Capitalist
Every week, as most of you are undoubtedly aware, the ACT party emails a newsletter called Free Press to numerous people. The one which sailed into my email inbox yesterday was intriguing for a couple of reasons.
First, there was no mention of the widespread criticism of David Seymour over his pathetic behaviour during the peaceful freedom protest at Parliament (fancy that!).
Secondly, ACT mentions the one annoying aspect of our political landscape over the last 73 years – that National governments merely entrench Labour’s socialist policies.
An old joke goes, Question: “What is National’s policy?” Answer: “Take Labour’s policy and wait 2 years” (ha-de-ha-ha). So true and so frustrating for lovers of freedom and patriotic New Zealanders everywhere.
Apart from the silly con game superannuation scheme in 1975, it is difficult to think of a single policy initiated by a Labour government that has been reversed in 72 years. Feel free to ‘fact check’ me.
Free Press goes on with the need for a ‘healthier economy’; criticism of bureaucracy; the need for ‘healthy thriving communities’; criticism of gangs; criticism of welfare; criticism of the Maori stuff. All well and good as they are saying what a sizeable percentage of the population is thinking.
Nobody with even half a brain thinks the country is heading in the right direction and those with an entire brain can see we are fast heading towards the ending of the movie Thelma and Louise (do you want me to draw you a picture?).
But – and there is a “but” – what ACT is doing is akin to saying you need $1.5 million in your Kiwisaver account by age 65 or ‘if the All Blacks win every single game between now and the World Cup final they will get the cup’. Nobody disagrees; vigorous head nodding results from such statements. What would be ever so slightly more credible would be a specific list of things which get reversed (whether a spineless, weak, National caucus likes it or not).
Mr Seymour needs to create a long term calendar. He needs to circle October 2023 – “Election victory; change of government”. So far so good. Then circle Christmas 2023 with a list of, say, 5 terrible things which will be abolished or reversed by the time everyone tucks into their plum pudding. Then move on to Easter 2024 with a further handful of socialist measures that will have been abolished. Then, say, Queen’s Birthday 2024 (or will it be “King’s Birthday” by then?) for a further list. And so on.
Simply stating the obvious “golly gosh aren’t these Labour folk so much worse than we ever imagined?” simply isn’t good enough, Mr Seymour. Sir Sydney, Sir Keith, Sir Robert, Jim, and Sir John all tried that trick! (the very thing “Free Press” is criticising). We need something much more specific, much more reassuring than yesterday’s ‘Free Press’ for the simple reason that former ACT leaders Rodney Hide, Don Brash, and Richard Prebble all said the exact same thing.
Some questions:
1. Will ACT create such a list if things are so bad and they seemingly want to reverse the status quo?
2. If not, why not?
3. What are they afraid of?
4. Will Mr Seymour undertake to resign if, say, 20 appalling socialist measures are not reversed by Christmas 2024?
5. If not why not?
I think I can speak for every BFD reader when I say we aren’t *that* dumb David.