David Cunliffe’s loss as Leader wasn’t just a personal loss for him, it was a blow to the idea of a true left wing Labour. Since taking over, Little has steered Labour further and further right. The idea is simple, people who voted for Helen Clark and now vote for John Key need to be wooed back to Labour and to do that Labour need to look like a diet version of National.
The reality is that the corporate mainstream media in NZ won’t ever allow a political party who threaten their corporate overlords position of power anywhere near the Government. We certainly saw that in 2014.
This need to depoliticise policy, dump identity politics and remove anything that might spook the muggles is the reason why Labour rolled over on allowing the SIS to gain warrantless searches, have agreed to allow the SAS to go to war, shrugged over the issue of Saudi Arabia and are now more than likely to roll over on the TPPA.
For left wing activists disgusted by such spinelessness, Labour hope they will leave to go to the Greens and make it more difficult for James Shaw to take the Greens any further right.
Critics will say that Labour needs to appeal to the missing million voters and inspire them with policy that will engage them, that’s what I thought last election – the reality however is that those million are now so disengaged and disillusioned by the political process they have given up altogether.
Those with property portfolios vote – and right now they are dominating the politics. The Left didn’t just lose 2014, the Right managed to shift the centre point of politics all the way to Caligula.
Things will change only if the economy pops and the poor rebel.
A large percentage of the “missing million” would be those who want to see cannabis legalized but have no one to vote for. The Greens have proven to be useless and spineless. Cunliffe was just another prohibitionist clown. If Labour had a clue, they would make legalization a central issue of their campaign.
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