Tv1 news had Luxon entertaining the party faithful and one elderly lady gushing she would vote Natiobal because her father always did (how many years ago was that?) In contrast they showed poor Chippy standing in the pouring rain on a wet cold miserable day in Nelson. What manipulation of a news story.
I picked that up as well. Let’s use our hard won democratic vote for a pig in poo as long as it’s blue/ pink/ green/red. I can’t understand it. Vote on what they offer NZ’ers and our future. Think for yourself woman!
Great stuff, I am unable to share on F/B I get a message....."Your message couldn't be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive" I would think this censorship should be of some concern to you.
Wow! Can't imagine what anyone would've found there. Although substack isn't perfect I'm glad to be independent from the admin whims of platforms like Facebook or Twitter. If it won't let you share a link to an article you could just share the newsletter page - https://nickrockel.substack.com/
Polls schmolls. Ignore them. All the other parties have been campaigning (otherwise known as telling lies and slagging off the government) for months, while Labour has been busy running the country. They now have to tell their story well over the next few weeks, and excel in the debates, both of which I believe they have the capacity to achieve. I will believe in the possibilities until the only poll that matters is counted.
The last 4 Elections in the US, going back to Gore / Bush in 2000 have been primarily Media Driven Rort's that showed the Polls completely wrong in their assumptions of the results on the Day after the Elections.
It's not JUST the Polls that didn't reflect the will of the Voting Public in their time sensitive snapshots. The Media Bosses were all standing around with their hands out for Donors & PAC Dollars, just waiting to pin Tails on the Poorest Donkey's in the Races that didn't have the War Chest of Election Dollars to spend.
It was a race between Political Donors, Big Oil, Big Business & Key People in Media Editors Seats that screwed those scrums to their Chums with the Biggest War Chest to hand em for their Dirt dished out on the Lesser Wealthy Players that were a threat to the Oligarch Class, should they sneak in under the Wires, kinda like Jacinda did after coming out of nowheresville to save the day for the Underwhelming Left that had already spit the Dummy of Defeat to the Right & were about ready to sing Good Night Irene until somebody in Caucus said "hey, what if we had a Populist type of Talking Head"that could string a sentence together & appealed to Women & those wishing they were about then. NAtional couldn't get out of Government Fast enough after their last debacle in government that started all the Balls rolling down hill at us.
We haven't recovered from anything since then, although we've faced some extraordinary events having nothing to do with Politics, or Democratic Governance. Most of our Stumbling Blocks have come from Left Field to smack us all right between the Eyes!
Yup, we had to stop in our tracks & shut everything except the most essential things down while we all hunkered down & watched everybody to the Right of a Ghengus Khan Centrist's Spit their Dummies left right & Centre about how unfair it all was for them, losing their Shirts while the Worker Bee's were locked away from handing them the profits of their Labour in return for well, nothing really. They were just pissed off that the Gravy Train had stopped.
Even handing them Barrows of Cash to help em survive wasn't enough - they wanted more, more & MORE & didn't give a Tinkers Damn about sharing anything with anybody else, especially those ungrateful slave Wage Earners they carried on their Payrolls they couldn't shift fast enough to Foreigners that can't vote, or say anything about their working conditions under such Feudal Employment Contracts with 90 day Hand Grenadades thrown in for good measure to keep them inline with Nationals old / new Labor Laws.
My goodness, you could have heard the Moaning from Outer Space a couple Planetary Systems away when the Lockdowns came about!
Polls, especially these ZB / Newshub types are designed with a purpose in mind. The purpose boils down to how much Money a little bit of Negative influence can make on an already Supercharged Electorate. Money makes Media World go round - & don't you forget that for a second!
Nobody has managed to put their "Hair Fires" out after Covid was declared irrelevant, so get back to work quick, or be replaced by a slightly more, or less Meritocratic Soul from Some place Else that really wants to be here because it means their families will eat for the next little while & that's what its all about to our Migrant Workforce.
I think you're right in suggesting a bit of Patience at this point Nick. Reaction is exactly what we don't need right now to these Dismal Poll outcomes within a month from the Election to keep our Hair Fires burning bright..
I know I'm tired of this whole Global Mess & need a Rip Van - style Nap!! The sad part of all this nasty news is there are a whole lotta folks of voting age that don't have a Clue whats gonna happen if Luxon & Seymour combine to lead the Country. They aren't really smart enough to get outa their own way, let alone Deep Think" about what their future is gonna look like with a full blown Authoritarian Government with a Brown Shirt Libertarian Partner holding their feet to the fires of Austerity for their Me, Me, Me thing that feels it has to Cancel everything until they get the biggest & best Lollies in the scramble. They can't help that they were fed a Diet of STEM Education & found out it was just glorified BS way to late!
