tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post4788967463127555380..comments2024-03-22T11:55:50.335+13:00Comments on Not PC: "National governments don’t actually oppose Labour policies… They just want to manage them" [updated]Peter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-84290860212439469522023-02-14T09:51:11.381+13:002023-02-14T09:51:11.381+13:00It's very good that David Seymour is identifyi...It's very good that David Seymour is identifying this pattern. Hopefully he and the rest of the ACT MP's can push National in the right direction.<br /><br />There's one respect in which a politician 'getting things done' is a good thing - and that's unwinding previous destructive policies. Once a policy becomes entwined in bureaucracy it obtains a life and inertia of it's own, and carries on even when everyone agrees it's not achieving the desired results. I see that all the time in local government when the Council workers are often sympathetic to your plight and want to help, but are restrained by procedure. In that context it can take positive action from a politician to unwind it.MarkThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199883270652041621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-82695106507017122482023-02-10T18:51:15.757+13:002023-02-10T18:51:15.757+13:00I'm going to have to point you to these three ...I'm going to have to point you to these three posts of mine on No Minister:<br /><a href="https://nominister.wordpress.com/2021/06/06/the-precious-midpoint/" rel="nofollow">The Precious Midpoint</a><br /><i>That approach just won’t cut it anymore with Centre-Right parties. Real, practical solutions based around giving incentives to individuals – in education, healthcare and other areas – are what is required. Certainly not something that “‘we’, the clever ones, are going to impose upon ‘them’, the Lower Orders“, from the hearts of wealthy suburbs sporting myriad electric cars.<br /><br />The midpoint is there to be moved, not just accommodated while others move it.</i><br /><br /><a href="https://nominister.wordpress.com/2021/10/16/advice-from-the-peanut-gallery/" rel="nofollow">Advice from the Peanut Gallery</a><br />One of the classic quotes from Thatcher on "ratchet socialism", plus all the twits in the GOP circa 1980 screaming about how Reagan's "extremism" would doom them.<br /><br /><a href="https://nominister.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/this-sounds-familiar/" rel="nofollow">This Sounds Familiar</a>:<br /><i>When it matters, Republicans look around and say, “Oh no we can’t do that, we’d lose a man. The Democrats would take seats.” They are virtually a majority for the sake of being a majority. They just want to polish it up, put it on the shelf, and look at it. <br />…<br />To put it simply, Republicans approach politics like America fights wars: They don’t want to lose a single man. Democrats, on the other hand? They look at politics like the Russians looked at Stalingrad: The congressman in front votes now; when they fall the next man gets elected and he will vote too.</i>Tom Hunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17840988228699338463noreply@blogger.com