What’s in it for me?
If only NZ voters would think beyond the ‘‘What’s in it for me?’’ syndrome.
If only they would consider instead, ‘‘What is the best choice for the future of NZ, and the heritage that we will be leaving our children?’’
Before you cast your vote please ask yourself, ‘‘Do I want a government hellbent on dividing our country in two, with privileges for some that are denied to the majority?’’ Or would I like to see existing racially-based legislation abolished and replaced with laws that treated all of us the same.
National, Labour, the Greens, TOP and Maori parties all have in their sights a rewritten Constitution that includes a distorted English version of the Treaty of Waitangi. Now there is nothing wrong with the original Maori wording, but allowing the Waitangi Tribunal to ‘‘translate’’ it nearly 200 years later was equivalent to letting a little boy loose in a lolly shop.
Before you consider voting for any of the above-mentioned parties please give thought to what it would be like living under a future constitution that legally enforced apartheid in our country; a nation in which one sector of the population had children with privileges that may not be available to your children; gave access to educational assistance and extra healthcare based on remote ancestry rather than citizenship; and deprived you of ownership of your beaches, nature’s wealth and even the rain that falls from the sky.
We are one nation and one people, despite the efforts of those who are intent upon driving a wedge between us, so come out of your political closet when you vote and think of what may lie ahead instead of ‘‘What’s in it for me?’’
Mitch Morgan
Kaipara
biggest populist U-turner of recent years; and the remaining party stalwarts are the ‘‘same old’’. It is true that Labour’s squabbling was undisciplined and unseemly, but they have had the gumption to pick a leader who can lead. Like John Key and Bill English, she makes mistakes. Steven Joyce’s most obvious mistake is assuming that we will believe his deliberate misinformation. Would people rather give Labour a chance to overcome their speed wobbles and make some changes, or continue with National’s laissez-faire policies, spiced with election bribes from suddenly discovered funds? What a coincidence that our newfound wealth arrived late in election year. I remember John Key promising to rectify the damage done by Helen Clark when she sabotaged the RNZAF Strike Wing (New Zealand’s fist line of defence). Nothing has been done in this regard; and the verbose 2016 Defence White Paper has not a word about air strike capability. Maybe Winston can bang some heads together.
Hugh Webb
Hamilton