Might be a good time to sit back & take a few quick Breath's to charge up those brain cells so they start working in your favour instead of against it.
Now if $10 bucks a Fortnight will float you and your families Boat more than a $285.00 per week direct deposit straight into your Bank account, one for you, one for the partner, & one each for your Kids with the Greens Policy of Balancing our gross inequalities, why not consider that?
Now, this isn't a personality contest, so just consider the promises & how they will impact you as this Recession we're in deepens into a Depression just before Christmas 2023 comes along, post election you can pull out your "Told Ya So" sheet & flap it your neighbours, Dad's, Mum's, Cousin & Uncle Bob's Face before you kick em in the nuts & walk away from em in disgust at how shallow they were.
At least you'll have a momento prepared for the next time you have to go through this routine to make decisions about CRITICAL ISSUES that effect every Man, Woman, Child, Dog , Cat, or Rat in the Country.
If by some miracle your Horse comes through in the 3 yr Race, Whoopie!!! If not then wad up the sheet of Paper you did your Strategic Analysis on & push it into the Cracks in your Rental Floor, or Walls, or, Leaky Roof, or make copies to send out as Told ya So, Christmas Cards to your enemies.
It ain't over till it's over folks! Don't put those pencils down until you use em on Election Day to vote for what works for you.
If nothin works for you, pick whoever came closest to Maintaining a Democratic form of Governance & give em your Ticks (without West Nile Disease, of course!)
The Key is showing up and being counted!!! If you don't show, you can't complain, or even protest because you have to Tattoo an "L" on your forehead for everyone to see who let them down if in the slim chance that The Greedy Bunch take over you'll still have a Social Leg to stand on if you showed up...
The Fat Lady is itching to Sing us to sleep right now & if she takes the Stage it won't matter a bit either way what happens after that. The Barricades you could have put up had you bothered to get involved before she started Gargling in the Orchestra Pit, might have made a difference.
Don't let yourself get to that point - ok?
Maybe you're Angry with Labour for not doing more than they did, I dunno, but if you let your Anger control your Logic at this critical time, then you're the one letting the side down and have no one else to blame. We tend to be a judgemental & horribly vindictive Lot!
At the very least, consider what you would have done in the same position in Retrospect, if you were forced into making decisions as Labour have been these past 4 out of 6 years. You might then be able to sympathise with how difficult it was to get things right...
I'd like to see MMP come back with Coalitions working together in Ernest to create a Better Future for all of us, but not a Coalition of Greed & Authoritarian Market Capitalism!!! Why do we need opposition Parties anyway??? Why not all work together in a common cause!?
There's just gotta be a Middle Ground somewhere that we can all meet in peace & discuss differences that work for everybody... Keep your Powder Dry! Kia Kaha folks!
I don't think we can be compared with the US system: it's first past the post with an added electoral college layer that makes it even worse. It's unrepresentative (look at the numbers of senators, etc per head of population and California should get a heap more)...
But the big money coming into our elections now is a real worry - Labour had the opportunity to fix it, but utterly failed. Now it's coming back to bite.
The Electoral College system used in US Elections is supposedly a "Stop Gap" put between the Federal Government & State Governments at Election Time to preserve State's Rights to insure Equality in how each Electorate / District's votes are accurately counted & Verified to reflect the will of the Majority in the States Electoral Districts.
It's the method where the Vote is condensed down to a Handful of Selected & Certified "Electors" to do the final Tally's & put their Signatures on the Bottom Line Results, in confirming the individual States Votes when declaring the Majority Pick. In the 1st week of January in the year following the Election, the outgoing Vice President's responsibility is to certify the General Election results in the Senate, in the Passage of Power.
It's never worked well at all, because its the thinnest spot in the system & subject to a lot of interference from Major Party's Operatives that can get to the few individuals charged with Certifying the Tally's for their individual States Voting Public & hold up the results by making Claims of Fraud, or excessive Gerrymandering to load the Ballot Boxes.
Since the 2000 Election between Al Gore & W Bush, Electoral Decisions have been pushed to the Supreme Court to decide if there's a Swing State that can't, or won't make a decision to break a Tie Vote. Florida was the Swing State that pushed Bush into office ahead of Al Gore, who actually won the Florida Vote Count, but a Hanging Chad on some of the Florida Ballots gave the Republican's the Firepower they needed to declare the hanging Chad Ballots - Void in the Supreme Court decision following the Republican complaints of Vote Tampering.
The Republican's have been loading the Supreme Court with Conservative Justices since the Reagan Administration in the 1980's. All Juris Prudence & Habeus Corpus has disappeared and Fundamentalist Ideology makes the call on most everything on their Dockets these days.
