Posts by simon g
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to Bart Janssen,
So we better be bloody sure that the change is one that we really want.
Imagine an underwhelming vote for change - low turnout, narrow majority. Unlike general elections, this can't get reversed any time soon. What then?
The best hope for "pro change" advocates is that by March people have had enough, and the new flag is accepted because most are fed up with the whole topic (many already are, just think what another six months will do). Shrug shoulders, move on.
But I think it's more likely that the antis will get antsy. The media love easy stories and it doesn't get any easier for them than grumpy Kiwis refusing to fly the new one, making a protest and hitting the headlines. Optimal optics!
When it's a free choice, this doesn't matter. Wave whatever you want at the rugby. But when it's an official event, when the occasion requires a degree of dignity and consensus - "I'm not marching under that, says War Hero Bert, 87 ... ". Oh dear.
A mess in the making.
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My concern is less about the flag, more about the democratic process.
The role of a referendum is always an issue to debate in a democracy. Different lands, different methods. Generally, I favour representative democracy, but with an outlet, such as citizens' initiated referenda (and a beefed-up law, requiring a response, though Parliament must retain the final say). Basic principle - the more public engagement, the better.
This whole flag shemozzle is damaging the democratic process. A referendum is now widely seen as a PM's toy, not the result of hundreds of thousands of signatures. It's not from "us", as when people were exercised by smacking or asset sales. Result - more cynicism, and inevitable (if wrong-headed) calls to boycott, sabotage, etc.
It reinforces the feeling of a fake democracy. Yes. you can "have your say" on social media, but ... not really. You're not on the panel. You can do the work, submit the designs, but ... it's in the trash.
It's the kind of phoney consulting that pisses people off at work - "I value your input", lies the boss, before doing what he was planning anyway. And across the democratic world, cynicism is growing, often reflected in low turnouts and the rise of extremist parties. In NZ we're still a long way from the worst of that, and mocking is better than rioting, but ...
TLDR: Key doesn't do civics, doesn't care, and it shows. And it matters.
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Unfortunately we're now going to move from (relatively) positive engagement to negative.
When there was a blank sheet, with our options limited only by imagination, naturally people had plenty to say, seriously or not. But that's over now, we can't colour in any more flags, or even tweak the ones we've got. It's no good me saying "Yeah, I don't mind number 3 except ... ". There is no "except".
That was the panel's job, on our behalf, and they failed. Did nobody say "Minimum requirement: 4 distinct options"? If they did, they were outvoted by fools.
Six months to go.
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I'm afraid they've stuffed it up.
The top one had to be included, not because I like it, but because the silver fern should be an option. Nos 2 and 4 are committee jobs, which leaves the third. But it's black. So, no.
None of them can match the Maori flag, but then we'd be talking politics and having a meaningful discussion, oo er!
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Some PA commenters were sure John Smith won UK Labour the 1997 election despite dying in 1994.
Who? Nobody.
But some PA commenters did have a grasp of historical fact. A happened before B, B happened before C. John Smith went beyond rhetoric, he made concrete moves in the UK Labour party. Read up on your history, before patronising and misleading.
We don't know what would have happened had he not died, and to debate what didn't happen is pointless. But it is equally pointless to claim that Blair's way was the only way - that being Not-Far-Left automatically means embracing Thatcherism. That's TINA talk, it's irritating, and wrong.
In a NZ context, the problem isn't that Clark was centrist and won, whereas her successors were left and lost. The problem is simpler: Clark/Cullen/Simpson were very good at politics, the current/recent lot aren't. (How's the Chinese name thing working out for you? As well as anybody could have predicted - except the people running Labour).
To repeat (yet again): many Labour policies poll well. The people selling them don't. That's much harder for Labour insiders like Rob to face up to. Easier to caricature critics as ultra-left dreamers, I guess.
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How did UK Labour break out of this funk? Tony Blair.
Actually, John Smith. A social democrat.
The alternative to pie-in-the-sky left (which Foot's UK Labour was, in electoral terms) doesn't have to be diluted Thatcherism. It's the popular fallacy that says "A was bad, then B happened, so B must have been the only way".
Muldoon's command economy was bad, therefore Rogernomics was the only possible response? Tsarist Russia was horrific, therefore Bolshevism was justified? And so on. Babies, bathwater, etc.
Social democrats can and should win the centre. Polling has consistently shown majority support for many NZ Labour economic policies. The problem is that voters don't then match that support for the Labour caucus. They aren't "too left", they are just a bit rubbish at politics. A lot rubbish, sometimes.
That's the real problem, but it's the hardest one to solve. Self-awareness is in short supply down there.
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It says much about (delete where applicable) Key's populist skill / opposition's failings / media's uselessness ... that the "rugby and beer" story is now about the Greens, rather than asking 2 really obvious questions of the government:
1) When did the Rugby World Cup draw take place?
2) When did you discover where Britain is?
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Yes, but was he wearing an Australian shirt?
Parliament? What's that?
(*above questions based on actual media coverage of same ...)
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According to our classy Prime Minister, the Labour Party has a mental illness:
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I'll stick with the blokes:
George Orwell
George Eliot
George SandThey get me.