Posts by Bart Janssen
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to Moz,
Same applies here. We have a system for changing the way we’re governed
Actually I'd argue that at the moment we don't. Much as I loathe the money grubbing venal National party and their campaign to make their mates rich I cannot see any real difference in the Labour party.
Until we get to a state where neither of those parties can dominate we have no system for change.
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Voter turnout would drop markedly
If you mean turnout as a percentage of those eligible would drop then ...
Bollocks. Pure baseless speculation. 14-18 yr olds are often remarkably opinionated, usually also ill-informed, but that's not their fault. You simply have no valid data on which to base that statement.
If you mean the total number of voters would drop you are simply wrong.
-
Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Sacha,
the Labour model of Charter plus the requirement that TVNZ deliver a dividend each year was a hopelessly contradictory state-of-affairs
Genius, eh.
They applied that same model to the CRIs, they probably would have applied it to WINZ too. And people wonder why we feel our vote doesn't make a difference.
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to izogi,
Cue people complaining about partisan teachers
Because partisan parents are sooooo much better
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to izogi,
hacking issues
I'm not sure I believe that hacking an e-election is any worse than the blatant purchasing of policy by donors that exists now.
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to Grant Taylor,
more a question of perceived irrelevance
yeah that was what I was getting at as well.
I wonder whether a lot of young people just don’t ‘get’ politics.
And yet I disagree, they get it at the macro level, they realise that by not voting they are letting their Mom vote for Winston and letting him get in (yes my actual Mom).
The problem is they see no discernible difference between Winston, Key, and Little and they see no way of actually changing that.
There is a way of course and that is to take over one of the political parties and make sure the candidates are actually different - but that would appear to be hard (National candidate for Gore anyone?).
-
Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to Grant Taylor,
so that when the big game comes around, they know who the goodies and baddies are, which side they are on, and at least roughly the rules and objectives of the game,
I think that kind of underrates those who have chosen not to vote. There is an assumption that those folks abstaining from the vote do it casually and I'm sure some do just that.
But I also think there is a level of frustration with the lack of difference between the "goodies" and the "baddies" that leaves many with the feeling that their vote does not matter.
Not because they can't change the result (they know they can) but because a change in the name of the government makes no real difference.
To be deeply cynical, they are all baddies, they just wear different coloured T-shirts, red, blue, green, and yellow*.
*Oxford comma FTW
-
The main reasons non-voters gave for not voting ...
Was there an option for, "because all the candidates were lying cheating scumbags"?
And
How did you manage to write an entertaining column about voting? <genuflects>
-
Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Damian Christie,
The first story was also about the big dump of snow down South, but I’ll save that fight for another day
I learned in Texas that weather is news. I always suspected that one reason was hardly anyone could complain about weather as news.
-
Hard News: About Campbell Live, in reply to Damian Christie,
if someone watches
... if someone with a people meter watches ...
And yeah that appears to be the only mechanism at the moment so as you point we have to live (or die) with it.