Something which has puzzled me in recent years is the Herald’s Matthew Hooton’s constant dismissive attitude to the John Key government as wasted years.
I say that in the context of my admiration for Hooton’s always consistent and intelligent appraisal of current events in the context of his (and my) belief in the market economy, in small government and liberalism. Well, last week I finally comprehended Hooton’s scorn for Key.
The light dawned when the Herald published an astonishing ignorant but revealing article by Key on why, if an American, he’d vote for Trump.
In a nutshell Key said he has financial interests in America, has always believed in lower income taxes and Trump’s promised tax cuts would suffice to determine his vote.
The extraordinary thing about Key’s article was its astonishing shallowness.
For example, he correctly pointed out that Trump’s promised punitive taxes on Chinese imports was a cost which would solely be met by the American consumer.
But there’s a far bigger horror in Trump’s desire to isolate America from imports and have it revert to its own manufacturing which Key seemed oblivious to.
That is the post-war growth of open markets through free trade which has been the greatest instrument for world prosperity in human history. Trump being oblivious to this is forgivable as he’s spectacularly ignorant, unread and basically stupid.
But there’s a much more alarming reason to condemn Key’s shallow judgment and that is that Trump sullies the highest public office in the world with his reliance on personal abuse and his total inability to speak more than two sentences without telling outright lies.
It was only after reading Key’s article that I finally comprehended Hooton’s steadfast derision for the Key years, specifically the wasted opportunity to make meaningful and desired changes Key blew.
His likeable affability aided by a wallowing Labour Party saw him able to coast along, enjoying being prime minister but blowing the opportunity to make meaningful change. In that sense he served himself and not the nation and Hooton’s condemnation has been 100 per cent correct.
It’s now evident Key saw being prime minister solely in the context of a personal career highlight experience rather than any wider desire to build a better nation.
Disclosure – I don’t know Hooton.
This article was originally published by No Punches Pulled.
