Politics and Prose

As expected, the Greens have announced they will go with Labour.  What a surprise. 

We don’t exist to prop up anyone else’s Government.

Well, ain’t that the truth – but only because no government ever wants them.  Try as they may, the Greens have been left out of government in 1999, 2002, 2005 and looks like 2008 too.  I’m sure the Greens will be celebrating this as some slick political move, but in reality all it tells voters is that the Green Party are pushovers – so don’t vote for them.

We found that they are closer to each other than either is to us, and neither of them aligns closely with our own ideals for a fairer and more sustainable
New Zealand.

And thank goodness for that.  The fewer parties that adopt Green Party thinking the better.

Here’s what they had to say about National:

There are individual policies where we agree with the National Party, for example they helped us stop a law that would take away control of dietary supplements and they want to see more of the NZ Super Fund invested in New Zealand. 

However our analysis showed us that on the whole National would take New Zealand in the wrong direction, in fact, many policies headed off down a dead end street. This means that we can not form a Government with National, or support them on confidence and supply, although we could work with them in areas where we have common ground.

And on Labour:

Labour also seems to be heading off in the wrong direction in some areas, while in others they are on the right track. Whether we could form a Government with them would depend on reaching a policy agreement that advanced green policies on a number of fronts.

How they have managed to properly analyse Labour and National’s policies when about 40 per cent are still to come bewilders me.

If I was an advisor to the Greens, I wouldn’t have been so honest (not that I believe that this has been a proper analysis – it’s a total farce).  Part of the Greens’ problem is that they are constantly regarded as Labour’s lackeys, with little more merit than that.  Despite having consistent numbers of MPs, they are always discounted by Labour when it comes to coalition building, and it appears 2008 will be no different. 

I would also have waited off a while longer before making this announcement.  Now the mainstream media will discredit anything the Greens say from now on, because they’ve already accepted that they will be Labour’s props (and who cares what props say…)

Writing off National is a blatant disregard to any political commonsense.  This move will not attract anyone towards the Greens and it will put off those who are Green-leaning but sick of Labour.  Watch their popularity plummet.