle . It’s a swindle .
And no mention of that . Either here or in the MSM . Not one word . Shame on you Lanour . You’re liars and swindlers , just like the rest of them . ( I wonder what my blood pressure’s doing right now ?? I hear a rushing noise in my ears ? )
@ Andrew Murray . You are right in that voting is pointless as a way of initiating a movement to repeal the Louse Infestation conundrum because they’re all in on it . Some Political Parties are unwittingly duplicitous , but fuck it ! They should know better . Bloody Mana and its followers eat don’t they ? Surely they know there’s farm lands ‘out there’ ? Who do they think works those farms to generate the money that’s eventually finding it’s way out through the dole offices ? And into mind boggling and improbably high salaries for the High Fallooters ?
Some of those people are paid millions of dollars a year .
And where do you think that money comes from ?
It comes from borrowing , leveraged against our export sector .
And who is our export sector ?
Farmers and others who ply the stormy paddocks of the Blue Dyed Hinterlands .
What colour do you get when you mix Blue and Red ?
Green isn’t it ? Oh , the irony .
David fucking Cunliffe has never mentioned the Farmer and his/her money once .
He’s been all smoochy mates . All ‘ Friend ‘ to me though . Pffft .
All he’s done thus far is to let off air with a hiss and a roar . @ Theloneharanger … ? ” Yawn ” .
This post and the comments show that there is still hope. The election is not lost until a winner is declared. And the strategy to win is so important.
Thank you @Countryboy for raising an oft-forgotten point. Not all of us in the rural provinces share the same political or ideological views. There is as much variation as anywhere in New Zealand. It’s just a little less obvious. There’s poor and wealthy, there’s wage slaves and self-employed and unemployed, there’s different cultures and migrants and multiple generations, there’s schools and medical and other institutions, there’s service groups and service providers.
Possibly one big difference is the impact that local government has on the community. And that’s under attack from central government by limiting their powers, adding compliance requirements, and amalgamating them into huge regional authorities. It is a clear agenda to take away political power at a local level, especially in the small towns and provinces, and allow the control of resources to shift to the wealthy.
Thanks for this post Martyn. I was about to stop reading the DB after Chris T really unhelpful post. Honest to god Chris, you really flip flop. One week “Cunliffe more sinned against than sinned”. Then the next week you are doing the sinning against him.
FFS lets get behind Labour and Cunliffe and stop bitching and whingeing and giving him/them advice. Let’s have a bit of confidence in them. BTW latest R M poll = Labour/Green’s 45% and National 45%
I think there a point in somewhere, but they are equal.
come on guys lets do our bit to try and win. Remember Cunliffe has already had one major huge comeback, after the likes of Duncan Garner said “he’ll never be leader”
Couldn’t agree with you more Anker.
David Cunliffe is one tough ,resilient,intelligent ,cookie.We are all lucky he’s there.Let’s ride the wave WITH him!
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