Trump used the State's Electoral Commissions to Manipulate, or attempt to manipulate State's Electors into confirming him the Winner in the Close Races in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania et al.
I'm very glad we don't have as many layers in our Electoral System than across the Pond in the US, but that doesn't Seal all the Cracks in our own MMP, or FPP Election System. There isn't much Full Disclosure, or Transparency in our own System here in NZ. We Trust every Polling Place around the Country in each Electorate to Count & Certify our Ballots in very much the same way as the American System does, but instead of the Votes being counted and passed on to the Electoral Commission "Electors", we just do it all in one step & our Electoral System Software makes the final Tabulations as they're received from each reporting Polling Place.
Whether our system is sounder than theirs in preventing Election Tampering & manipulations is anyones guess because the process is never really brought up for scrutiny. We just accept the results on the numbers reported without seeing any hard print, or difficulties that different Polling places may have encountered in the processing prior to our Elections being announced the morning after Election Day. We just don't have to send the pile to a separate Counting Agency to Certify the results for each District.
Where there's a Will, there's a Way to Tamper with anything if the Gains Warrant it for the Tampering Party, should they lose & make an attempt to Claw it all back...
The American System Treat the Electors doing the final Tally's as their Last Chance Saloon to wreck if they play their Trump Cards properly.
We really don't have a means of double checking the results, so we just have to take the Electoral Systems word that the Tally's are accurate. Nobody can Sue the Government, or Ministries anyway, so you get what ya get in the end & tha, tha, that's all folks!
I have my own hair raising tale from the 2017 Election that I planned for, knowing I would be overseas at Voting Day. I got wrong information from the ELectoral Commission on casting my vote from abroad.
I was told on the phone before I left that I could vote at any US Post Office close to me, but when I went to a Post Office to ask about it, they looked at me like I was Nutz!!!
I later found out after my return that you had to go to a New Zealand Embassy, or Consulate Abroad to vote. None of those were within 1000 miles of where I was during my trip.
Our system is based on Blind Faith that it works without being able to question the rules if you try to Peak behind the curtains to ascertain how it all works. It turns out as "Trust me, I'm from the Government", we're good as gold!
Since 2017, I've shied away from the Blind Faith thing & followed my Gut on Navigating Election Periods. I was here in 2020 & it was Smooth Az to cast my vote. I wonder how many other Kiwi's were traveling during the 2017 Election and found they couldn't vote from the outside???
To expound a bit on the comparison between Elections over there & here. I agree, ours is worse in the new "Donors to Party Campaigns". In case we haven't noticed, Nationals & I suspect ACTS & NZ 1st's Donors nowadays are no longer making Donations that need to be reported to the Electoral Commission. Donors go straight to the Party's Corporate Body Checkbook.
Remember the Snafu's that plagued Simon Bridges & Judith Collins, when it came to light that Large Donations were being trimmed down after the Checks were cashed to show multiple Donations that were under the reportable limits??? Didn't Jamie whats his name bring that to light with Simon the Croaker just before the 2020 election National lost???
Well that never really went away, it was merely hidden by National as "Donations to the Party Coffers".
There have been Multiple large Donations ($100K+) that have gone in to the National Corporate Body this election. In all fairness, Labour have done the same thing to keep the Mega Donations quiet, so it doesn't appear that our elections are PAC funded like the US does to buy Elections. Ours are now Party funded from the built up War Chest from Donors over the past term. The CTU Attack ad on Luxon may have come from one of those Slush Funds, but it's not Illegal in the book of Political Hoyle in NZ Politics these days.
Same money, different accounting methods used for disclosure to give the impression that Labour is Crippled & it should be the Wealthy Side of Town running the Country through wise Market Investments to pull us out of our Nose Dive. I hope they don't see those wise Market Investments on the All Blacks as a "Good Thing" just yet. Silver Lake bet on winners, not so much on 2nd place.
The Meritocratic Market will provide gets driven into the Brains of the National / ACT/ NZ1st Voter's Heads like tiny Nails causing the Party Faithful's to rise like Zombie's the day of the Election out of Fear of losing it all should the Left remain in the Drivers Seat & barricade the Treasury Doors for another 3 years.
If you need further proof of the Panic in this Election, just follow Nicola Willis' & Luxon's Interviews & listen to the uptick of Vicious, personal attacks on Grant Robertson the past few days leading up to the Ouija Board Forecast for the Future of the Country's GDP for the next little while.
Just look at their faces when they talk about Labour's disastrous Economic Management. FFS, Nicola was spitting in her TV interviews in the Run Up to the Financial disclosure on the current Books.
