Eliora: Is there a Place for Principled Politicians?

Listen to the beautiful ballad “Wind of Change”, which starts and ends with its haunting nostalgic whistling. According to the band’s lead singer, Klaus Meine, this classic is purely a peace anthem. In addition to that, Meine referred to the song with political sentiment, as one that “symbolizes the end of the cold war”. Klaus Meine penned this song in 1990 and he wrote it without any aid from the other members of Scorpions.



“Wind of Change” speaks of sights one can visit in Russia, such as the Moskva River that flows though Gorky Park, a theme park in Moscow. It depicts the changing times of freedom of movement. It is about the wind of change blowing all over the world, like the historic fall of the Berlin Wall and later the fall of the Soviet Union, and reflects the dreams of future world events like democracy coming to apartheid South Africa and many other nations.

Is NZ ready for a Wind of Change? Or is it being squashed?

Last weekend there was a run of principled wannabe politicians resigning from one of the newest and more popular small parties in New Zealand. DemocracyNZ emerged from the freedom fighters who opposed the tyranny of now ex-PM Jacinda Ardern and the incompetent Labour Party.

Matt King launched his party in March 2022, gathering several high-quality candidates who were all new to the game. After one (Steve Cranston) was removed for asking questions of his board, four others resigned (Dr Matt Shelton, Lee Smith, Bill Dyett and Kirsten Murfitt.)

A regional BFD sump held their usual monthly get-together on a Saturday evening. Over a potluck meal, they were looking forward to Kirsten Murfitt, the local Tauranga DemocracyNZ candidate speaking. But she didn’t tell the whole group she had just resigned from DNZ, having lost confidence in the party, nor did she explain that a colleague had just been fired.

Everyone who knows lawyer Kirsten Murfitt would describe her firstly as principled and secondly as fearless. She began to question the government early in 2020 about concerns she had for inconsistencies in the Covid-19 pandemic rhetoric and response coming from the Beehive. Her research confirmed something was very wrong, so she endeavoured to hold the government to account. Every statement was cross-referenced from the government’s own records, so her work could not be faulted. Every one of the current MPs ignored her questions.

See some of Murfitt’s queries here: https://nzrising.co.nz/project-qa/.

There has been criticism of the four candidates who resigned and the one who was fired. Some suggest they may be the types who want to be in charge and are therefore difficult people who can’t handle not getting answers from their party leader and board. Others see them as very principled people.

In the aftermath, there was unsurprisingly little mention that the party was tinkering with the wording of the Bill of Rights. That’s a red rag to a principled lawyer.

The freedom movement, born out of utter desperation of ordinary Kiwis, is a large group. Perhaps Ardern was correct when she said the peaceful protestors who gathered in Wellington didn’t seem to have a leader. Of course they didn’t. They had come together from opposite ends of the country, not knowing each other. This was the very weak excuse Ardern gave for refusing to meet with a group of them. A disparate group, they had come together wanting to be heard and, when it became obvious that this was not going to happen, they lost confidence in all the current politicians.

The Beehive became known as the Wasp Nest.

The only way the Beehive could become the people’s parliament again would be for new and principled politicians to be elected. Perhaps they could make a difference. Peaceful protestors chose party leaders and formed new parties all over the country. This resulted in too many good candidates spread too thinly.

Cam Slater at the BFD has said all politicians lie and small parties will be a wasted vote. Is it possible that principled and fearless politicians might again have a place in New Zealand to help Kiwis recover from their current distrust of politicians who won’t engage on certain topics?

Let’s start whistling.Wind of Change (verse 2)

The world is closing in
And did you ever think
That we could be so close like brothers?
The future’s in the air, I can feel it everywhere

I’m blowing with the wind of change
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away (dream away)
In the wind of change

Mh-mmh

 
Eliora is a fourth-generation Kiwi is a conservative voter and has worked in health. This article was first published HERE