The difference is we’re in the majority and those that have a bee in their bonnet about the new government are being shown to increasingly be an extremist minority. It’s the left whinging since the election, organising protests and complaining about policies with a mandate, voted by the majority.
The more we see protests, gun talk, negativity and hate towards the democratically elected government the more Luxon and Seymour grow. The left is giving themselves an uppercut and don’t even see it!
I was at a social event yesterday and someone was wheeling out all the lefts misguided attack lines about the government wants everyone to smoke, etc and nobody cared. It’s focusing on non events that the majority, uninterested in politics, simply don’t care about.
No… actually keep on about the govt being pro smoking and needing more bike lanes and government hating Maori… A couple more terms of Luxon and Seymour sounds good to sort out the country and make NZ great again.
Hint: left politicians need to spend a while being quiet and respectful towards the majority’s vote and wait until Labours incompetence is a distant memory. Then try to win the election with positivity, hope and how the left will make our lives better. Negativity and protest never wins!
You are determined to make this a left right thing. How the "other" side won so we're all whinging.
What are the left's attack lines? Who is the left? I don't see them visible at all.
Say something often enough and it becomes believable, a common tactic of the right, they are very successful at implementing that - things like "Labour wrecked the economy" - repeating that ad nauseum for two years before the election with no proof. Your comment reflects those same tactics.
The current government are doing and will do huge damage to the country via their corporate driven neoliberal agenda.
That's a fact. That's the truth Wiz.
This isn't some left/right shit, this is who they are. This is what they do. If you're okay with that, say so, don't play the victim (another common tactic on the right - say outrageous stuff then play the victim when people push back) - say so and let's move on.
I'm not clearly. I say so at every opportunity I get. If the left were doing something equally hideous I WOULD SAY SO.
It's morally wrong, threatening democracy and highly dangerous what we're seeing.
Here's some facts about this current government:
- National/Act/New Zealand First (hereafter referred to as they) are looking to privatise and have started already - charter schools first, they're also softening the ground for selling off our natural resources
- They have made huge concessions to big tobacco. This threatens our nation's health, increases profits for big tobacco and paves the way for years of deadly addiction from these corporations whose products kill. We have been set back years, and our international reputation has been severely damaged
- They are openly conducting war on climate change measures, rolling back moves that had momentum to evs, culling public transport initiatives and promoting fossil fuel exploration. Regressive, dangerous in every way. Flying in the face of science
- They can't pay for their tax cuts so they are cutting money elsewhere, like education, like health, like taking away oversight of government activities
- They've put us on a war footing
- Winston Peters has openly threatened media for doing their job - that's fascist, that's authoritarian.
- They have attacked gains for Maori and are actively rolling them back, then crying victim when they're being called out on it
- They have openly subsidised landlords and rolled back tenants rights in a way never seen before
- They have rolled back workers rights already
This isn't an argument from the left. THIS GOVERNMENT IS DOING ALL OF THIS RIGHT NOW.
This is who conservative and extreme right governments are in this neoliberal world. They sell assets. They criminalise protest. They extract wealth for the few. They privatise people's lives. They deliberately underfund and then say "look how the left has broken things down, communism doesn't work, let's sell it off".
We're seeing this play out in real time. Simeon Brown anyone? Seymour?
These policies are all part of the neolib framework set up through the many right wing thinktanks around the world, including the Atlas Network. It may not be overtly linked but it's the same policies. Go and look if you don't believe me.
We've lived through it here in the 80s and 90s and saw great damage done to New Zealand and it's infrastructure. Short term and self interest is the core of the neoliberal agenda.
And as for this: "Hint: left politicians need to spend a while being quiet and respectful towards the majority’s vote" - you mean we should shut the fuck up? Sorry mate, that's what democracy is. That's what freedom of speech actually is, not the libertarian version of free speech - "I demand the right to offend and say and do what I want but you don't", where anyone who speaks out against this rising fascism is attacked.
The right in America restrict free speech, abortion rights and burn books. They want to restrict rights for minorities and attack women's rights.
The refuge of the fascist and authoritarian is a black and white world - for us or against us. Fuck that.
We see the same inflammatory rhetoric creeping in here.
Here's the uk government's implemented policies:
A crash programme of massive cuts;
demolishing public services;
privatising public assets;
centralising political power;
sacking civil servants;
sweeping away constraints on corporations and oligarchs;
destroying regulations that protect workers, vulnerable people and the living world;
supporting landlords against tenants;
criminalising peaceful protest;
restricting the right to strike.
Sound familiar?
It's wrong. It's bad for New Zealand. It's bad for the environment. It's bad for the world. And we should all be concerned.
Just don't pretend this is some kind of left wing attack against this virtuous government. This isn't left right. It's right and wrong.
I should qualify - something fictional. You're more than welcome to check out any links I've provided.
