David Cormack
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They're not sending their best
🕑 Added 2023-07-02 21:45:27 +0000 UTCIf you're someone who votes Labour or National, you must be a sad panda.
My political awakening happened at the 1993 election when I was 9 years old. I distinctly remember Richard Prebble losing Auckland Central and that was apparently a Very Big Deal.
The first election I got to vote in was 2002 when I was 18. I voted Labour as my party vote, and Peter Dunne as my electorate MP (in my defence, he was a family friend).
Since then I've not voted for Labour (or National) since. My politics has been on a steady leftward drift as I've aged. Which is apparently the reverse of what happens.
My own theory on this is that traditionally people became more conservative as they got older as they accrued more assets. House, stock portfolio, boats, holiday homes. Whatever. That was what usually happened to middle-class Pākehā. Except the world has conspired against us and these things are no longer a birthright.
People are being locked out of the housing market. Born-to-rent. Trapped in a position where they can afford to pay for someone else to own a house, but for arbitrary reasons the bank demands a deposit of over $100K which is fucking impossible to save for when every penny you earn is going on someone else's mortgage and food.
So without the stability of owning your own home, you feel less inclined to have kids, you sure as heck aren't investing in shares, the boat is a pipe dream, and holiday homes? Ha!
All of this is to say that neither of the major parties have really offered solutions for what ails us. So it's no surprise to see ACT and the Greens creep up. But also, they're the only two parties actually offering policies and ideas.
National keeps chugging out dumb-arse policies that are just populist. Lock 'em up rubbish that gets almost instantly discredited because it's not costed. Labour can't talk about policies because they're too busy talking about the latest ministerial scandal (warranted or not) (pun).
Over the weekend the Greens released a rental policy that included rent ceilings. Now I'm not rent expert, but every time I've suggested rent controls I get shouted down by a bunch of economist-adjacent folk who tell me that rent controls never work. Could be true. Not sure. But at least the Greens are thinking about what the problems of society are and trying to fix them.
So far, the Greens have come out with a tax policy that broadens our ridiculously shallow tax base, and a housing policy, and now a rental policy.
Labour has given us free prescriptions.
Now I'm not for a second suggesting that free prescriptions are bad - on the contrary, it's great news! And also smart politics, because every time you visit a pharmacy to collect a script, you're reminded that Labour made it free (and National has committed to making you pay again).
But overall the two parties are a bit of a mess. There are talented bright spots in each. But we're in a situation where the people who want to become politicians probably shouldn't.
I've long had a thesis on this - that we created a career-path for politics, and it's been shit-housery ever since. This started at a local level - think back to even the 1990s (if you're old enough like me). People on the council were plumbers, lawyers, firefighters, teachers etc. They were folks from all vocations who were civic minded and helped out part-time, while continuing to do their job. Now being a councillor is a full-time gig. So instead of having a council filled with a variety of professions, we have a council full of councillors.
That malaise has extended to central politics now too. So many MPs follow the same path. Go to university, leave uni with maybe a law degree and some experience as a student politician. Get a job in a politician's office. Become a politician.
Even the ones we hold up as having had great life experience ... haven't. Luxon is touted as this phenomenal business guy. But I'm more a business guy than Luxon. He got a job at Unilever for years. Then at Air NZ. Now National His whole adult career has been well paid in the bosom of a large company. I set up a business 8 years ago where the ability to pay my mortgage or put food on the table was down to me. I couldn't rely on my business just paying me without going out and making it so.
This is not to say I'd be a better politician than Luxo (I would), or that I want to be one (I sure as hell don't), just that we are losing the quality life experiences and variety that made politicians in touch with the people they represent. Now it's mainly intellectual rather than lived.
This is not to diminish people who worked as student politicians (although come on...nerds), or those who worked in politicians' offices (guilty), but it's to say that we need more variety. MMP is to blame for this somewhat. The list function has reduced the need to impress your local community to get them to vote for you.
I don't want to go back to FPP, that shit was unfair as fuck. But MMP has been our form of Government for nearly 30 years now, and I don't think it's a great system.
I'm sure there are constitutional nerds who can come up with better systems than me, but surely there has to be something better? We are not well served.
