Both Labour and National are lame ducks. They’re pretty much the same party. They’re both promising the same things; both have old blood that is greedy to stay in power/get back into power. They’re both complacent that they are the natural parties of NZ politics. We, the voters of NZ, have ignorantly let them continue believing this.
One thing that marks NZ politics, and other parliamentary democracies, is that we tend to vote governments out. Up until 1993 we had the choice of a lesser of two evils. Labour or National. MMP opened the flood gates for proportional representation, yet only a trickle of the new found liberty was expressed.
Instead of voting governments out, we should be voting for change. We need to teach both the big parties not to be so smug. The only thing that will do that, is to put them in their place by annihilating their electoral chances of being the largest party within a governing body.
If you’re going to vote National, DON’T! Vote ACT instead.
If you’re going to vote Labour, DON’T! Vote Greens or Progressives instead.
This is what MMP is about. It is about choice. The big parties do not give you a choice. Their policy is watered down and they need smaller parties to elucidate their roots. National, deep down in its cold right wing heart, wishes it could have ACT’s policies (and does indeed steal them occasionally). Labour wishes deep down in its fuzzy wuzzy, pinko liberal heart, it could poach policies from the Greens and Progressive.
Hold them accountable. Don’t vote for a ‘catch all’ party. Vote for change. Fuck it! Vote Kiwi Party, Family Party and Legalise Cannabis. Just do not vote for the cunts, who have screwed us over and over and over again.