She called Robertson every thing but a Pudgy White Boy, visually dismembering him in front of everybody in the Press Gallery that was having a Field Day filming all the Dirt she could dish out before she passed out from lack of blood to the brain.
I suppose Vampire Squids do pretty much the same thing when they attack their Prey in Sponge Bob World. Well Nicola got a bit of practice time in before lunch at Robertson's expense.
That, to me, says we've gone way past Polite Passage of Power & are operating on the same level as the current Trumpian form of Electioneering over there.
National & ACT Voters are viewing this Election like, a Cross between Gunfight at the OK Coral & The Last Chance Saloon, where the Bad Guys in the Blue Suits shot the Piano Player for playing the wrong Song.
Granty does look like a jolly ole Ivory Buster, sitting on a piano stool, if you put Sleeve Bands on his shirt & a Bowler Derby on top. But that's no excuse to say he'll go down in history as our worst & most disastrous Finance minister of all times, as Luxon literally "spit" into the interview Camera on Tuesday.
Gave me the shivers seeing that Spectre Appear in our l'il Democratic Country! Combine that with Seymours "Arrogant Lad-ACT, attacking the Media for asking him hard questions.
Nah it all adds up to a US Style Election by Scripted Media Circus from these Jaundiced Right Wingers chompin at the Bit to get their Algorithms stuck into what they consider their Treasury to do what they want with.
Nothin's gonna be pretty about this election from here on out! You can Bank on it!
Now, do we need this stuff Right Now??? I know I don't, having been through this same crapola until I was 39 & Sailed to NZ, hoping to get away from it.
This is turning out to be Disaster Politics 101. National doesn't give a Rats Bottom about what just happened to shut the entire place down for half of 2020, Half of 2021 & a good portion of disruption from the Returning Residents trying to get back once the Pandemic had calmed down enough to open the Border again in 2022, 2023.
NAtional are moaning because their Donors Profits stopped flowing, thats it in a Nutshell. It's all about the Dosh & how it's dished out when they rule the Roost. Now that's Scary!
That stuff wasn't even considered when Nicola started the Bollocking of Grant to stick her Tentacle into his Computer.
Too my thinking, that's Sick & Unacceptable! I hope you readers keep your eyes on these Folks & the tactics they're employing to rip the election away from Labour.
Reopening the Border to Foreign Real Estate Sales & tapping into Organised online Gambling for the dosh they need is a fools game, at best, a Wild Speculation! Nicola just wants to get at that Juicy Squeezed Middle of our National Lolly Jar, where all those PAYE Bucks live, so she can start her own Juggling Act, outside Public view.
Might be a good idea to go back and read Nicky Hager's Books, all of em! Refresh your memories on how National & ACT act around Money Matters.
Again, do we really need this stuff in our faces right now??? We all need to do a good evaluation on the "Whole Countries "NEEDS" & move toward a Coalition that will focus on those instead of their Wants for Power & Control of our Checkbook.
PS- I don't think Tax Breaks for the Wealthy are a very good idea, considering it will do absolutely nothing to hedge inflation & infact will increase it because the Rich will Save it & remove the Capital from Circulation, while the Poor will still be cashed starved & spending those bucks will just extend the Hurt for the Poor, Elderly & disabled folks. They have to spend it to make up for all the deficit spending the Squeezed Middle & Poor have been doing the past 3 years just to try & make a dent in their debts accumulated from the severe disruption to our Economy & Supply chains the past 3 years that are still going on.
This is the time we need to be focusing on fixing Inequalities, Fortifyiing our National Supply Chains & Infrastructure & Domesticating our Economy as much as possible for US, not our Trade Partners.
Rally around US, NOT Offshore Market Forces, that wrecked our good thing during the 90's National Rein of Terror & post 2009 Key Administration Terms in Government. The Market did NOT provide for anybody in the squeezed middle. It provided a Kings Fortune for the Real Estate Barron's, Hoteliers (Rooms for Emergency Housing), Corporate Dairy & Cooperative Farmers with Dividends. The rich got richer & we Poh folks found amazing ways to make Soup from Dirty Socks by allowing them to sell off our Prime Cuts, which left us in Offal shape! Do we want that again???
'Power at any cost ( to NZ)' is Luxon's mantra. The problem is that it's also Seymour’s and Winston's mantra 🤣
Roll on Election Day.
Labour All The Way.
Tv1 news had Luxon entertaining the party faithful and one elderly lady gushing she would vote Natiobal because her father always did (how many years ago was that?) In contrast they showed poor Chippy standing in the pouring rain on a wet cold miserable day in Nelson. What manipulation of a news story.
