Old wives said that every cloud has a silver lining and old wives are usually right but I’m not sure they will be in this case. I can’t really see a silver lining in the present political situation except perhaps for what it teaches us. Leaving aside the possibilities of what talks with New Zealand First (NZF) might achieve as far as Labour is concerned, I’d rather Labour didn’t go with NZF because its unlikely to work.
It’s true that Winston probably won’t work all that peacefully with anyone he decides to catch the bus with (why should he?) but Labour is in the position of having shot up quite sudden;ly in the contender stakes as a possible government and maybe it needs to taihoa, settle and grow its mana while in opposition? Same for the Greens.
There’s only so much you can give away before you start giving away the things that really matter. And if you do that, you’re sunk. Labour turned away from their history in the mid-80s and are only just climbing out of the hole they dug for themselves at that time. Some good things were done in Helen Clark’s reign (the apology to Chinese New Zealanders for the poll tax and other mistreatments) but the seabed and foreshore issue still rankles although doing so well in the Maori seats implies that there is a desire on both sides to work together.
Duncan Grieve (The Spinoff) points out what happens when a smaller party (The Maori Party) latches itself to the large party(National) and argues that the Greens decision not go with National is an intelligent move by the Greens. I think we could tweak this out to include a larger party aligning itself with a smaller party with which it has some things in common but quite a few that are exactly opposite. The Maori seats referendum proposed by NZF for a start. Yes I know the Labour leader has ruled that out but how many times have you heard politicians say.’We’ll never do that’ and then a week later, they’re doing it? Yes, I’d like to think that wouldn’t happen with Jacinda but I’m old, I’ve seen a few political decisions that are contrary to what was said would never happen.
Taihoa might not sound like a good piece of advice when you desperately want quick action but sometimes just stopping and taking a breath and letting a little bit of time go by achieves more than rushing into something that might see you lose all you’ve worked so hard for. It’s not a bad move to sometimes take the long view.
I’m realistic though. Its hardly conceivable that any of the parties will warm to the idea of stopping and taking time to reflect. They’re on a treadmill and the only way they can stay upright is to keep running. Pity about the people.
