In just one interview yesterday evening, a thrilled Judith Collins reminded New Zealanders that there still happens to be a few adults left in the room of politics.
Strong and confident in front of the press, while still being able to retain a sense of humour – “I think it might be time for a drink,” Judith, not Jacinda, is the woman who could breathe some fresh air back into this stale country.
I read recently the foundational mission statement of the National Party from 1936:
“To promote good citizenship and self-reliance; to combat communism and socialism; to maintain freedom of contract; to encourage private enterprise; to safeguard individual rights and the privilege of ownership; to oppose interference by the State in business, and State control of industry”.
National, to date, have fallen so far from upholding these core ideals that it’s been an utter disgrace to watch. It rocked the hearts and minds of its own core voters, especially after National MPs voted unanimously for the Zero Carbon Bill, an insidiously infectious piece of Green political propaganda which Ardern was particularly fond of.
If Collins is serious about winning this year’s election – and I have no doubt she is – then I hope that she gives profound consideration to the foundational values of her Party, for they matter more now than ever. It’s not a case of National voters keeping faith with the Party, it’s a case of National keeping faith with its own core principles to deserve those core voters, and swing voters who are at odds with the progressive left (because they own a business, or did).
Ardern is a radical, progressive socialist, exactly the sort of political leader that the National Party came into existence to combat and crush. Economic leadership which indeed safeguards individual rights and the privilege of ownership is paramount, but so too must be crushing the cultural infection of Marxism which delivered its intellectual rot and popular narratives into our institutions and straight into the minds of our young. It remains something diligent parents have had to constantly counteract as the culture lurched hard left in the last 30 years.
I hope that Collins will not fail to name this powerful enemy openly as President Trump did in his superb and much-needed Mount Rushmore address. The National Party once knew it was directly up against communism and socialism – and that was before Wokedom dominated all our institutions.
The Marxist/Maoist intellectual and economic corrosion is a major feature of the Chinese Communist Party (to say nothing of its inhumane evil of running massive concentration camps). Through its contempt for the rest of the world, it failed to protect it from the Chinese virus. From this, we are all still reeling. Collins must also address this directly, especially now that former PM Helen Clark is overseeing an investigation into China’s actions in cahoots with the WHO. Clark hitched New Zealand’s economic wagon firmly to China with our free trade deal in 2008. China have proved themselves to be anathema to honourable, civilised and fair conduct on the world stage – they’re not just tainted, they’re decomposing and the stench is eye-watering.
Trump was the only political leader with enough balls to hold China to account for its illegal, crony trade practices, a promise he made very early on in his campaign, and one he has more than delivered on. Socialism and communism are still scourges to combat, abroad and at home in all Western nations.
This year’s election suddenly became very interesting. I wish Judith Collins all the very best in her first major objective, and that is to crush the kindergarten government we currently have. I think this is well within her natural capability.
She must stay faithful to National’s foundational principles. They are still substantial and excellent in both essence and practicality if a leader has the brass balls to be true to them. They, along with Collins’ confident and likeable personality, are the key to winning National back the votes they need.
