I doubt that if somehow Labour managed to pull off a victory, the likes of Campbell or Williams would have written a lengthy exegesis of how that victory was brought about by the support of the Council of Trade Unions (did all their members sign off on the attack ad against Chris Luxon?) as well as a compliant NZ media purchased via the Public Interest Journalism Fund and various other handout designed to advance Labour’s narrative.
Face it, Labour did not lose this election because some rich folks gave money to National/ACT.
Labour lost because the average punter on the street was sick and tired of the incompetence, the lies, the hypocrisy and the incessant identity politics. They lost because our Police are perfectly happy to beat up on protesters in Wellington but are unable to protect a women’s right activist in the middle of Albert Park or store owners being ramraided over and over. Labour lost because we shut our own citizens out of the country and let small businesses go to ruin in the guise of saving lives. And then they blamed those businesses for not being resilient enough.
Labour lost because they engineered a transfer of wealth from the blue-collar to the white collar, from the young to the elderly and from mom-and-pop grocery stores to the big supermarket chains.
Labour lost because most of our lockdowns had little to do with health but everything to do with a naked exercise of power. We wanted our citizens fearing for their lives and to continue to venerate Jacinda Ardern as our saviour.
I used to be a Labour sympathizer and helped with Helen Clark’s campaign in 2008. I thought that Jacinda Ardern was a breath of fresh air before I realized that she was nothing other than a covert narcissist masquerading as an altruist. (And yes, Gen Z, I did just quote from Taylor Swift’s Anti-hero.)
Ardern is a vacuous politician who has little understanding of history and civics and is blissfully unaware of the damage that she has caused to New Zealand’s economy, democratic institutions, civil liberties and sense of social cohesion.
And while not everyone had the same grievance, it was clear to everyone through every day lived experience that something has gone seriously wrong with our country. People figured out that the current Labour Party consisted mostly of grifters who were never in it for the people but only for themselves.
I don’t know whether National/ACT will do better but sometimes the unknown devil is preferable because we know for a fact that the current ones are really devilish; hopefully the unknown ones will be a little less so.
Ananish Chaudhuri is Professor of Experimental Economics at the University of Auckland. Besides Auckland, he has taught at Harvard Kennedy School, Rutgers University, Washington State University and Wellesley College. This article was first published HERE
Face it, Labour did not lose this election because some rich folks gave money to National/ACT.
Labour lost because the average punter on the street was sick and tired of the incompetence, the lies, the hypocrisy and the incessant identity politics. They lost because our Police are perfectly happy to beat up on protesters in Wellington but are unable to protect a women’s right activist in the middle of Albert Park or store owners being ramraided over and over. Labour lost because we shut our own citizens out of the country and let small businesses go to ruin in the guise of saving lives. And then they blamed those businesses for not being resilient enough.
Labour lost because they engineered a transfer of wealth from the blue-collar to the white collar, from the young to the elderly and from mom-and-pop grocery stores to the big supermarket chains.
Labour lost because most of our lockdowns had little to do with health but everything to do with a naked exercise of power. We wanted our citizens fearing for their lives and to continue to venerate Jacinda Ardern as our saviour.
I used to be a Labour sympathizer and helped with Helen Clark’s campaign in 2008. I thought that Jacinda Ardern was a breath of fresh air before I realized that she was nothing other than a covert narcissist masquerading as an altruist. (And yes, Gen Z, I did just quote from Taylor Swift’s Anti-hero.)
Ardern is a vacuous politician who has little understanding of history and civics and is blissfully unaware of the damage that she has caused to New Zealand’s economy, democratic institutions, civil liberties and sense of social cohesion.
And while not everyone had the same grievance, it was clear to everyone through every day lived experience that something has gone seriously wrong with our country. People figured out that the current Labour Party consisted mostly of grifters who were never in it for the people but only for themselves.
I don’t know whether National/ACT will do better but sometimes the unknown devil is preferable because we know for a fact that the current ones are really devilish; hopefully the unknown ones will be a little less so.
Ananish Chaudhuri is Professor of Experimental Economics at the University of Auckland. Besides Auckland, he has taught at Harvard Kennedy School, Rutgers University, Washington State University and Wellesley College. This article was first published HERE
9 comments:
Rare comments from anyone in the Labour brainwashed education sector. I reckon Labour lost largely because a huge proportion of the public is absolutely fed up with maori twaddle and maorification generally and quite a few realised that co governance is the path to total maori control; anathema to most. But because of fear of cancellation, which stroppy maori are very adept at applying, only a few totally independant mostly retired folk spoke out. Then the population were presented with the ballot box, a means to register their objection in confidence; and they did in droves, myself included.
Ananish, bang on. After the dust has settled many years on and despite what the MSM are currently saying...... the historians will independently write and discover they will have plagiarised your article. A pity NZ is not ready for the truth yet. Peter
It’s a pity that writers of all descriptions keep promoting the false narrative that Donald Trump lies when he says the election was stolen .
Anybody with half a brain watching the US MSM defence of the hapless Biden administration from Day one and the congressional investigating committee’s exposure of the coverup of previous Democrat administrations unlawful activities would realise that the only conclusion an impartial observer could come to is that the result was based on a deliberate withholding of incriminating evidence about the Biden Family.
I and others more qualified than me contend that Trump is therefore totally justified in making that claim.
Your reference to the Trump lawyers who have turned against him will only enhance the remaining defence lawyers’ ability to show any jury the lengths the Biden administration will go to get a conviction and keep Trump out of the race for the Whitehouse in 2024.
You must be joking .
Never truer words have been spoken.
It seems the at the whole of the western world is being stuffed up (excuse the pun). Here in NZ during the covid lockdown, we were told "No Jab, No Job". That strikes me as being pure communism, a nasty surprise! The World Economic Forum seems to be gathering pace, and how much longer it will be before we are all shunted into birdcages in 15-minute cities and told that we "will own nothing and we will be happy". A puppet president runs the United States, the bastion of the free world. Maybe the next thing will be a protestant pope?
Kevan
What were Labour's policies? I cannot answer this basic question.
What did Labour achieve in the last three years?
I am still having difficulty.
Combined with a host of racist policies, separatism, that is why they lost.
The Labour Party lost because they were incompetent in government, totally clueless regarding real world economics, racist, corrupt, no actual work experience except for wrapping fish 'n chips and lacking intelligence. Thank God enough people read Breaking Views and similar sites so we could share with others to try and keep them informed of the facts. Kiwialan.
it is my firm belief that ms Ardern on realising her wee socialist kingdom was getting beyond her control,and her syncpohantic cohorts political and academic likewi se also made a personal decision to abandon ship leaving it in effect in the paws of th e sauasge roll munching cabin boy,who had always made no bones he was naked political ambition in the vertical plane.How the transition occurred -its reported her Hipkins and her other buddy the odious Robertson slipped into a room somewhere-she tells them shes leaving and who wants the job .Mr odious says having been rejected by labour once before hes not interested so wee cabin boy seizes opportunity with both hands,not reailsing that at climax hes to suffer the same fate as nash allen and a few other s who egos were bought crashing back to reality.
kotuku
A very well written piece - but the really frightening thing about this election result is the large % of the New Zealand population who continue to support labour and their allies.
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