Friday 7 December 2007

Determining who can buy an election

Jim Hopkins compares two high profile thefts, and finds a connection: 

Anyone at Waiouru contemplating the theft of national treasures need only have looked to the leaders of the land to find others whose behaviour offered both justification and vindication.

For it surely must be more than coincidence that Parliament is passing a bill which will steal our right to free speech in the very same week that other thieves have been roundly condemned for stealing the medals awarded to those who once defended it.  There's an awful symmetry here, an apposite meeting of motives that is too obvious and poignant to ignore... 

What our politicians are doing this week is not preventing people from buying an election. They're actually determining who can buy it. And they've very sensibly decided it should be them. While deftly wrapping a gag of red tape around everyone else's tongue, their bill specifically exempts parliamentarians from its provisions.

When Hopkins gets to the point, he can be awfully direct.  "What our politicians are doing this week is not preventing people from buying an election. They're actually determining who can buy it."  Print that out and hang it from the nearest flag pole.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's an on-line petition requesting that the Governor General refuse assent to the Electoral Finance Bill on the grounds that it will make New Zealand a democracy in name only. Here's the link:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-nz-democracy.html

Rebel Radius said...

An excellent analogy.

Anonymous said...

And an excellent job of putting the VC thefts into perspective. Though I'd still happily castrate the bastards that stole them with a spoon...

Anonymous said...

Appalling grammar that!

Allow me to rephrase:

"Though I'd still happily take a spoon and castrate the bastards who stole them."

flashgordonnz said...

Robert, I spy another error in your sentance: you omit the word "rusty". I'm sure you mean to perform the task with a RUSTY spoon.