I have been watching increasing use of the term COL (Coalition of Losers) to describe what is in actual fact our government. Using the term is lazy, arrogant and removed from the reality of MMP. Did I mention churlish, ungracious, boorish and ignorant?
It is as childish as saying #notmypm or #notmygovernment or claiming that she was selected not elected. I have news for users of those terms, and it isn’t good news.
Like it or not Jacinda Ardern is your Prime Minister and to say she was selected not elected is as stupid and ill-mannered as saying Helen Clark was the first elected female Prime Minister when we all know that was Jenny Shipley. The same people using the term “COL” or saying Ardern was “selected not elected” are likely the same people who derided Labour types for saying Helen Clark was the first elected female Prime Minister.
Calling the government “COL” also denies the fact that we live in an MMP environment. No one called the 2008 coalition of National, Act, Maori Party and Peter Dunne a coalition of losers, despite the fact that every party but National barely rated and came fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
No one called the 2011 coalition of National, Maori Party, Act and Peter Dunne a coalition of losers, despite the fact that every party but National barely rated again and came fifth, seventh and eighth respectively.
No one called the 2014 coalition of National, Maori Party, Act and Peter Dunne a coalition of losers, despite the fact that every party but National barely rated again and came fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
We live in an MMP environment and have had two referenda where MMP won handily with the help of John Key gerrymandering a re-run of the first referendum in order to split the vote. Key thought he could govern forever under MMP and like Helen Clark he was shocked to find out that wasn’t the case. Clark at least fought an election to find that out. John Key packed his tent and quit when he found out, lacking the courage to give it another crack, and lumbered the party with the worst leader National has ever had, two-time loser Bill English.
To say “COL” is petulant and churlish. It says more about the author or commenter than it says about the reality of politics in New Zealand. It presumes that there is some untrammelled right of the largest party to form a government. There is no use wailing about how things should be, or how unfair it is. That is just like All Black supporters moaning about the referee when the reality is that they just played badly.
We don’t tolerate sore losers from kindergarten onwards because it is unbecoming, and yet for some reason people think it is funny to call the government of the day a coalition of losers. It shows an arrogance unmatched by wit. We are better than that.
It is high time that National and their supporters licked their wounds like grown-ups. Take your lumps, chin up and box on.
It matters not to me as I support no one party anymore. I’ve found from more than a year of quiet contemplation that tribalism of any kind is unhealthy. I am yet to decide who I will be voting for this election, but I have decided who I won’t be voting for. My reasons are personal, but I cannot in all conscience vote for a party that treats its own people so appallingly, ignores its founding principles, treats its members like docile sheep, sells out to soft Chinese power and seeks to govern no matter the cost. That may change should the leadership change, but right now my vote is up for grabs. It may well be swayed by which party delivers most for me as a competitive shooter.
We’ve had Labour-led governments before and we will again. We live in a democracy and sometimes your team is out-foxed, out-campaigned and out-negotiated. That’s life, live with it and try harder. Absolutely no one likes a sore loser, but unfortunately, that is exactly what some National supporters sound like. If you want National to be the party that leads the next government then start sounding like winners, not sore losers.