Monday 31 October 2011

Lock up your babies, it’s election season

Now the rugby’s over we’re straight into the far less entertaining election season in which not a hand will not be shaken nor a baby left un-kissed.

Every election is the same. This time at least it’s a mercifully short, four- week popularity contest, but it’s still the same advance auction of stolen goods in which class and race hatreds are polished,  bigotries burnished, statistics  tortured, economics ignored, and taxpayers and producers taken for granted.

The hand kissing and baby shaking started with a rush over the weekend.

But also, there was this:

8 comments:

ACT Youth said...

Richard, it has been suggested to the Libz by others even on this blog that you're (Libz) wasting your time campaigning. You're going to get 30 votes. Why don't you spend your time just generating ideas rather than waste you precious time trying to run for Parliament? If you don't view it as time-wasting, then I suspect that it is something the Libz love to do in just turning up every 3 years near the election date to put up billboards everywhere. I can't see no other reason.

Richard McGrath said...

@ACT Youth:

Campaigning does tend to get libertarian ideas out there where it matters - into the brains of MPs. The local Labour candidate said before a meeting on Saturday that he had read some of the material that Libz has put out, and I was the first person he attacked at the meeting. Obviously he was rattled by the things we had to say.

Will you be levelling the same criticism at ACT after the election when they are consigned to political oblivion?

Dolf said...

Act youth:

Perhaps you can answer the following questions for me:

Why do you vote ACT? Why should I?

Note, I ask this in good faith, so please keep it civil.

The way I see it, Libz are publicly standing for their principles. I also trust them to remain true to these principles, something ACT does not have rich history of.

The fact that they only get "30 votes" is irrelevant. I'd rather support one guy shouting the right thing at the top of his lungs, than 1000's murmuring evil.

Libz offers me the only opportunity out there to support a party truly dedicated to personal freedom, and for that I am grateful.

I can only hope that they continue to do this.

Disclaimer, I am in no way affiliated to the libz, apart from being one of their "30 votes", as you put it.

Hal Incandenza said...

ACT Youff is right. If you all voted for Act instead, as he is implying you should, they might get 60 votes themselves this time around. You'd have to swallow being a John Banks enabler though. Perigo's managed it somehow, so it can't be that hard.

Man, the hard right is in great shape eh?

Michael Pemulis said...

Lay off the drugs Hal, you're incomprehensible to the rest of the adult population.

Dinther said...

I agree with Hal with regard to his Perigo comment and at least have a question:

Perigo affiliated himself with Act. Maybe star struck by Brash or maybe he saw an opportunity to play with the big boys. Maybe he thought he could single handedly drag unprincipled Act towards libertarian ideas.

I would like to hear about Perigo's motivation BEFORE the elections because right now it looks like the great libertarian discredited himself and with that the Libertarianz.

Libertyscott said...

ACT Youth - I've spent the last 13 or so years backing Libertarianz. A Don Brash led ACT has, for the first time, seriously tempted me to tick ACT. It has been almost completely ruined by John Banks being a candidate, but I haven't made my mind up.

The argument that ACT has a better chance of getting elected is not one of them. I need a positive reason.

twr said...

You may wish to remember that after the Brash coup, all the Act MPs still voted for the budget.

The one thing Act could have done to prove it was worth a vote would be to rip up a worthless coalition agreement and display some backbone. They didn't.