The National Paradox
Written by David Duffin
The National Paradox
There is a very unusual paradox displayed in New Zealand politics at present.
John Key’s and National's performance at the helm of New Zealand thus far has been dreadful. Socially and economically they have next to nothing to their name to show as supporting the general population. Their policies they create seem geared toward squeezing a few extra dollars out of beneficiaries; well, this and cutting public service jobs. Furthermore Key in particular has, for long periods of time, been caught up in bizarre and embarrassing sagas.
Firstly there was the cringe-worthy ‘Teagate’ affair and more lately the Dotcom farce. Both have shown Key at his worst, particularly once it emerged he had either lied about knowing Dotcom was being spied on, or is in charge of a completely incompetent governing party.
Yet, and here’s the paradox, these events have had minimal effect upon popularity polls. National remains around 45%, easily the most popular party while John Key is still the most preferred person to lead New Zealand as Prime Minister, sitting around 60%.
Why is this? What possible reason is there for such support? After the latest period of governance I’m already noticing that even diehard National supporters are hard pressed to outline some positive things National and Key have done.
60%. How? Well, the first argument to arise is usually lack of a credible alternative; especially in relation to the Prime Minister’s position. David Shearer has not managed to engage with the NZ public. Sadly this comes down to how adept the candidate is at public speaking and how well they perform during short TV vignettes. Unfortunately for Shearer and Labour these areas are clearly not strengths for him.
The Green leaders certainly do come across well in this area but the Greens are still not viewed as a major party. Therefore people won't entertain the idea that their leaders could be potential Prime Ministers. As a result the only alternative prime minster is the leader of Labour.
However, Shearer isn't the biggest issue. The polling reflects the one thing National has been very successful at doing; they’ve really pushed the ideal of an aspirational individualistic society. This is a clear step away from looking after everyone, including the weakest. So National has become the political party for successful people, the party for those who go to university and get a good job; the party for those who don't need welfare.
The flip side of this is Labour, painted as the party of welfare slobs, a party with unrealistic ideals, who want to take money from the rich and pass it on to ‘dole bludgers’.
So, to avoid affiliation with dole bludgers it seems a lot of people want to side with the National cause. The desire to be perceived as ambitious, sensible and hardworking seems synonymous with the desire to be rich; as John Key and many of his cohorts are. It's a classic case of siding with the winner.
What helps fuel this is the approach National and Key have taken. They are great at persisting with seemingly self-evident ‘truths’, such as, “no one owns water'. One liners such as these initially sound good and automatically get a lot of people on their side; although, if you actually unpack this comment about water ownership, the issue becomes far more complicated than the statement suggests.
And this is the root of their success. The vast majority of people won't go deeper on these topics. These simple statements in the media become the source of their judgement. Without proper investigation New Zealanders will choose to back initiatives which negatively affect Maori, beneficiaries (even those on the sickness benefit) and criminals. These groups are strategically targeted by National as they know people perceive them in some way as bludgers extorting the system.
So we return to the success of the aspirational society. People work so hard to keep ahead; anyone supposedly having it easy (not working) deserves to be punished. The belief ‘if they continue to work hard and put themselves first they will become rich’ is inherent in the west; however, for the majority of people this will just not happen. At the same time as the aspirational ideal increases, so too does inequality in New Zealand.
There are fewer wealthy people than ever now, but those people are worth a lot more than they used to be. The massive amounts of staff culling and other symptoms of increasing inequity indicate the majority of New Zealanders are worse off. When people are desperate to work they’ll do any job they can find with greater compromise for things like fair pay and decent hours; working longer for less money is at the very least better than being unemployed. This is bad for everyone except big companies in New Zealand, who now find themselves with a cheap labour force to choose from, allowing them to maximise profits by treating their employees badly.
So, this is what Labour must get across.
They must focus on the message of greater equality in New Zealand. They must educate people about the mechanisms that produce inequality. They must better explain their position because one liners won't work for their side of the debate. They must work harder and smarter than National as they have the harder side of debate; their challenge is to change a fundamental belief in the source of inequality reinforced by one liners and unrealistic aspirations. I liken it to a defence lawyer having to overcome prejudices about their client before a fair trial can take place.
If Labour wants to start winning debates and gaining popularity they can't just fight on the same terms as National. They need to fight harder, smarter, and more often.
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Comments (1)
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I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. Labour needs to step up fast and use the media more to achieve a cut through for all the bull shit that National is feeding the people. Winston Peters made great comment about National enteriing its second term with no clear vision of what is was wanting to achieve with New Zealand's future, economy or any other ground breaking ideas.
The 'right white party', National, has successfully widened the gap between those that have and those that havent. this leads to greater crime, as those without see those with and seek to get it. we have been sold down the river as John key now sidles up with the Chinese and the USA.
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