Pee Kay: We Get the Government We Deserve

Catching up with old friend Bruce recently and naturally, the conversation turned to politics but more specifically, the abysmal standards of our political leaders. Realising we weren’t going to fix the country, Bruce wrapped up the discussion with a grim, undeniable truth: “Sadly, we will get the government we deserve.”

Yes, we’ve all heard that phrase “we get the government we deserve.” While it’s often mistakenly credited to Thomas Jefferson, it actually belongs to the 19th-century French philosopher Joseph de Maistre, who bluntly penned in 1811 that “every nation has the government it deserves.”

It’s an uncomfortable truth, but a democracy is ultimately a mirror. Dire but true, these days democracy is a mirror that reflects our society and a mirror that in too many instances, is a mirror we are unable to see. Our leadership is a direct reflection of our collective choices, values, apathy, or active participation. When we fall hook, line, and sinker for short-term populist bribes, we get exactly what we deserve.

Let’s call this campaign what it actually is: a shameless, runaway spending auction. Politicians are aggressively bidding away our future, funding their political survival with our own hard-earned taxpayer dollars. It’s an absolute mockery of democracy. Have there ever been more cheap, cynical “lollies” thrown at voters just to buy a seat in power?

By swallowing these cheap financial carrots, tuning out of civic life, or boycotting the ballot box, we aren’t just victims. We are the architects. When we refuse to engage, we actively sign the cheque for our own decline, authorise the rot of our democracy, and order exactly the substandard governance we get.

This election is so very important for the future direction of our country. We cannot afford to treat our vote like an inconvenient chore or stay home and let the MSM manufacture and decide who will be the “kingmakers”.

But when the dust settles after November 7th and we are left lamenting a government that doesn’t match the country’s needs, remember; you asked for this. If we choose to sleepwalk through election day, don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for the nightmare we wake up to.

In a few weeks, millions of us will walk into polling booths, pick up a pen, and decide the future of our country. That in its self is quite scary but that is democracy! But a staggering number of people won’t show up at all.

And that is why there is an uncomfortable truth we need to face before election day. We get the government we deserve!

Democracy is not a spectator sport or a lolly scramble. The leadership, the policies, and the state of our nation are a direct reflection of our collective engagement, or our collective apathy. When we refuse to participate, we don’t escape the system; we simply hand the keys over to whoever bothers to show up.

Think about the issues that stoke your frustrations. Whether it is the cost of living keeping you up at night, the state of our healthcare system, underfunded schools, or the handling of the environment—these are not random acts of nature. They are political choices. And when you choose not to vote, or blindly follow the line you are fed by the MSM, you are explicitly choosing to let other people make those choices for you.

But there is a murkier side to elections and electioneering. We are not fully to blame for civic blindness and apathy because we’re being fed a daily diet of political theatre by a media machine that thrives on our distraction. Before we even step into the polling booth, we need to wake up to exactly who is pulling the strings of your antagonism.

We like to think our political opinions are entirely our own, but the MSM plays a massive role in scripting the election drama before we even cast a vote. The media frequently stops reporting on critical, complex policies and instead treats democracy as a side bar. By obsessing over who is up, who is down, and who is “electable,” the media subtly “enlightens” voters which parties are worth taking seriously and which ones are a wasted vote. They don’t just report public opinion; they actively manufacture it.

You only needed to have read the print media report on the first leaders “debate.” The Herald’s Thomas Coughlan said – “The National Party, which has never served fewer than three terms in government, is currently losing this election, and Tuesday’s debate will do little to arrest its decline.” Adding – “On current polling, without Opportunity, the coalition is toast. Several other polls are showing the same result.”

Look no further than the breathless headlines plastered across various media. The Spinoff claims “National crashes, Greens surge, Opportunity kingmaker!” Newstalk ZB followed with “Election 2026: Power remains in Opportunity’s hands…” By constantly running these narratives, the MSM transforms a minor party into a central, high profile protagonist”

Overt influencing? Forget the voters; the press have already cast the roles, written the obituary, and handed their favourites the crown!

