labellementeuse: a girl sits at a desk in front of a window, chewing a pencil (Default)
worryingly jolly batman ([personal profile] labellementeuse) wrote2007-05-24 05:49 pm

(no subject)

I just got a begging-bowl letter from the National Party.

It was all about how John Key is a vision of the future.

I feel so... violated.

[identity profile] disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com 2007-05-24 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
I would love to see that letter. Can you tolerate looking at it long enough to go into more detail.

I don't understand why people are swinging to National. I can understand why they might not like Labour, but all the minor conservative parties at least have positions whereas National is just a blank.

[identity profile] amarynth.livejournal.com 2007-05-25 07:34 am (UTC)(link)


First of all, I'm sure you don't approve of them, but National does indeed have policies. I can link you if you don't believe me.

But let's assume for the sake of the argument that you're right and National is indeed a policy blank. Why would people support it? Simple - most people, when entering a voting booth, don't ask themselves "which party's policies most closely match my own preferences?". They instead ask "do I like what the government's doing?" and if the answer is no, they vote for the party who they feel is most likely to depose it - which, for many people, is National. Maybe you've heard the saying that oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them? That's the phenomenon at work here. An opposition party only has to wait, pounce on anything dumb a government does, and try not to make itself look bad - something National has not managed to be the master of, possibly because many of its MPs have that Tory 'born to govern' thing going on and thus resent having to wait, particularly as they're getting longer in the tooth.

You are correct that National doesn't offer as comprehensive a rejection of Labour's values as say ACT or whatever new paleo-christian party Field and Copeland barf up between them, but I put that down to lingering FPP sentiment, allied to the fact that National is still bigger than any of those minor parties, and nothing succeeds like success.

[identity profile] disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com 2007-05-26 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Fair call, I was definately guilty of hyperbole and pre-emptive dismissal there.

I still think it would be fair to say that the other parties make a bigger deal of announcing the sorts of things that they would like to implement whereas National tends to simply talk about Want Tax Cuts.

I have heard the phrase "Government's Lose Elections" and find it to be very apt, I just wish it weren't so because it shows people reacting instead of finding out and pondering, if you see what I mean.

It was really less a swing at National and more of a swing at the people who don't really look into what they would like to see done. And, hey, I don't know them personally so maybe they really have looked into National and decided its most what they want, I've been very wrong in the past!
ext_27200: (i wasted time)

[identity profile] maudlinrose.livejournal.com 2007-05-24 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, god, I feel your pain. :|

[identity profile] chelsme.livejournal.com 2007-05-26 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
hey, um kinda random, but are you the chick in charge of the choir at uni? someone who posts on the chch journal is...

[identity profile] chelsme.livejournal.com 2007-05-26 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
Because I have been in choirs for 10 years and may be interested in joining....
ext_2569: text: "a straight account is difficult, so let me define seven wishes" image: man on steps. (bestfriends4evah!1!!)

[identity profile] labellementeuse.livejournal.com 2007-05-26 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
oh, man. :( we'd really love to have you, but we've had a lot of difficulty lately getting people to come along - a combination of poor organisation and a lack of a trained director. consequently we've canned it for the rest of the semester so we can find someone with an actual background in direction, as opposed to the committee secretary, who is awesome but totally not trained.

However! if you want to get on our mailing list so you can hear more about when we'll be starting up again, email choirsoc@gmail.com and ask to be added, and you'll get all the updated info and such. :)

[identity profile] chelsme.livejournal.com 2007-05-26 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
thats cool il stick to chamber choir then