I picked that up as well. Let’s use our hard won democratic vote for a pig in poo as long as it’s blue/ pink/ green/red. I can’t understand it. Vote on what they offer NZ’ers and our future. Think for yourself woman!
Thanks for this Nick.
Also the undecideds: we have no idea what that number is.
The undecideds could decide the election - the "swing voters"...
Last I heard it was around 12-15%...
But of course that would wreck Jenna's line
Needed that! Thanks Nick
An Excellent piece, thank you Nick.
Perfect timing, thanks Nick. I really needed this today!
Well done!!
Great stuff, I am unable to share on F/B I get a message....."Your message couldn't be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive" I would think this censorship should be of some concern to you.
Wow! Can't imagine what anyone would've found there. Although substack isn't perfect I'm glad to be independent from the admin whims of platforms like Facebook or Twitter. If it won't let you share a link to an article you could just share the newsletter page - https://nickrockel.substack.com/
Jenna Lynch Well named. Our Left Coalition will be stable and far more in tune.
Polls schmolls. Ignore them. All the other parties have been campaigning (otherwise known as telling lies and slagging off the government) for months, while Labour has been busy running the country. They now have to tell their story well over the next few weeks, and excel in the debates, both of which I believe they have the capacity to achieve. I will believe in the possibilities until the only poll that matters is counted.
Thanks Nick you have helped me regain some optimism today after watching that debacle last night including the usual biased reporting.
Nick don’t be downhearted! You are helping us to be hopeful!!
That's cheered me up. Thanks for the mahi.
Love it! Thankyou very much!
The last 4 Elections in the US, going back to Gore / Bush in 2000 have been primarily Media Driven Rort's that showed the Polls completely wrong in their assumptions of the results on the Day after the Elections.
It's not JUST the Polls that didn't reflect the will of the Voting Public in their time sensitive snapshots. The Media Bosses were all standing around with their hands out for Donors & PAC Dollars, just waiting to pin Tails on the Poorest Donkey's in the Races that didn't have the War Chest of Election Dollars to spend.
It was a race between Political Donors, Big Oil, Big Business & Key People in Media Editors Seats that screwed those scrums to their Chums with the Biggest War Chest to hand em for their Dirt dished out on the Lesser Wealthy Players that were a threat to the Oligarch Class, should they sneak in under the Wires, kinda like Jacinda did after coming out of nowheresville to save the day for the Underwhelming Left that had already spit the Dummy of Defeat to the Right & were about ready to sing Good Night Irene until somebody in Caucus said "hey, what if we had a Populist type of Talking Head"that could string a sentence together & appealed to Women & those wishing they were about then. NAtional couldn't get out of Government Fast enough after their last debacle in government that started all the Balls rolling down hill at us.
We haven't recovered from anything since then, although we've faced some extraordinary events having nothing to do with Politics, or Democratic Governance. Most of our Stumbling Blocks have come from Left Field to smack us all right between the Eyes!
Yup, we had to stop in our tracks & shut everything except the most essential things down while we all hunkered down & watched everybody to the Right of a Ghengus Khan Centrist's Spit their Dummies left right & Centre about how unfair it all was for them, losing their Shirts while the Worker Bee's were locked away from handing them the profits of their Labour in return for well, nothing really. They were just pissed off that the Gravy Train had stopped.
Even handing them Barrows of Cash to help em survive wasn't enough - they wanted more, more & MORE & didn't give a Tinkers Damn about sharing anything with anybody else, especially those ungrateful slave Wage Earners they carried on their Payrolls they couldn't shift fast enough to Foreigners that can't vote, or say anything about their working conditions under such Feudal Employment Contracts with 90 day Hand Grenadades thrown in for good measure to keep them inline with Nationals old / new Labor Laws.
My goodness, you could have heard the Moaning from Outer Space a couple Planetary Systems away when the Lockdowns came about!
Polls, especially these ZB / Newshub types are designed with a purpose in mind. The purpose boils down to how much Money a little bit of Negative influence can make on an already Supercharged Electorate. Money makes Media World go round - & don't you forget that for a second!
Nobody has managed to put their "Hair Fires" out after Covid was declared irrelevant, so get back to work quick, or be replaced by a slightly more, or less Meritocratic Soul from Some place Else that really wants to be here because it means their families will eat for the next little while & that's what its all about to our Migrant Workforce.
I think you're right in suggesting a bit of Patience at this point Nick. Reaction is exactly what we don't need right now to these Dismal Poll outcomes within a month from the Election to keep our Hair Fires burning bright..
