The Ship of State is an ancient and oft-cited metaphor expounded by Plato in the Republic, Book 6, which likens the governance of a city/state to the command of a vessel. He expands on the metaphor by arguing the only people fit to command the ship are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to “the idea of the good”. The Good, according to Plato. is the one topic above all others most important to man.
In the Republic, Plato’s Socrates raises a number of objections to democracy. He claims that democracy is a danger due to its excessive freedom. He also argues that in a system in which everyone has a right to rule all sorts of selfish people who care nothing for the people but are only motivated by their own personal desires are able to attain power. He concluded that democracy risks bringing dictators, tyrants and demagogues to power. He also claims that democracies have leaders lacking proper skills or morals and it is quite unlikely that the best equipped to rule will come to power.
Isn’t it somewhat astonishing that the philosophy of Plato, born 439BC, and Socrates, born 469BC, has being playing out in this country and its Parliament since 2017? Nearly 1600 years later. This Labour Government is a prize example of everything Socrates pointed out was wrong with democracy. The tyrant has just departed, we have leaders, Ministers in Cabinet, without the proper skills, and the least equipped to rule have indeed come to power.
We may have lost the tyrant but the same ill-equipped fools are occupying the deck chairs. The same ideology is at play. We are unsure whether one tyrant has been replaced with another. Think back to Covid and the heartless decisions that were made, as per the government’s rule book, in the name of kindness. Hipkins was at the heart of all that. Mahuta, who in terms of portfolios occupied two chairs, will now have to squeeze into one below decks labelled Foreign Affairs, having lost Local Government and been demoted.
Local Government has been picked up by the very unlikeable Kieran McAnulty who joins his other hapless colleagues above decks. His portfolio includes Three Waters so it is clear that is here to stay. Captain Hipkins thinks having steered the good ship Auckland onto the rocks during Covid, a midshipman would be the right person to get a place that is right now largely a ‘river of filth’ back on stream.
His navigational skills were immediately found wanting as, wandering around the deck chairs looking for someone suitable, he homed in on Michael Wood. If there’s one person Auckland despises more than Michael Wood I’d like to know who it is. Simon Wilson comes to mind but I digress. His idiotic ideas are well-documented. With Wayne Brown in charge, there will be some fun times ahead. Reading some of the Mayor’s more recent comments, amicability is turning into animosity.
Further wandering the deck chairs the Captain found the one with number nine on it empty. Again, while wandering around the remains of his ill-fated crew, he spied Willie Jackson. Now any Captain worth his salt would have given this individual a wide berth but not Hipkins. How on earth this man deserves deck chair number nine is beyond me. He’s been a complete failure in his portfolios and appears only interested in furthering the causes of the Maori elite. Let’s have a guess – he got picked for diversity.
Stuart Nash has gone back as Minster of Police where he failed before. If he really wants to make a name for himself he could start by arresting the rest of the crew for incompetence before the Ship of State does a Kaitaki and runs, or is run, out of power later this year. Ayesha Verrall becomes Minister of Health, an area demanding more than the little help the last Minister gave it. Knowing something about the area you are in charge of doesn’t necessarily mean the necessary changes will be implemented. The same goes for Jan Tinetti in education.
Moving people from one deck chair to another won’t solve the existing problems even if the deluded leftists on Stuff seem to think so. In five years these sailors have navigated themselves into a harbour of rest. A new Captain and a rearranged crew won’t reduce the risk of the Ship of State running onto the rocks. There are rough waters ahead and I can’t see this bunch of mariners chartering them very masterfully. We need able-bodied seamen and women.
The way the country is lurching from crisis to crisis one could be excused for thinking a bunch of drunken sailors are in charge. Rum governance at best.
