OPINION
The Labour Party election slogan could easily be turned against them. The majority of voters are probably thinking ‘In It Because of You’ would be more appropriate. It, in this case, referring to the proverbial pile. ‘In It For You’ is at best highly misleading and at worst a falsehood. The most honest slogan they could have chosen is ‘In It for Ourselves’. They, through their weekly ill-deserved excessive pay packets, are the only ones to have seen any benefit from their six years of incompetence.
The rest of us have had to look on helplessly while a bunch of ‘out of their depth’ MPs and ministers, intent on instituting profligate policies, put the country on a path to economic ruin. The Minister of Finance, oblivious to this fact, keeps banging on about how strong our economy is compared to others in the OECD. But the numbers tell a different story.
Grant Robertson talks little of the need to increase productivity to get the country out of the economic hole he has created. Piling excessive regulations, extra paperwork, unrealistic demands and timeframes on farmers in terms of emission reductions is entirely the wrong way to go about it. Policies that allow them to increase the country’s export earnings are needed instead.
The problem Robertson has is that he is captured by the economic thinking of the left. In their view, the only way out of a fiscal dilemma is to increase the amount of tax the government takes. This thinking is partly due to the politics of envy: despising anyone who has worked hard to make a success of their life. Their priority is to encourage and support those who prefers to live on welfare payments, the people who make up a part of Labour’s core vote.
Their economic thinking coupled with the rest of their ideology leads to the squandering of the tax and other income they receive. The tax take, which has increased hugely since Labour came to power, has been largely wasted. It has been spent on pet projects aligned to their ideological bent but has delivered of little benefit to the country as a whole; yet David Parker would have us believe it’s still not enough.
Millions have been spent on exploring transport projects that have not or will not go anywhere. The bike bridge and light rail to the airport are two examples. Meanwhile road maintenance is neglected. Centralisation in health and education has incurred extra costs for no tangible benefit. Waiting lists for housing and surgery have both grown exponentially.
Our students, if at school at all, are sliding down the OECD rankings. The basics have been replaced with a curriculum of left-wing nonsense. When students are not at school they’re out ram raiding, adding to the rise in the crime statistics. We’re being told we should feel safer when it’s blatantly obvious the opposite is the case. All of this before we even get to co-governance, pandering to the Maori Caucus and a growing number of ministers pooing in their own nests.
No wonder the National Party slogan is about getting the country back on track. As for the Labour Party, ‘In It For You’ is completely disingenuous if not downright dishonest.
This whole sorry saga will come to an end on October 14 when the results will show we’re not in it for them.