High Polling.... Low Values
Congratulations to the National Party for their constantly high polling since winning the last election. I know Nats are extremely happy with the numbers and they believe it is because voters think National is doing a good job.
Are we sure this is the reason? Are voters happy with the PR, spin, smile and wave and populist approach that National has adopted this term? If you look at it, John Key hasn't pulled down the foundations of Helengrad, if anything, he has put scaffolding around it in order to reinforce it.
He ignored Kiwis over ETS and the smacking ban. He did a backwards flip in order to keep the Greens happy over mining. This is to the detriment of our economy - and yet he was more happy to play Mr Nice Guy than face up to angry, unwashed protestors.
Sure he has played a masterstroke by rolling out reforms for holidays, work trials and the unions - but we are still unaware if the National Party will support freedom of association at student unions... and that is the very point of it all - What and where are the values that the National Party stands for? Are they that flaky that we don't even know if they support freedom of association or not?
Here are their core values, but are they sticking to them?
• Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State
• National and personal security
• Equal citizenship and equal opportunity
• Individual freedom and choice
• Personal responsibility
• Competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement
• Limited government
• Strong families and caring communities
• Sustainable development of our environment
We could call bullshit on at least 3 of these values, Personal responsibility has been forced on Nats by their ACT coalition partners. Individual freedom and choice is questionable if you take into consideration student unions, school choice etc and Limited Government is a hard one to say when you're borrowing hundreds of millions in order to keep up with the runaway cost of our bureaucrat heavy Government.
There is absolutely NO point if you are 30 or 40% ahead in the polls if you have no values. It's becoming clearer every day that voters felt they should give Key a chance, rather than a complete rejection of Labour. High polling will eventually turn into low polling, and if you have a lack of values and policy that is different than the others, you will be back in opposition when a younger, fresher faced Labour MP takes over.
If Labour could reform quickly, then National should reverse them and give us a National Party agenda, and not hang onto Labours bad ideas. Give people more tax cuts, school choice and go harder on the unions. Sell SOEs and cut the number of MPs. Make it difficult as possible for Labour to reverse them and stand up proudly for your policies, even if they are unpopular.
You know Labour will go back to spending it all, lets give them less to meddle with.
Are we sure this is the reason? Are voters happy with the PR, spin, smile and wave and populist approach that National has adopted this term? If you look at it, John Key hasn't pulled down the foundations of Helengrad, if anything, he has put scaffolding around it in order to reinforce it.
He ignored Kiwis over ETS and the smacking ban. He did a backwards flip in order to keep the Greens happy over mining. This is to the detriment of our economy - and yet he was more happy to play Mr Nice Guy than face up to angry, unwashed protestors.
Sure he has played a masterstroke by rolling out reforms for holidays, work trials and the unions - but we are still unaware if the National Party will support freedom of association at student unions... and that is the very point of it all - What and where are the values that the National Party stands for? Are they that flaky that we don't even know if they support freedom of association or not?
Here are their core values, but are they sticking to them?
• Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State
• National and personal security
• Equal citizenship and equal opportunity
• Individual freedom and choice
• Personal responsibility
• Competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement
• Limited government
• Strong families and caring communities
• Sustainable development of our environment
We could call bullshit on at least 3 of these values, Personal responsibility has been forced on Nats by their ACT coalition partners. Individual freedom and choice is questionable if you take into consideration student unions, school choice etc and Limited Government is a hard one to say when you're borrowing hundreds of millions in order to keep up with the runaway cost of our bureaucrat heavy Government.
There is absolutely NO point if you are 30 or 40% ahead in the polls if you have no values. It's becoming clearer every day that voters felt they should give Key a chance, rather than a complete rejection of Labour. High polling will eventually turn into low polling, and if you have a lack of values and policy that is different than the others, you will be back in opposition when a younger, fresher faced Labour MP takes over.
If Labour could reform quickly, then National should reverse them and give us a National Party agenda, and not hang onto Labours bad ideas. Give people more tax cuts, school choice and go harder on the unions. Sell SOEs and cut the number of MPs. Make it difficult as possible for Labour to reverse them and stand up proudly for your policies, even if they are unpopular.
You know Labour will go back to spending it all, lets give them less to meddle with.
Labels: Labours legacy, National
posted by Clint H at
Friday, July 23, 2010
3 Comments:
This comment is not to antagonise you but a genuine question. What are the principles and values that ACT currently espouses because they are not listed at the website. I can't help wondering if it isn't too troublesome to actually advertise a set because a party then gets taken to task for not meeting them (as you have done here and I have also done in the past).
There is so little difference between National and Labour they cannot be called Opposing, Alternative ideological parties. National has cemented in Labours parties and rewarded those who broke the law Clark and Cullen (Fiscal Responsibility Act and others)Act has been a disapointment.
The only hope I see for the next election is for a strong group of independents with NO affiliation to any party to earn back the trust of the electors.
I Suggest Don Brash, Lindsay Mitchell and Muriel Newman. We would need at least 20 to break the existing parties hold.
Who else?
Hi Lindsay, naa, I wouldn't feel antagonised at a question like that :)
I think National puts those values up as window dressing and have not been taken to task for them. It's like some Nats saying they are Libertarians when we all know that is nonsense.
I didn't know ACT took their values off their site, but I always thought it was something along the lines of "freedom, personal responsibility, and hard work".
Lucy - I believe as a smaller party, ACT can still fulfil your ideals. Every party has it's failings, but we are fortunate to not be sheep who join the big two parties. Change comes from within I reckon and that's impossible with the others.
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