This endless spotlight creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. It gives a minor party the legitimacy and momentum it desperately needs to cross the threshold, entirely because the media decided that was the narrative!

This is the hidden power of the MSM. They set the agenda, decide which issues will dominate the evening news, and crown the key players before the first polling booth even opens. When we passively consume this news without questioning the agenda, we let a handful of media executives and commentators narrow our democratic choices. If we want a government we actually deserve, we have to look past the media’s scripted theatre, ignore the talking heads, and vote based on principle rather than the political drama they sell us.

It isn’t just the overt headlines that warp our perspective; it is the subliminal dripping tap of television and social media algorithms that quietly rewires our brains. Television doesn’t just report the news—it sets the emotional temperature of the nation and government controlled TVNZ are masters at this practise. Using clever lighting, tense background music, and the strategic use of talking heads who are a supposedly a balanced, objective group. TV networks employ visual cues to signal who looks “presidential” and who looks flustered. We subconsciously register these micro-expressions and visual framings, mistaking a heavily produced television construction for genuine political competence.

Social media takes this psychological manipulation to a scarily precise level. Every scroll, like, and hover-time feeds an algorithm designed to keep you angry, isolated, and addicted. You aren’t being presented with an objective reality; you are trapped in a super-personalised echo chamber meticulously engineered to confirm your worst fears and deepest biases. By weaponising our individual confirmation bias’s, platforms are able to quietly indoctrinate the politically engaged while pacifying the apathetic with endless, mindless distraction. By the time election day arrives, your “independent” political stance has been systematically manufactured by a sequence of lines of code.

Recently, Guy Haddleton, a Kiwi entrepreneur, who panel show host Ryan Bridge introduced as the panel’s “billionaire,” made some very pertinent points.

Haddleton nailed New Zealand’s core crisis: we are drifting without a compass. “I think we need a united vision for the country that expands beyond three years,” he notes. “We need that beacon that says to us, in 20 years’ time, we will grow our domestic pie by 2% or 2.5%—whatever we choose, we do it every year. And whoever is in leadership drives that vision.”

A united vision. It sounds great. But let’s be honest, have you heard a single politician actually champion national unity this campaign? Not a chance. Instead, we are being treated to a masterclass in division. Today’s political playbook relies entirely on shallow, self-interested pandering; either carving out special treatment for a chosen slice of society, ensuring the “special ones” know the benevolence will continue or bribing targeted voting demographics with their own tax dollars.

Look at New Zealand First. They masquerade as champions of “common sense”, yet their entire playbook relies on exploiting our worst grievances, stoking fear over “careless immigration policies”, raging against “woke” agendas, and stoking ethnic and cultural divides. They don’t want to unite us; they want to carve us up into neat little market segments, exploit our anxieties, and purchase their power piecemeal with reactionary promises.

Politicians are highly strategic. They look at voting demographics. If young people, working-class families, or specific communities don’t show up to the ballot box, politicians have zero incentive to write policies that benefit them. They will focus entirely on the groups that do vote. Apathy doesn’t punish the political establishment; it rewards it. It makes their jobs easier.

Our fore fathers fought, bled, and died for the right to cast a ballot. In many parts of the world right now, people risk their lives just to have their voices heard. Treating this hard-won right as an inconvenience is a luxury born of dangerous privilege.

If you are frustrated with the direction of the country, use that frustration. If you are exhausted by the current state of affairs, use that exhaustion. But do not surrender your power to political lollies!

When the election results come in on the 7th, we will have to live with the consequences for years to come. If we want a government that is accountable, visionary, and just, we have to demand it with our ballots.

Stop holding out for the perfect candidate. They don’t exist. Voting is never a choice between saints; it is a pragmatic decision about which realistic option aligns closest with your principles and the country’s requirements.

If equality, fiscal propriety, personal responsibility, political transparency and most importantly – common sense are high on the list of your demands, I think our choice is quite clear.

Don’t let apathy, ridiculous promises or the MSM choose your future. Show up, cast your vote, and ensure that when you look at your government, you see a reflection you are proud to own.

Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE