Posts by Tom Semmens
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@Ben Wilson:
Can you explain to me why these two statements of yours are not mutually contradictory?
"...I don't see a grand coalition as bizarre. What is bizarre is the refusal to accept the idea, to insist on party politics unto the death..."
"...What's hard about the idea that they might believe in what they are standing for? It's not a matter of being 'reality averse'. It's about taking some pride in getting however many people they do get, to vote for them DESPITE the fact they won't get any representation..."
If a political party is founded on a specific set of beliefs, that they are proud of and they wish to get people to vote for, then the bizarre thing is having anyone saying they should form grand coalitions with another party whose philosophical foundations they fundamentally disagree with. -
Daniel: Yes. However, the National Party and its cheerleaders still don't seem to have grasped this.
National's biggest problem is they havn't split apart yet, so they lack a proper conservative coalition partner. ACT is a cargo cult collection of fringe merchants who frigten little children.
What the right needs is their version of the Greens - a socially conservative (but not foaming at the mouth socially conservative like the myriad of fundy parties out there) and economically robustly "traditional" in its support of rural industries, small business and regulation to support the productive secctor.
A sort of Green Party, but for high Anglicans.
I have always thought the biggest threat to the left's current natural hegemony is a Federated Farmers Party led by Bill English, in coalition with an urban liberal National Party.
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Friday: Declare Victory.
Saturday: Declare any other result but a National victory is just cause for rioting by angry white people.
Sunday: Publish a map of handy grassy knolls in case Helen Clark wins???
That editorial today is kinda wierd, they seem to be saying that unless National win they'll replace their inaccurate and hysterical anti-EFA front page editorials with inaccurate and hysterical anti-MMP ones.
One suspects that if Labour manages to put together a Labour-Green-Maori-NZ First-Progressive majority coalition after the election the Herald will start demanding a military coup.
Their editorial writers really are channelling David Farrar far to much these days.
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I/S:
New Zealand is a society that is way more politically polarised than we care to admit. Doing away with the threshold assumes a level of economic, political and social homogenity we simply don't have, and the 5% threshold keeps in check some of the more extremist ends of our political spectrum. I prefer more democracy than FPP, but MMP shouldn't come at the cost of good governance.
After all, history shows that when it boils down to it, people will choose order over law, and no democracy over a surfeit of it.
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The Netherlands is a very prosperous and racially homogenous nation. What makes you think New Zealand's political culture would resemble the Netherlands and not that of Israel?
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I am not a big fan of Pita Sharples. His combination of emotional bluster and heart-on-the-sleeve honesty might go down a treat with some, but for me it raises serious questions about his ability to do the hard yards in government.
Having said that, his motivations appear good, which is more than I can say about Tariana Turia.
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I heard the Turia interview this morning as well. I was indolently lolling in bed as I damaged myself good and proper playing indoor netball and am confined to the horizontal for a few days, but that interview woke me up good and proper.
The election hasn't even occurred yet but the fissures in the Maori Party are plain for all to see, and appear to be widening. My guess is any attempt by the increasingly erratic Turia to extend her grudge against Helen Clark into an alliance with National would see Pita Sharples simply completing his takeover of the leadership of the Maori Party, and Turia will - yet again - swan off into the wilderness to howl at moon about poor little her.
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Oops. Hit "Post Reply" to soon. I should have added - that was the comment of my erudite, talented but extremely right wing advertising friend.
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Pah! Low quality spending destined for Mr. Key's razor gang!
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Yes - I had someone from the US of A ask me once how long the ferry ride from Auckland to Sydney was, and if he could hike from Auckland to Invercargill in a couple of days.
I retaliated by warning him not to go hiking alone in the bush in NZ, since lack of mammalian competition had led to rats growing to enormous size to fill the niche normally occupied by foxes and the like, and these enormous "bush rats" were known to attack lone trampers in packs. Warming to my tale, I enthusiastically embellished this with stories of the risky and terrible battles that ensued when we, fearless men of the soil, went looking for said ferocious packs of cunning and aggressive Bush rats. I think he was from Arkansas or somewhere like that, so I am pretty sure he believed me.