Thursday 8 July 2010

“Two sheds” that expose the puerility of political power

You’ve probably read abut the circus-and-a-half now going on down at Queens Wharf, the on-again off-again with-sheds or without location and locus of the politicians’ Party Central and Rugby World Cup “fanzone.” The circus is probably best summarised by David Slack:

“Mr Key, Mr McCully. Embarrassing you couldn't organise one on wharf. Might still look OK if you can manage one in brewery.”

You have to laugh.

But think about this for a moment. Every three years you and your friends troop into the polling booth, and vote to give more power to politicians to plan your life. Maybe every time you do you should think about the circus politicians make about a simple piss-up. If the political process can’t plan that, why would you want it planning your life?

But maybe you think agree they can’t (and shouldn’t) plan your life, and shouldn’t be allowed to try—but you still think they’re the best ones to plan where so much of the country’s money is spent.

Well, quite apart from the morality of that notion (whose money?), hasn’t the revelations of their credit card spending rather exploded that notion for you as well?

So perhaps every time you find yourself thinking to yourself, “we” need to do this and “we” need to do that, just think instead of those two sheds on that windswept wharf and the stuff up they’ve already made trying to organise one down there … and think again.

3 comments:

matt said...

Part of the problem here is that nobody is in charge. Democracy is not being used to elect a leader who is granted authority to make decisions. Democracy is instead being used to elect multiple officials who must then come to a majority consensus before anything can be done. In an important sense, this interferes with the idea of democracy reflecting the will of the people: whoever wins the election must still find consensus on each and every issue before them before things get done. The election decides the lesser question of who fills the seats, and has little to do with what actually gets done.

Peter Cresswell said...

No one person is ever really "in charge" in politics. The thrilling thing about this clusterfuck is that instead of taking place behind closed doors, all the decision-making about this piss-up-zone, or lack thereof, has been out in the open.

Which means you can see you just how political decisions are really made. Or not.

V said...

This is an utter debacle, and what a disgrace that the prime minister hasto answer questions about it while abroad at trade discussions.

Time for snap recall elections for local and regional councils!