Rodney Hide: Modern Politics has become a Parallel Universe

New Zealanders are a practical bunch. We like straight talk, fair play, and fixing problems with a bit of number 8 wire and common sense. So why does so much contemporary political talk leave us scratching our heads, muttering into our beers, and shouting at the television? Two flashpoints capture the bewilderment: the furious resistance to simply defining biological sex in law, and the relentless focus on race, reparations, “partnership,” and “stolen land”. The confusion stems from a deeper shift. Beneath the slogans lies a powerful, secularised salvation story that has quietly displaced traditional ways of thinking.