politics from the point of view of the politically ignorant

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be politically intelligent and if someone could educate me it would be welcomed. I am merely posting what I have gathered from the last few weeks and also from my own thought processes. Take all that I have to say below with a grain of salt. I have not done much research prior to typing up this post...

So with the elections coming up this weekend, it seems like most parties have been and are continuing their campaigning quite thoroughly in the last few weeks. This morning I got 2 letters in the mail, one from the current MP of my electorate and 1 from Labour in general, directed towards young people telling us to vote for them.

Just to be clear right now, I usually tend to have centre-left perspectives (according to online political personality tests I have done, reallllyy accurate I know, but it's the best we've got to compare to right now :P), however this post will probably seem that I am biased against Labour just because my family tends to vote National and also because I have become really really pissed off by the way Labour has presented itself to me lately.

From what I have gathered , Labour's dreams to increase the benefit base, close the gap between poor and rich and alleviate tax impact on the less fortunate have been good intentions definitely. HOWEVER. I find myself questioning where this money will come from (just as I have with Greens. Their grandiose dreams are nice to think about but so damn expensive and they are like children crayoning in wonderful worlds that they have no idea how to create in reality). The obvious conclusion is to increase taxes for those with higher income. For a party that encourages people to work harder, it seems highly hypocritical to be punishing those who work the hardest. Especially when the TRULY well off, the 'rich' who are well ahead of the poor, are probably trust fund babies who live in million dollar houses yet have no set income and therefore pay no tax. I acknowledge this is a gross generalization but they exist. The main issue most people seem to have with Labour's benefit policies is that it in fact creates an unfair society where those who are unwilling to work are given help on silver platters whereas those who work harder to get ahead are slowed down to help them.

YES, there are families whose circumstances cannot be helped, but there needs to be a balance between helping them get up on their feet and crippling the hardworking to help bums. How we get this balance, I have no clue (and quite honestly, it's not my job to know). I just wish politicians would stop playing their little power game and actually get shit done. Cos you know. That's their job and all. This is a very difficult issue to talk about so I will just move on now.

When Labour, Green and National came to our school to introduce themselves earlier this year... I found the Labour MP incredibly immature in that she kept trying to attack everything National had to say. It was not supposed to be a debate. I could attribute this to her young age but that would be so ageist lol, I really expected the leaders of this country to at least treat their jobs more seriously, although it was entertaining nonetheless. Likewise, in the letter I got from Labour today, I saw:

"At the last election, hundreds of thousands of young people in New Zealand didn't vote. Their votes would have been enough to decide the election... Under National, only the better-off are better off. They'll be hoping that this election young people still don't vote. Don't let them get away with it."

It seems to me that Labour is trying to get votes not by their own good ideas but just by trying to put down National. But it isn't really productive to simply say why someone else's ideas are shit, alternatives have to be given. Not to mention how NO EXPLANATION is given to us as to WHY either party is doing the things they're doing. National is planning to sell Air New Zealand and I hate the decision. To this day I still have no idea exactly why they have to sell it. To cover debts yes. But why specifically ANZ???? ): I love ANZ... Also I find the act of selling HUGE NZ owned assets to be a really dumb move, but what do I know, I don't do economics.

Maybe politicians want the public to remain politically ignorant so that we may be manipulated more easily in our democracy. I always did think that was the major downfall with democracy -- most people are ignorant and actually have no idea what are good for themselves and their country. These were my thoughts as I read their letter this morning over breakfast...

New Zealand's youth unemployment problem is one of the worst in the developed world

National is planning to sell off our power companies to overseas buyers

They've made it clear they want to mine our conservation land
(Why? both this and the above are National policies I personally don't like. But I also believe they must have semi-justified reasons for them at least. These 2 statements will sound bad to anyone, which is why Labour threw them into this leaflet in the first place, in order to keep people from voting National, but knowing that we must question why National would be doing it despite all this stigma. Sometimes things that are good for you are things that you will not necessarily like.)

They're widening the growing gap between rich and poor

(Statistics would be nice)

The country's credit rating has been downgraded

(This has happened in most western countries because the economy is weakening globally, not purely an NZ problem)

Labour will: Pay off the country's debt without selling off the power companies and other state assets -- providing a future we can all own

(How? Also the last bit is cheesy and is only there to sound good)

Increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour

(sounds good considering inflation)

Change the tax system to make sure everyone pays their fair share

(curious about a plan of this and how they're planning to do it)

Make your first $5000 of annual income tax free

(taxes would increase past this $5000 to make it the same anyway right, except worse for those who earn more, usually those who work harder? dunno not sure don't do eco, but seems like the natural conclusion)

Create more jobs and use the dole to pay for thousands of extra apprenticeships.

(How are they going to 'create more jobs' honestly, I don't get it...)

As I was reading the first letter from our electorate MP (National), I thought how it must be strategically beneficial to have power in the first place because you CAN send out a letter before the election this way and have an upper hand in getting re-elected. Usually unless you have been a really crappy MP, people wouldn't have much to complain about. If it weren't for the letterhead and signature on this letter, I would not have known that it was from National. There was no attack on other candidates. It was a pure simple "this is what we have done in the past years, and this is what we will be doing if I get re-elected." I liked that. It was incredibly refreshing and less didactic especially after I read the Labour leaflet.

Without all the propaganda, I am likely to be a person to agree with Labour's POV compared to National's. However, due to the shitty and unprofessional way Labour has decided to present itself to me in previous weeks as well as having next to no vision for their ideas and instead of working out a way to make their goals happen they have been wasting time bashing the National government in an effort to get votes, it seems that I will end up voting the other way this Saturday. I do not want immaturity ruling the country I live in. Honestly I miss Helen Clark's competence. It's a bit like Apple losing Steve Jobs.

Actually it probably doesn't matter too much which way the election goes. The government is made up of all these parties and both these major parties will be well represented. It's been shown that they agree on almost 50% of all bills presented to Parliament anyway, and I am happy to have Labour represent its ideas for equality in government. It has just become clear though, that since they have no means to actually support their own views, maybe the answer is to let someone else take care of the details who actually seems like they actually know what they are talking about.

"I wanna build this treehouse!" the boy said to his father, showing him an elaborately detailed drawing of a palace nestled in the tree he had done in felt tip pens at school. His father chuckled and took the plan off him, smiling.

"Ok, son. We'll get started soon. I just have to make a few technical plans based on your drawing."

And the boy beamed.

The treehouse ended up a bit boxier and less shiny than he had imagined, but at least he ended up getting one.

Moral of this story? If you can't build your own perfect treehouse, don't complain when someone else tries their best to build it for you, even if it's not as good as you think it should be. Bitch.

Of course, the problem here is that National doesn't seem to have much of a clue of what they are doing either and their decisions to sell off companies to cover the national debt will probably end up screwing over the country in the long term. But you know what, at this stage I am just so pissed off with Labour's incompetence that like I said, it MAY JUST BE choosing the slightly less shitty out of 2 shitty options.

END RANT? God I hate politics.

Because politics shouldn't be about sides, or who's right or wrong, who's the 'better' party. Our parliament is made up of MPs from all different parties, who all have ideas on how to make the country a better place. Parliament needs to work together and get shit done, not re-enact some kids' game of King of the Playground over an entire country whenever election day rolls around.