The question is something of a conundrum. I am referring specifically to their behaviour and strategy. From their perspective politics is littered with examples of how these two things hurt them in all sorts of ways. They seem to have become obsessed with the nasty side of politics. They have a propensity to go after the person and not the policy. This fanaticism extends, unsurprisingly, to their comrades in the media who seem to think, irrationally, this is a good idea.
A good example was an article about the recent pay equity legislation. I don’t wish to debate the rights and wrongs of it here other than to say the left have taken a view that might suit their narrative but in my view is somewhat disingenuous. Having said that I think National and ACT can be similarly accused in regard to the reasons they gave for passing it under urgency although they do now admit it will save billions.
The article was written by Andrea Vance, a senior journalist employed by Stuff. For some inexplicable reason, to me anyway, Andrea chose to use the c word when talking about Nicola Willis and female MPs. Where was the need for that? Coming from a good old leftie ex-News of the World reporter, it’s not hard to guess the gutter was never far away from her thoughts. Surely, after her years in journalism, she has a few more sophisticated words in her vocabulary she could have used.
But the left nowadays aren’t very sophisticated are they? One only has to look at the Greens and the Maori Party to see that. When it comes to sophistication Labour simply lacks the nous as they do in most things. Andrea, by using the c word, completely wasted her time writing the rest of her article. The focus of the article was lost in her use of the inappropriate word. She has effectively shot herself in the foot.
Following on from that debacle Chris Hipkins and Labour thought they’d have a go. They decided, over the same issue, to put up a picture of Brooke van Velden, who introduced the legislation, dressed in a Nazi uniform. A more attractive Nazi I’ve yet to see! Now again, it’s not hard to get the point they were trying to make but once again it’s a very unsophisticated and ham fisted way of making it.
Not content with that Labour put up a photo of Christopher Luxon saying: “Happy Nurses Day. We got you a pay cut. This lie was personally approved by Chris Hipkins.” I ask again, why? What do they think it achieves? They seem to possess an inherent gene which dictates this is the path to success. Boil it all down and at its roots it is nothing more than a form of puerile activism.
To be fair to Hipkins you could give him some credit for using a rather cunning way to make his point. The nurses have not had a pay cut as of now which is where the lie comes from. However, in the sense that under the new legislation they will be getting a reduced amount in any future pay increases it is technically a pay cut. It’s a smart move in one sense but the problem is the public will most likely see only the lie. The legislation is more complex than that so I don’t expect Hipkins to understand it.
This sort of political activism might be acceptable for the Greens and the Māori Party because that is all they are, activists. Labour however, as the predominant party on the left, should show a little more finesse than simply resorting to smears and lies. This type of behaviour is symbolic of the left worldwide. It even affects organisations like the United Nations and its various arms. I don’t know what water they drink but it appears to have something in it other than just fluoride.
Take the American election. On the face of it Trump had a convincing win. The Electoral College, the swing states, the popular vote etc. But when you dig down into the numbers there were only a couple of million votes in it. That might seem a lot but it isn’t in terms of the size of the overall vote. Here’s the point and the huge mistake the Democrats made. They decided their best hope of winning was to go after Trump, tie him up in as many courts as possible to prevent him from campaigning. Had they not done that they might have pulled off a win although common sense tells you otherwise. Their lack of achievement was pretty hard to defend.
All of the above are dumb moves: dumb because the majority of voters can see through them. They don’t like what they are seeing and hearing. The Democrats, more than anyone, enabled the popularity of the MAGA movement. They are even turning off the younger voter. The left continually shoot themselves in the foot. Can they not see the harm they are doing to themselves.
Labour in Britain are doing untold damage to themselves, so much so that at least 80 of their back bench MPs have signed a letter calling for Starmer’s removal. Mind you, looking at the alternatives doesn’t inspire confidence. They all lack the necessary ability to undertake the tasks they were elected to do. Policies designed to punish are never popular and give the impression of a lack of vision for an alternative. People tend to regard increasing taxes as a nightmare whereas the left think very differently about the subject.
The Democrats are being taken over by the far-left activists so their chances of re-election are gone. Labour in the UK has managed, like the Democrats did with MAGA, to make Nigel Farage and Reform the most popular party. It’s unbelievable. They were elected on only one third of the vote, as was Labor in Australia, so they’re probably both out at the next elections.
Here at home the left paint an equally depressing picture. Labour lacks ability and a vision, the Greens are fruitloops and the Māori Party are a racist rabble not deserving to even be in parliament. Between them they are inviting Luxon to have another three years at the helm, when many of us think he doesn’t deserve it.
Having depressed myself sufficiently by writing this article, I will close by saying that unless the political left wake up to their self harm, they will continue to suffer death by a thousand cuts. Their friends in the media are staring down the barrel of a similar fate.
