As a farmer trying to stay afloat financially during a time when our ability to earn an income is limited because of government relief funding holdups, one can’t help thinking about those generations of leaders who might have done things differently in times of crisis.
There is no question in my mind that modern society is being subjected to political management that, although claiming not to be, is in fact out of touch with those kiwis struggling at the coalface.
And it isn’t just
because the cost of living crisis has its origins in the corridors of power in
high profile Governments on the other side of the world.
Our leading
trading partner China controls virtually everything that happens to those who
live in the Pacific basin and has abnormal influence, even for a super power,
in many dependent countries of the developing world - some of whom supply large
percentages of the raw materials vital to the survival of us all.
So, in that context and hopefully as a result, a beneficial exercise in a rapidly changing world, perhaps we should be looking for answers to our problems by going back to the history books in an attempt to find out how the leaders of the past would have reacted to what is commonly called the modern threat.
Funnily enough,
when rummaging through the archives, a couple of things do stand out:
1) the leaders of
yesteryear were almost universally focused on the immediate threats to survival
rather than spending time trying to second guess what might happen if we do
this, that or the next thing in reaction to a perceived threat.
2) because of
their commitment to the “here and now”, yesterday’s leaders were more inclined
to focus all their efforts and resources on strategically important issues or
battle fronts of the time rather than diluting the much needed reserves to a
greater number of destinations where, as a consequence, they would have limited
effect.
“You can not serve
God and Mammon” is a religious text that means different things to different
people but in it’s most accepted context, talks about man’s pre dereliction to
serving “man made idols” which can be anything from statues of imaginary Gods
or examples of modern technology which are, in a sense, already having similar
disastrous effects on mankind’s ability to solve its current problems.
In my humble
opinion, our modern leaders need to take stock of those who also served. There
are lessons to be learned from their service at the top.
If our own
parliamentary leaders can humble themselves into thinking that some of the
world's current problems are as a result of self inflicted wounds, we might
start to regain some of the lost ground in the ideological struggles that seem to be more important than they should be.
We need to put the
world’s problems in context and start to deal with those that require immediate
attention.
It helps nobody if
we remain fixated on coercing people into doing things that have little
immediate impact on the lives of families struggling with the here and now.
They desperately
need help and they needed it months ago.
In their current
mood they are not going to take kindly to dictators who are obsessed with
matters that have little relevance to their personal plight.
The irrational
concentration on this country’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions when many
signatories to the Paris agreement already have or are abandoning their own
promises is a case and point. Ironically NZ is lucky in that it has options for
achieving its emissions reduction targets by 2050 even though it won’t matter a
damn when and if we get there.
Go figure.
Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.
2 comments:
Yes Clive, our beautiful country is being run by idiots who have no practical, or working in the real world experience. They believe peddling theory as fact, which they are doing very successfully, will give them total control of the population because of the fear generated.
We hope to break this cycle with a change of government. You and I will know if this has happened in twelve months time. Presuming there is a change.
If no change occurs, yes, we are doomed.
The King Canute syndrome is alive and well in connection with climate change.
Change is constantly occurring on a global scale within a planetary time frame. We may think that the minute effect which we can measure on our clever technology counts but it is human arrogance to assume that this puny species can affect climate cycles.
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