Posts by BenWilson
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Having just "finished" further tertiary, I can certainly say I benefited from it. It would be a little annoying to have bracketed my entire tertiary education into the exact period for which it was not free. I began in the year Labour introduced fees, and to finish the year before Labour scraps them would be amusing timing. I wonder if I'm still eligible for 3 free years, having never had even one? Not that I grudge the younglings, this is great news.
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Speaker: The Government lost the election, in reply to Dennis Frank,
Leftists celebrating what seems to them a win (I share the relief & anticipation) ought to beware framing it as a victory for the left.
I feel pretty happy calling it a win for the Left. You'd have to define the Greens and Labour as being not on the Left to not see it that way. Which, from what you've said, I think you do. If so, then the "Leftists" that you are warning here are also not the people that most people would even be calling Leftists. You're warning that subgroup of people who are to the Left of the Greens and Labour. The Leftest of Leftists.
Which is me, btw. I would consider myself to be to the left of Labour, for the most part. And yet, I'm still very happy about this result. Why? Because of the alternative - another 3 years of National, a historically long term as a reward for services, um, cut, would have been far, far worse in the human consequences. Probably also the environmental consequences, although we shall see.
The Greens are in government ministerial positions for the first time in NZ's history. How that could be anything short of a fantastic result for the Greens is beyond me. The Green ratification of Labour's coalition with Peters was by an overwhelming majority.
Sure, it's Peters. We've been here before. But this time he's compromised to bring the Greens into government. I seriously doubt he did that to shaft them.
But yes, we'll see. I'm not, however, going to fail to celebrate the occasion, and the astonishing accomplishment of Ardern here, and what it means for what I consider to be NZ's Left. It means a lot.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to Jonty,
How his surly arrogance is ignored by his bosses at TVNZ is beyond me.
It's not ignored. He is popular, so they play him, for ratings. I can't see it lasting, shrill outrage is not going to make his fan base giggle at the discomfort of his female co-hosts anywhere near as much as cocksure arrogance has.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to Tom Semmens,
points to how important frequent elections and rotations of government are to our democracy with its relatively weak constitutional safeguards
Yes, I can't look at the bible-length Australian constitution with much envy, considering the politicians they seem to elect, and the endemic graft and corruption that is normalized there. Let alone the USA's constitutional safeguards that have normalized mass murder as an unremarkable occurrence, and placed a man-child Twitter troll in charge of their nuclear arsenal.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to Russell Brown,
The interesting thing is that for some time a referendum was actually NZ First policy. So it may not have been a difficult compromise to reach.
That is intriguing. On the one hand, it's such an obvious rejection of the hypocrisy present in our laws around alcohol, smoking, gambling, and sports (for all of which I would think NZF voters believe in their firm rights to enjoy), when it comes to personal harm. On the other, it's a hypocrisy that's gone on so long that it's polarizing. I'm curious why they have that policy. Also, glad to hear it.
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Hard News: All Change, in reply to Russell Brown,
Part of David Seymour’s tantrum this morning, from Newshub’s liveblog. Can you actually imagine alleged “wild card” Marama Davidson losing the plot like this?
One of the most enjoyable things about the next 3 years is that it isn't going matter what Seymour thinks. To think I once voted for his party, and against MMP. But then I grew up.
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As for a referendum on cannabis, I think it's appropriate. It's likely to have been a compromise made with NZF who would probably have refused it as policy. Sometimes this really is the way to make decisions like this. There's nothing like millions of people saying "I want this" at a ballot to cut through all the party wrangling and voter segmentation BS that goes with representative democracy. Sure, if it were just Labour policy it could go through a lot quicker. But this might be the more lasting way to do it. If the government changes hands again, they're far less likely to overturn something arising from a referendum than they are to simply overturn the last government's policy.
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It might seem – and indeed it is – unfair that Peters’ party will enjoy four seats in Cabinet while the more talented Green caucus gets none.
I can't say that I see it that way. Yes, Cabinet positions wield significant power, but so does being a required part of a coalition. We see it in the policy concessions immediately. The Greens can collapse the government if they are left out too hard. I don't think that will happen, though, instead they get their first internship in real power. They're a party of policy much more than individuals, so I can't see this becoming all about personality clashes and so on. It's far too stable a movement, far too international. This is the beginning of a sea change long in the making.
I still can't get over how happy I am about this outcome. I'd told myself for a month I didn't really care, but that was probably more to cope with the chance of Winston selling out to National, and all the prolonged misery that would entail. This is the government I voted for, at least 2/3 of the parties in power got my vote and the other is the necessity of political compromise. I had a feeling Peters would do this, that his last political throw would not be to reward National with a historically long term for doing things that are essentially the opposite of what NZF would seem to stand for. Furthermore, I think the whole NZF board being consulted thing was real, that Peters is succession planning now, and his personal views had to take a lesser place to the views of his support, the organization he built. If he has any legacy, that party is it, and it's a big part of growing up that they were empowered to make choices on their own consciences and policy. In the next few years they will show if they are a real organization, or an unstable clique of opportunists. My gut feeling is that they are real, but we shall see.
I'm really optimistic that this government can work. I expect Ardern will get a second honeymoon with a poll bounce and if she sets about Labour's 100 day plan with a vengeance, that bounce will become lasting support.
This here, what happened yesterday, is why we chose MMP, more than once. It's politics of consensus, it's lots of talk and a lot less arbitrary power and arrogance. Sure, the other side, the losers in this outcome, hearken back to the day when their plurality would have been outright power. But their opinion is in a minority, clearly so in an entirely other democratic process, the only one by which a single issue can be clearly selected in a plebiscite, a referendum. That powerful vestige of participatory democracy gave us the representative democracy today that truly represents the majority of voters.
I feel strong hope for NZ in a way I haven't in over a decade.
Kia kaha, Labour, the Greens, and NZF, welcome to government! Special congratulations to Prime Minister Elect Ardern.
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Greens have overwhelmingly ratified the deal. I'm so, so, stoked. I'm just...nah gotta go, it's too much. This is literally the first time I've had basically exactly the government I wanted. Can't process. It's real, it happened, she did it. Too awesome.
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Hard News: The Day After Tomorrow, in reply to Dennis Frank,
Seeing that 7% as the bedrock real Green support base
It's credible. But I still don't buy that a significant proportion of those 7% are not inherently left wing. And the high water marks, the best results ever reached by the Party are almost certainly swingers on the left.