I know I'm tired of this whole Global Mess & need a Rip Van - style Nap!! The sad part of all this nasty news is there are a whole lotta folks of voting age that don't have a Clue whats gonna happen if Luxon & Seymour combine to lead the Country. They aren't really smart enough to get outa their own way, let alone Deep Think" about what their future is gonna look like with a full blown Authoritarian Government with a Brown Shirt Libertarian Partner holding their feet to the fires of Austerity for their Me, Me, Me thing that feels it has to Cancel everything until they get the biggest & best Lollies in the scramble. They can't help that they were fed a Diet of STEM Education & found out it was just glorified BS way to late!
Might be a good time to sit back & take a few quick Breath's to charge up those brain cells so they start working in your favour instead of against it.
Now if $10 bucks a Fortnight will float you and your families Boat more than a $285.00 per week direct deposit straight into your Bank account, one for you, one for the partner, & one each for your Kids with the Greens Policy of Balancing our gross inequalities, why not consider that?
Now, this isn't a personality contest, so just consider the promises & how they will impact you as this Recession we're in deepens into a Depression just before Christmas 2023 comes along, post election you can pull out your "Told Ya So" sheet & flap it your neighbours, Dad's, Mum's, Cousin & Uncle Bob's Face before you kick em in the nuts & walk away from em in disgust at how shallow they were.
At least you'll have a momento prepared for the next time you have to go through this routine to make decisions about CRITICAL ISSUES that effect every Man, Woman, Child, Dog , Cat, or Rat in the Country.
If by some miracle your Horse comes through in the 3 yr Race, Whoopie!!! If not then wad up the sheet of Paper you did your Strategic Analysis on & push it into the Cracks in your Rental Floor, or Walls, or, Leaky Roof, or make copies to send out as Told ya So, Christmas Cards to your enemies.
It ain't over till it's over folks! Don't put those pencils down until you use em on Election Day to vote for what works for you.
If nothin works for you, pick whoever came closest to Maintaining a Democratic form of Governance & give em your Ticks (without West Nile Disease, of course!)
The Key is showing up and being counted!!! If you don't show, you can't complain, or even protest because you have to Tattoo an "L" on your forehead for everyone to see who let them down if in the slim chance that The Greedy Bunch take over you'll still have a Social Leg to stand on if you showed up...
The Fat Lady is itching to Sing us to sleep right now & if she takes the Stage it won't matter a bit either way what happens after that. The Barricades you could have put up had you bothered to get involved before she started Gargling in the Orchestra Pit, might have made a difference.
Don't let yourself get to that point - ok?
Maybe you're Angry with Labour for not doing more than they did, I dunno, but if you let your Anger control your Logic at this critical time, then you're the one letting the side down and have no one else to blame. We tend to be a judgemental & horribly vindictive Lot!
At the very least, consider what you would have done in the same position in Retrospect, if you were forced into making decisions as Labour have been these past 4 out of 6 years. You might then be able to sympathise with how difficult it was to get things right...
I'd like to see MMP come back with Coalitions working together in Ernest to create a Better Future for all of us, but not a Coalition of Greed & Authoritarian Market Capitalism!!! Why do we need opposition Parties anyway??? Why not all work together in a common cause!?
There's just gotta be a Middle Ground somewhere that we can all meet in peace & discuss differences that work for everybody... Keep your Powder Dry! Kia Kaha folks!
I don't think we can be compared with the US system: it's first past the post with an added electoral college layer that makes it even worse. It's unrepresentative (look at the numbers of senators, etc per head of population and California should get a heap more)...
But the big money coming into our elections now is a real worry - Labour had the opportunity to fix it, but utterly failed. Now it's coming back to bite.
The Electoral College system used in US Elections is supposedly a "Stop Gap" put between the Federal Government & State Governments at Election Time to preserve State's Rights to insure Equality in how each Electorate / District's votes are accurately counted & Verified to reflect the will of the Majority in the States Electoral Districts.
It's the method where the Vote is condensed down to a Handful of Selected & Certified "Electors" to do the final Tally's & put their Signatures on the Bottom Line Results, in confirming the individual States Votes when declaring the Majority Pick. In the 1st week of January in the year following the Election, the outgoing Vice President's responsibility is to certify the General Election results in the Senate, in the Passage of Power.
It's never worked well at all, because its the thinnest spot in the system & subject to a lot of interference from Major Party's Operatives that can get to the few individuals charged with Certifying the Tally's for their individual States Voting Public & hold up the results by making Claims of Fraud, or excessive Gerrymandering to load the Ballot Boxes.
