If Labour are so confident about David Shearer’s victory in Mt Albert, then why are they out campaigning today?
That’s the question that occurred to me when I received the following report from a Mt Albert resident:
Today is Saturday the 13th of June, as you well know the Mt Albert by-election day. Just a quick note I am within the Mt Albert area and today I was visited by a person(going door to door) from the Labour party, asking if I had voted - with a little plug for Labour too. It is my belief that this breaches the election laws of no campaigning on election day . . .
Good Luck with your results, hopefully one day we will see true democracy and a libertarian government!!
I understand the police are being informed.
23 comments:
so... nothing new is there.
The same thing happened to me today. Made me furious. Seriously, what can I do about it?
Unless you are directed to "vote labour" then you can't do anything about it.
You also need proof to back up your assertations that you were directed to vote labour such as campaign material telling you to do so, delivered on a saturday.
The only time these things get court time is when there is an electoral petition, a judicial recount, when there is a very close result. Time and again, eg Hunua,Taupo, Labour has been caught out in some murky business, but because these court occasions are rare, there is nothing more than some cautionary words to the offenders. Labour knows what a free pass looks like.
Labour - 12,613 votes (over 60%)
Libz - 35 votes.
No, I guess thay shouldn't have been confident at all.
i sometimes wonder how irrational those people can get.
Seriously, what can I do about it?
Make a citizens arrest for a breach of the Electoral Act (amended 1993), and detain the criminal.
Call ACT on campus to assist with the detention and to arrange an "enhanced" interrogation if you do not yet have a suitable confession.
Call ACT on monday to arrange legal representation and to transfer the criminal to police custody or hospital care as necessary.
Labour - 12,613 votes (over 60%)
Libz - 35 votes.
Only 47.57% of those enrolled voted.
So the non-voters won. That sends a libertarian-type message to the beltway bloggers and politicians.
Two things remain constant, Labour cheats and the Libz receive fewer votes than the Bill and Ben Party.
They are allowed to go door to door asking if people have voted. And they are allowed to offer transport, the bit that was illegal was the "little plug for Labour too" as far as I know.
What is going on? I can't get the Libz vote, but I know, because the news media has told me so, that the Bill and Bloody Ben Party has beaten Libz again, and that Libz don't even register.
Why don't Kiwis 'get' the Libertarianz? What is the resistance? I mean, if they are so disenchanted they want to protest vote, why to an airhead party that stands for absolutely nothing (other than perhaps some sort of comic nihilism), rather than Libz.
I find nothing more depressing than this.
Mark Hubbard, then obviously people don't know what the Libz stand for.
Just gently, I think if the Libz acted a bit more seriously, people would take them more seriously. The "bastards" comment on the billboard for example. Entirely justified and exactly how I feel myself, but not a good way to get votes.
The Bill and Ben thing is just a side issue. Lots of stupid people get a vote, and they are always going to waste it on Bill and Ben or the Greens. Libz target market will be the much smaller sector of the population who actually want to think about what they do, for whom Libz need to provide a credible option.
New Zealanders are by and large soialists- pigs at the trough of OPM. One wag asked about why this attitude prevails put it thus, "They get it in their mothers' milk."
With regards to the Libz, very few NZers "get it" or ever will. After all they've had years of mindless, repetative practice. Years of the "gummintsgotta do summitboutit" culture. Years of "entitlements" and "rights". Years of "good enough for government work." Years of "near enough is good enough." Somehow they hang on to their blind faith, even when everything around them is demonstrating it is false. No matter. They will eventually receive the consequences of their choices. Going by the historical record of the last 40 years of the National/Labour coalition during the next few decades those consequences are going to be surprisingly unpleasant...
LGM
twr & lgm - I think I'm a bit more optimistic about both the Libz' potential target market and the potential of that market to 'get' the Libz.
We do live in a country in which socialism deeply entrenched, but a lot of people are becoming increasingly frustrated with government interference in their lives. A lot are also becoming aware that there's bugger all difference between Labour and National, and don't really take the Greens seriously. I think a hell of a lot of people are ready to empathise with the Libz, but will naturally retain a certain level of socialism in their mindset.
