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Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Geoffrey Churchman: Chris Luxon needs to do more than just sleepwalk his way to victory


Today marks a year since Chris Luxon was voted leader of the National Party by its MPs, ousting Judith Collins. Although recent opinion polls have shown National has a comfortable margin ahead of Labour — high 30’s versus low 30’s — many feel that National should by now be in the high 40’s, the same as the Jacinda Party was getting prior to the 2020 election. That it isn’t getting that level of support is an indicator of problems that Luxon and his colleagues and advisors need to address.

To any objective outside observer, this government has been handing (potential) support for National and ACT to them on a plate: among other things:

  • The systematic dismantling of democracy and its replacement with an unelected, unaccountable ethnocracy
  • Attacks on Freedom of Speech
  • Creation of a massive, unresponsive, expensive and unproductive public sector
  • Allowing the country’s only oil refinery to close and be dismantled
  • Sharply rising inflation
  • Sharply rising crime
  • Attacks on the country’s agricultural sector which has long been the main basis of NZ’s economy
  • Falling real incomes for the working and middle classes
  • A health sector in crisis
  • Deteriorating roads and railways
  • Plummeting education standards and chronic pupil truancy
  • A bought and paid-for mainstream media which avoid criticism of the government
  • Riding roughshod over people’s human rights
  • Ramming Wokeism down people’s throats
  • A general attitude by this government of “we know best so you peasants can Stuff off”

How does all that not result in opinion poll results in the low 20’s for this government which is about all the support that this program should have among the public, being the hard core who believe that no matter what, Labour somehow cares about them?

Despite her awful accent, mispronunciations and increasingly hagged appearance, Comrade Jacinda’s still reasonable looks and reasonable communication skills can be the only explanation. It’s an unfortunate fact that good looks and charisma are a big factor in winning elections because of the influence of mainstream TV; those who have that start with an advantage over those who don’t. The Labour Party and its reporters in the MSM clearly make the absolute most of it.

The task for Chris Luxon is to replace her, and that requires necessary equivalent personal skills and an ability to demonstrate that he has them. He looks and sounds like a businessman, but there is a difference between running a business, even a large one, and running a country. In theory at least, the leader of a country is there to do what’s best for everyone, not just a vested interest group such as a thousand or so Maori elites as the Jacinda government is doing.

How much of the economic and social destruction that the Jacinda regime has wrought on the country is National going to reverse? How much is National going to assert the principles of equality of rights where every citizen is treated the same regardless of their ancestry? Luxon is going to have to enunciate clearly firstly, that is National’s intention and secondly, exactly how he’ll go about that.

If Luxon fails to do that he and his Party can expect a lot of the votes that National should pick up instead going to ACT and parties outside parliament.

Geoffrey Churchman is a retired publisher and co-editor of the Waikanae Watch blog site. This article was first published HERE

6 comments:

Robert Arthur said...

I console myself with the thought that National might be keeping their powder dry to near the election. If they intend to seriously oppose the maori takeover, selection of the Hamilton West candidte was folly. Have a knack of backing loser horses. Super at 67 will not be popular. Those who have not saved will receive benefits much as the Super denied the prudent.

DeeM said...

We may have to face the fact that Luxon DOES agree with some of Labour's offensive racial policies, but in his typical weak, watered-down way.
The guy's had a year to show us what he's made of and I'm not impressed. His major achievement is perfecting apologising to the MSM every time he gets interviewed.
I wouldn't want him in charge of a company, let alone the country.

David said...

Quite right. If National don't start making definitive statements about key issues they will most definitely not get the votes. I for one am tending towards ACT at the moment because David Seymour has consistently made positive statements about what needs to be done to correct the current situation, and he has also provided some detail as to how this may be done.

AprilGuy said...

Yes he has said he supports co-governance of rivers etc but not public authorities. He does not realise co-governance with all its undemocratic racism is the biggest issue with many voters. In this, he is a screaming failure as opposition leader.
In intend to vote ACT to counter the racist radicals trying to control the nation.

Peter Young said...

Yes, Luxon has had more than enough time to step up to the plate. 'Keeping his powder dry' is a refrain I, and many like me, are over. There's nothing secretive or advantageous in what he's doing; just incentivising people to look elsewhere. Quite frankly, he's gutless, and he's not the leader NZ currently needs. He's clearly running the 'steady as you go' course that Key has no doubt advised him - he who quietly sold us down the river for the sake of his ego. They are cut from the same cloth and I hope they both get their just deserts.

Robert Arthur said...

With 5th columnists everywhere it is near impossible to formulate a policy to counter the currently proceeding maori takeover. Policy would need to be hatched in great secrecy among a very small number of trusted persons from somewhere. They would need extensive knowdge of legal and factual matters relevant to maori present and past, far exceeding what Luxon seems to possess. Most legal minds stand to gain more from the current gravy train associated continuing current Treaty re interpretations.