Since the 2000 Election between Al Gore & W Bush, Electoral Decisions have been pushed to the Supreme Court to decide if there's a Swing State that can't, or won't make a decision to break a Tie Vote. Florida was the Swing State that pushed Bush into office ahead of Al Gore, who actually won the Florida Vote Count, but a Hanging Chad on some of the Florida Ballots gave the Republican's the Firepower they needed to declare the hanging Chad Ballots - Void in the Supreme Court decision following the Republican complaints of Vote Tampering.
The Republican's have been loading the Supreme Court with Conservative Justices since the Reagan Administration in the 1980's. All Juris Prudence & Habeus Corpus has disappeared and Fundamentalist Ideology makes the call on most everything on their Dockets these days.
Trump used the State's Electoral Commissions to Manipulate, or attempt to manipulate State's Electors into confirming him the Winner in the Close Races in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania et al.
I'm very glad we don't have as many layers in our Electoral System than across the Pond in the US, but that doesn't Seal all the Cracks in our own MMP, or FPP Election System. There isn't much Full Disclosure, or Transparency in our own System here in NZ. We Trust every Polling Place around the Country in each Electorate to Count & Certify our Ballots in very much the same way as the American System does, but instead of the Votes being counted and passed on to the Electoral Commission "Electors", we just do it all in one step & our Electoral System Software makes the final Tabulations as they're received from each reporting Polling Place.
Whether our system is sounder than theirs in preventing Election Tampering & manipulations is anyones guess because the process is never really brought up for scrutiny. We just accept the results on the numbers reported without seeing any hard print, or difficulties that different Polling places may have encountered in the processing prior to our Elections being announced the morning after Election Day. We just don't have to send the pile to a separate Counting Agency to Certify the results for each District.
Where there's a Will, there's a Way to Tamper with anything if the Gains Warrant it for the Tampering Party, should they lose & make an attempt to Claw it all back...
The American System Treat the Electors doing the final Tally's as their Last Chance Saloon to wreck if they play their Trump Cards properly.
We really don't have a means of double checking the results, so we just have to take the Electoral Systems word that the Tally's are accurate. Nobody can Sue the Government, or Ministries anyway, so you get what ya get in the end & tha, tha, that's all folks!
I have my own hair raising tale from the 2017 Election that I planned for, knowing I would be overseas at Voting Day. I got wrong information from the ELectoral Commission on casting my vote from abroad.
I was told on the phone before I left that I could vote at any US Post Office close to me, but when I went to a Post Office to ask about it, they looked at me like I was Nutz!!!
I later found out after my return that you had to go to a New Zealand Embassy, or Consulate Abroad to vote. None of those were within 1000 miles of where I was during my trip.
Our system is based on Blind Faith that it works without being able to question the rules if you try to Peak behind the curtains to ascertain how it all works. It turns out as "Trust me, I'm from the Government", we're good as gold!
Since 2017, I've shied away from the Blind Faith thing & followed my Gut on Navigating Election Periods. I was here in 2020 & it was Smooth Az to cast my vote. I wonder how many other Kiwi's were traveling during the 2017 Election and found they couldn't vote from the outside???
To expound a bit on the comparison between Elections over there & here. I agree, ours is worse in the new "Donors to Party Campaigns". In case we haven't noticed, Nationals & I suspect ACTS & NZ 1st's Donors nowadays are no longer making Donations that need to be reported to the Electoral Commission. Donors go straight to the Party's Corporate Body Checkbook.
Remember the Snafu's that plagued Simon Bridges & Judith Collins, when it came to light that Large Donations were being trimmed down after the Checks were cashed to show multiple Donations that were under the reportable limits??? Didn't Jamie whats his name bring that to light with Simon the Croaker just before the 2020 election National lost???
Well that never really went away, it was merely hidden by National as "Donations to the Party Coffers".
There have been Multiple large Donations ($100K+) that have gone in to the National Corporate Body this election. In all fairness, Labour have done the same thing to keep the Mega Donations quiet, so it doesn't appear that our elections are PAC funded like the US does to buy Elections. Ours are now Party funded from the built up War Chest from Donors over the past term. The CTU Attack ad on Luxon may have come from one of those Slush Funds, but it's not Illegal in the book of Political Hoyle in NZ Politics these days.
Same money, different accounting methods used for disclosure to give the impression that Labour is Crippled & it should be the Wealthy Side of Town running the Country through wise Market Investments to pull us out of our Nose Dive. I hope they don't see those wise Market Investments on the All Blacks as a "Good Thing" just yet. Silver Lake bet on winners, not so much on 2nd place.
The Meritocratic Market will provide gets driven into the Brains of the National / ACT/ NZ1st Voter's Heads like tiny Nails causing the Party Faithful's to rise like Zombie's the day of the Election out of Fear of losing it all should the Left remain in the Drivers Seat & barricade the Treasury Doors for another 3 years.
