Island Life: Citizen Key
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The founder of philosophical anarchism?
"argued that government is a corrupting force in society, perpetuating dependence and ignorance, but that it will be rendered increasingly unnecessary and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge."
Mike might be right - but Bill obviously has something to add to the conversation...
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I'll make it official by invoking Godwin's Law. Hitler was kind to animals
unless of course you happened to be his dog, Blondi, in the bunker.....
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Key has spoken. Today's Herald on Sunday:
"I think I represent a modern, dynamic New Zealand, a very positive attitude of what New Zealand can become. I think that New Zealand is crying out for that sort of leadership."
I'm guessing he means "economic transformation" and "national identity". Or "national transformation", or something.
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Whatever the leanings of Key and the likelihood of him being the next PM, he still has to deal with the whole concept of MMP and not having absolute power (assuming National get less than 50% of the vote). If, over the next two years he proves to be leaning too far to the right then the electorate will deliver accordingling (unless he pulls off a Brash-style deception, without the gaffes).
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" a modern, dynamic, aspirational leadership form" was Key's description of what he has to offer. What on earth does that mean?
I looked up aspirational and definitions offered included ambitious, yearning, craving and desiring of success.
We might be better off with a leader who is inspirational rather than aspirational.
And he doesn't inspire me, even though he was brought up in a log cabin. -
I got 9 on Mr Slack's luverly quiz. Bit startling to look at the graph with the results.
I guess the thing is this - do we prefer to know a lot about our potential Prime Ministers before they ascend to greatness, or are we happy to wait for them to have it thrust upon them before we find out who they are and what they think?
(I'm thinking rather a lot about United Future's worm-fuelled result in 2002, when a lot of NZers decided better the devil we don't know, voted for them in droves, and then only afterwards did people realise what they stood for).
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"Hitler was kind to animals:
I wonder if this was actually so - I saw some doco years ago, showing Hitler at his Wolf's Lair, with friends & family, and dog. There is footage of him cavorting with nervous looking kids, and also his german shepherd & I couldn't help thinking that that dog looked scared of him. Like it got a beating now & then.
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Just to pull together the diverging threads a bit - on Friday, a colleague and I noticed that, in some photos, John Key has the EXACT same hairstyle as Hitler except that it is parted on the other side.
The image people might want to address that ASAP.
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The image people might want to address that ASAP.
By adding a moustache?
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And a uniform?
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Sounds like a Little Fatty in the making.
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It was very interesting to see the Campbell Live interveiw with Mr and Mrs Key in their 8 million dollar house (I think that Campbell mentioned the price 3 times). So far there appears to be nothing too scary about Key and one might hope that the deal that has been done to get English as deputy will shift the Nats back to the centre.
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Today's speech by Key is now up at Scoop
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John Key's address in the North Harbour Stadium really does sound like something lifted from (the emails of :-) ) David Cameron in the UK! Just as platitudinous (there's a great word).
It makes the (rather tired) great play of giving everyone equal opportunities. This sort of thing was unravelled long ago when Sir Keith Joseph first started on about it when leading into "the Thatcher years"---opporutnity is all very well, but you need the resources (usually money) to "activate" the opportunity too for it to be tangible and real, and that's so often a problem for many people.
And, oh dear---will we have the blog and the video site to go with it soon?!
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So much of it is generality that it's all entirely uncontentious.
What politician is not to going to argue for
"fair policies that encourage enterprise and hard work"
and a government that
"trusts people to get on with their lives and make the best choices for themselves.
He might like to think otherwise, but even your average social democrat will probably not disagree that:
"The government, of course, has an important role to play in the modern economy. But the appropriate role for the government is in the background, not in the foreground."And then, when he does, just briefly, get on to something a little more specific, he betrays the green-ness of the novice.
It is a mystery to me why the political Left acts as if it has a monopoly on environmental policies, when it is obvious to anyone who cares to look that all of us, across the political spectrum, with the exception perhaps of the Greens, have taken too long to put the protection of our environment at the forefront of our thinking.
I have a large box of speeches I churned out for the Minister of the Environment at the end of the 1980s that would suggest otherwise. He chose to keep that portfolio when he became Prime Minister because, he told the media, environmental policy was "so crucial". His party was talking about climate change a long,long time before Key and his National Party colleagues were bagging the Kyoto Protocol.
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I thought these comments were more revealing than that speech - on National Radio's "Nine to Noon":
Key: "I think nuclear power's a non-starter in New Zealand". (he goes on to explain why, principally cost).
And:
Katherine Ryan: "The current nuclear-free policy, do you believe it should be retained?"
JK: "I personally do ... I think it's part of who we are and what we are."
http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/ninetonoon
I doubt we'll be hearing any more about a referendum. -
Also noteworthy:
"If you are looking for a guide to my political philosophy then I suggest you look no further than the core values and principles of the National Party."
Key's political biography:
Born: 1961.
Member of National Party in early 1990's
Rejoined National Party 1998. -
i had a listen to the nine to noon inteview
Key is certainly a lot more coherent than brash, and less divisive (to judge him by a single interview)
his style seems similar to the David Cameron style tories, i.e. moving towards the centre of the political spectrum. its got to be a good thing
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what i find interesting is how national have gone for another political novice. not as extreme as brash, of course. that was so stupid i couldn't believe that even the national caucus was so intellectually shallow.
but, once again, we have someone with just four years in parliament and no cabinet experience. even the upstart lange had six years in the house before becoming leader.
so, in his short parliamentary tenure, what has key achieved? how do his recent finance policies stack up? what is his record in the debating chamber and in the select committees?
mr. slack has been kind enough to elucidate key's voting record, but what about his other activities?
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