I ended up voting for Labour and the Greens again on Saturday, reasonably confident that Helen Clarke's government would get to continue the good job they seem to be doing balancing themselves between environmental awareness and economic pragmatism. So it was a bit of a shock when, standing at the newsagent's counter to pay for TLM's My Little Pony magazine (I got myself a Bust), I spotted the front page news - Labour has lost to National.
Despite the fact that we now have a right-wing government on our hands (and who know how many social welfare and conservation cutbacks they will be making in order to give big business a leg up?), I guess we will just have to wait and see. Maybe it will all turn out okay. At least we are no closer to declaring war on some unsuspecting oil-rich nation.
There is one definite silver lining though - Winston Peters, that bandwagon-jumping salesman, is out of the political picture. Way hey!
13 comments:
I'm really depressed & worried about what it will mean for the direction of the country & also it seems so unfair that the rest of the world is getting to still enjoy the post Obama win buzz but not us.
But I'm sure tomorrow I'll feel better, more optimistic and able to see the silver lining- but tonight I have decided to allow myself to be angry, bitter and negative for awhile anyway.
Surely it's a bit of a stretch to call National 'Right Wing'? They're fairly conservative....
Winston is the Phoenix. He will rise again.
Heya, we'll have to agree to disagree here as I am over the moon that National won and I think it is the best thing for this country. I really believe that Labour is stale and ineffectual and they needed to go.
But, Winston is no longer and I agree that this is a silver lining indeed. That phoenix comment is worrying though because he has been known to do it before...
I have a theory that in true kiwi style, not many people actually wanted John Key as PM, they were just bored of having a good, reliable leader and wanted to have an Obama moment. Sadly though I fear New Zealand has elected a George W Bush and totally forgotten about what MMP is all about...
mtnw: more chocolate, methinks :-)
donnasoowho: you're right - National sort of right-of-centre than proper Right. And just as well too. I hope you're wrong about Winston though.
leo: Ahh...so you're to blame for the new government!
jonathan: I agree with you. I reckon people have just gotten bored with seeing the same face in the PM role of so long. Not a good reason to swing to the dark side though.
Well I hope I'm wrong about Winston too - although I'm sure there have been multiple occasions when we've all thought he was done for, and then....
Mind you, maybe he won't be back in politics but in some other forum. Like a radio host or even on the tele. He's got a whiff of 'the celebrity' about him. Or maybe local government - Mayor Winston.
oh, or (ho ho) as an immigration consultant.
Hopefully your tories will only be as effective as Canada's tories have been.
How long are your governmental terms?
donnasoowho: immigration consultant! Ah ha...you very funny...oop - my sides just split....
nigel: 3 years. Isn't it 4 years for you guys?
Hopefully they won't be too Bush-like.
Yep, 4 years for the President, but the legislature turns over every 2 years.
So it pretty much never ends.
Coming at this a bit late, but I think the wave of change from Obama did infect the NZ election, and I also think that Labour had begun to whiff of autocracy and corruption, as any party does if it's in for more than about seven years, so that wave of change hit at the most impactful time.
In some ways I'm a bit disappointed that the winning party has such a lead, I would prefer more teetering on the brink, but I seem to be the only one who can contemplate a minority government with often-changing wheels and deals. For me that's proportional representation.
cathi: yes, such an big win makes it seem like Helen Clark did a god-awful job - which she didn't. Political commentators reckon that Clarke changed National for the better. I hope they're right.
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