If you need further proof of the Panic in this Election, just follow Nicola Willis' & Luxon's Interviews & listen to the uptick of Vicious, personal attacks on Grant Robertson the past few days leading up to the Ouija Board Forecast for the Future of the Country's GDP for the next little while.
Just look at their faces when they talk about Labour's disastrous Economic Management. FFS, Nicola was spitting in her TV interviews in the Run Up to the Financial disclosure on the current Books.
She called Robertson every thing but a Pudgy White Boy, visually dismembering him in front of everybody in the Press Gallery that was having a Field Day filming all the Dirt she could dish out before she passed out from lack of blood to the brain.
I suppose Vampire Squids do pretty much the same thing when they attack their Prey in Sponge Bob World. Well Nicola got a bit of practice time in before lunch at Robertson's expense.
That, to me, says we've gone way past Polite Passage of Power & are operating on the same level as the current Trumpian form of Electioneering over there.
National & ACT Voters are viewing this Election like, a Cross between Gunfight at the OK Coral & The Last Chance Saloon, where the Bad Guys in the Blue Suits shot the Piano Player for playing the wrong Song.
Granty does look like a jolly ole Ivory Buster, sitting on a piano stool, if you put Sleeve Bands on his shirt & a Bowler Derby on top. But that's no excuse to say he'll go down in history as our worst & most disastrous Finance minister of all times, as Luxon literally "spit" into the interview Camera on Tuesday.
Gave me the shivers seeing that Spectre Appear in our l'il Democratic Country! Combine that with Seymours "Arrogant Lad-ACT, attacking the Media for asking him hard questions.
Nah it all adds up to a US Style Election by Scripted Media Circus from these Jaundiced Right Wingers chompin at the Bit to get their Algorithms stuck into what they consider their Treasury to do what they want with.
Nothin's gonna be pretty about this election from here on out! You can Bank on it!
Now, do we need this stuff Right Now??? I know I don't, having been through this same crapola until I was 39 & Sailed to NZ, hoping to get away from it.
This is turning out to be Disaster Politics 101. National doesn't give a Rats Bottom about what just happened to shut the entire place down for half of 2020, Half of 2021 & a good portion of disruption from the Returning Residents trying to get back once the Pandemic had calmed down enough to open the Border again in 2022, 2023.
NAtional are moaning because their Donors Profits stopped flowing, thats it in a Nutshell. It's all about the Dosh & how it's dished out when they rule the Roost. Now that's Scary!
That stuff wasn't even considered when Nicola started the Bollocking of Grant to stick her Tentacle into his Computer.
Too my thinking, that's Sick & Unacceptable! I hope you readers keep your eyes on these Folks & the tactics they're employing to rip the election away from Labour.
Reopening the Border to Foreign Real Estate Sales & tapping into Organised online Gambling for the dosh they need is a fools game, at best, a Wild Speculation! Nicola just wants to get at that Juicy Squeezed Middle of our National Lolly Jar, where all those PAYE Bucks live, so she can start her own Juggling Act, outside Public view.
Might be a good idea to go back and read Nicky Hager's Books, all of em! Refresh your memories on how National & ACT act around Money Matters.
Again, do we really need this stuff in our faces right now??? We all need to do a good evaluation on the "Whole Countries "NEEDS" & move toward a Coalition that will focus on those instead of their Wants for Power & Control of our Checkbook.
PS- I don't think Tax Breaks for the Wealthy are a very good idea, considering it will do absolutely nothing to hedge inflation & infact will increase it because the Rich will Save it & remove the Capital from Circulation, while the Poor will still be cashed starved & spending those bucks will just extend the Hurt for the Poor, Elderly & disabled folks. They have to spend it to make up for all the deficit spending the Squeezed Middle & Poor have been doing the past 3 years just to try & make a dent in their debts accumulated from the severe disruption to our Economy & Supply chains the past 3 years that are still going on.
This is the time we need to be focusing on fixing Inequalities, Fortifyiing our National Supply Chains & Infrastructure & Domesticating our Economy as much as possible for US, not our Trade Partners.
Rally around US, NOT Offshore Market Forces, that wrecked our good thing during the 90's National Rein of Terror & post 2009 Key Administration Terms in Government. The Market did NOT provide for anybody in the squeezed middle. It provided a Kings Fortune for the Real Estate Barron's, Hoteliers (Rooms for Emergency Housing), Corporate Dairy & Cooperative Farmers with Dividends. The rich got richer & we Poh folks found amazing ways to make Soup from Dirty Socks by allowing them to sell off our Prime Cuts, which left us in Offal shape! Do we want that again???
Thanks Nick, Some days you are my sanity, Cheers