Kevin Bird
Information
Opinion
How do I make my vote count? How do I cast my vote so that it has meaning? How do I battle the status quo ‘inevitability’ and inertia that the two biggest parties represent? Together with their lapdog party comrades (ACT and Greens), the status quo parties present a formidable obstacle to our NZ human and democratic rights. They have betrayed the little people, they have betrayed democracy, and they have betrayed me. I would call it treason.
There is evidence that a third or more of New Zealand voters are unhappy with the current state of NZ democracy, but could we ever get enough disenfranchised citizens to agree and commit to vote for one party together in order to break down the stranglehold of the status quo? There have been calls for small parties to unite but, to date, we have seen no evidence of this occurring. Why is this? Why are they all afraid to get into the same room and thrash this out in person? I’m calling it: They are too proud.
Minor parties, so far, have demonstrated that their egos are greater than their passion for NZ democracy. Their egos are bigger than the NZ Bill of Rights. Their pet policies are more important to them than the basic human rights of NZ citizens. Their egos are THIS BIG! Their egos are getting in the way of their aspirations for NZ and the aspirations of their members.
It is just not good enough to make a phone call or write an email, or send out a press release saying things like “We are willing to talk….” but failing to follow through with actions that reflect such talk. Surely the minor parties (new and old) have seen by now that many New Zealanders are fed up with empty rhetoric and lack of integrity. They get plenty of that from the status quo parties.
Call a summit. Attend that summit. Agree on a joint course of action. THEN we will believe in you.
It does not matter if you call the end result a ‘grand coalition’, or whether you just dissolve ALL of your minor parties for the sake of the greater good and form one bigger one: a freedom and rights party. It doesn’t matter if you call it “DemocracyNZ”, or “The Candidates Party”, or the “United NZ Party”. Instead, what matters is that collectively we change the paradigm which perpetuates our collective unhappiness. Minor party members, you need to put the heat on your party leaders, and let them know where you stand, and why you stand there.
Let’s not pretend that there won’t be differences of opinion on policy, but the key will be to ALLOW member candidates to have their OWN policy platform and be voted for according to that platform by the public, with complete transparency. We say we want freedom and we want transparency, but can we not allow our politicians to have policy freedom also? Can we not allow them to have personal integrity?