As and example: Most New Zealanders would support a version of the dole that is a strictly temporary assistance for some poor bugger who's lost his job and needs to support his family until he gets another one. Most working New Zealanders would support both the saving on taxes whilst not begrudging the assistance. I'm possibly wrong here, but I believe that was the intention of the dole in the first place. During times of high unemployment, the call goes out to help the greater numbers of unemployed, and criteria are loosened - the problem is when those same criteria remain when times aren't tough.
I seriously doubt that we will ever fully rid NZ of the welfare state, but we should be able to change what it has become, and get rid of that 'pigs at the trough' mentality.
Marcus, the problem is that as you say, many New Zealanders would support the dole being better targeted, but if your idea was put forward, the squealing and lies from those people who had had their snouts pulled from the trough, and the inevitable hikois and protests up and down the country are just more trouble than your average person wants to put up with.
In the big scheme of things, the dole doesn't cost very much. The big ticket items that would make some real difference would be even less popular. You've seen the howls of protest every time there is a suggestion that any bureaucrat loses their job "in a recession", and the bitching and moaning when Banks said that the Auckland super city might actually gain some efficiencies in staffing. Imagine what would happen if they actually did a proper job and halved the size of the civil service. That's why it's such a hard sell. The socialists are very well organised, very vocal, they have a lot to lose, and they know exactly what they need to do to take advantage of people's charitable nature towards their fellow man. The fact that most people don't know how government works, and think money grows on trees doesn't help either. One thing that would focus people's minds better than most would be if they got a statement from the IRD each year telling them exactly how much of their money was spent on each thing.
"The socialists are very well organised, very vocal, they have a lot to lose, and they know exactly what they need to do to take advantage of people's charitable nature towards their fellow man."
TW: You make good points on this blog, and that last comment was no exception.
Re your last sentence: the tax dept used to do exactly that -- and not so long ago.
Returning to NZ in 1995 after 12 yrs of (mostly) being away, I received my tax pack during the year. There was a breakdown of the previous year's GDP via a simple pie chart.
I will never forget that Social Welfare figure: 52%.
Says it all. As does the fact that most on PAYE no longer furnish annual returns, so haven't a clue as to where their dollars go.
...or just as importantly, how many dollars they pay. If it's gone before you get it, then you don't miss it.
Marcus
I have great expectations for the future. The consequences of the decisions that New Zealanders have made will definately arrive. That's going to be a brutal and painful surprise for many. They'll retreat to their socialist rest state and demand that everyone else helps them out. Eventually there won't be enough suckers around to assist...
LGM
"What is going on? I can't get the Libz vote, but I know, because the news media has told me so, that the Bill and Bloody Ben Party has beaten Libz again, and that Libz don't even register."
It's a known fact that many people don't vote on the basis of serious issues, but on the basis of how they'd like a candidate in bed or at the bar.
So I wouldn't get too despondent about it all.
Somehow they hang on to their blind faith, even when everything around them is demonstrating it is false. No matter. They will eventually receive the consequences of their choices.
The problem as I see it is that under their socialist system, it's not just them who will receive the consequences of their choices, it's all of us also. All we get to do about it is bore people with arguments they don't want to hear, or don't understand, and vote once every three years.
It's hard to stay optimistic when one is obstructed in one's choices by the choices of others.
Greig
"The problem as I see it is that under their socialist system, it's not just them who will receive the consequences of their choices, it's all of us also."
Unfortunately true. Still one can arrange one's affairs to take advantage of the situation. Given that socialists are (in general) such banal, simple creatures, it is possible to accurately determine what they are likely to do in a given circumstance. Then it is possible to avoid the worst of their activity or turn it to one's advantage. Alas you often need a hard heart to do that, especially when the squeals begin. The trick is not to end up as the target of the stand-over tactics and begging these guys endlessly revert to- especially should they perceive you as doing better than they.
LGM
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