Recently, a friend and I had the good fortune to meet up with someone who had a connection to the National Party. We engaged in a discussion about where National is at the moment and what we thought was needed for the party to progress from this point. What we ended up taking from the discussion was that the party is badly in need of a change of direction. National appears caught in a dilemma. Some seem to think that in order to win an election it has to latch on to Labour’s woke policy coattails and try to convince the electorate that they can do the same but better. Others, thankfully, are of a different opinion.
It is not surprising that the woke stuff is alive and well in Government Departments. The Police are a good example. But what is surprising is that a number of CEO’s of major companies are falling for this nonsense as well. They appear to be in the main, in the younger age groups of CEO’s hence their liking for this claptrap. Do they think their businesses won’t survive unless they join this bandwagon of stupidity? This idiocy is a recipe for disaster for the country. The so called Well-Being Budget is a prime example. This was no doubt supposed to give us all the warm fuzzies. We can now say for certain that that’s all it did.
Where is the well-being of those who need it most? The only well-being was to do with Covid when we all got locked up to apparently avoid certain death. The homeless aren’t being housed, children from ECE up are not getting a proper education, more food parcels than ever are being handed out and the health system is a mess. Carmel Sepuloni is being duped with what she is being charged by those contracted to supply accommodation, we are paying the useless Marama Davidson to eat her expensive lunches between making racist comments, and crime is out of control, assisted by the woke police. This country is becoming marooned with wokeness, invented racism and political correctness.
I am concerned that this sort of nonsense could be taking hold with some National Party MPs. This is the last thing the Party (indeed the country) needs. Any MP who harbours thoughts that this is the only way National can win an election should immediately resign their seat. You are doing a disservice to the party and in fact could be harming National’s chances of re-election. Just because it’s 2021 and society is changing, doesn’t mean the principles of the party are not relevant. They are as relevant today as when the party was formed. They are what differentiates the party from the other side.
Those principles, as revised in 2003, sought ‘a safe and prosperous New Zealand that creates opportunities for all New Zealanders to reach their personal goals and dreams’ which ‘we believe….will be achieved by building a society based on the following values: loyalty to our country, it’s democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State; national and personal security; equal citizenship and equal opportunity; individual freedom and choice; personal responsibility; competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement; limited Government; strong families and caring communities; sustainable development of our environment.
Here’s the problem you have, National. If those weren’t under your banner I would have thought I’d googled the principles of the Act Party.
If any National MP thinks being Labour lite is the answer to National’s woes, I have a blunt message for you and it is simply this – you deviate from National’s founding principles and you risk handing conservative votes to Act. You are risking Act becoming the predominant centre-right party in New Zealand. If this is your thinking, you don’t belong in the National Party. You are simply hastening its demise.
If you really think following Labour’s policies but doing them better is the answer I suggest you go and join them. What we need is a united National Party committed to its founding principles. You deviate from those at yours and the party’s peril. What little acumen you apparently have would be welcomed by a Government that has none at all. As Rob Muldoon said of those New Zealanders moving to Australia- it would improve the IQ of both countries. Similarly, Labour-lite National MPs moving to Labour would improve the IQ of both parties.
Put your own egos to one side and start acting in the interests of the party that got you elected and in the interests of the country you were elected to serve. If you can’t do that then do the only decent thing left – fall on your sword.
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