Matisyahu's Blog

The simple litmus test I have for whether a politician and their party is worth considering is whether their entire campaign is centred around culture wars rather than real policies that actually address the material conditions of the working class. With the election in New Zealand scheduled for November this year the usual culture war nonsense is trotted out by the usual suspects with the media pearl clutching and behaving as if this was the first time said politicians and their party have ever engaged in it even though it has been their modus operandi ever since they were founded over 30 years ago.

When it comes to those culture wars the big question is whether firstly there is enough of a constituent that can be split across the two parties that engage in it and whether the current economic situation will trump culture war issues. There will always be a group of people who are completely detached from reality but I’m hoping that if National is the largest party that they’ve learnt from the first term to push back against the sort of nonsense pushed by minor parties. National have experienced the backlash in the first term to the ‘Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill’ and there is already push back against NZ First who ar pushing for a referendum regarding the Maori seats. The big question is whether Luxon has the testicular fortitude to put his foot down during negotiations or will he roll over like he did in at the start of his first term.

On Monday there is the local Labour Party meeting so I’ll turn up because it is on a day I can actually attend. I’m very much excited about what will be announced by Labour because there are another 9 months to go before the election and a lot of water un the bridge has yet to flow not to mention the scale of policy will be dictated by the economic recovery. The economic recovery is as much to do with government policy as it has to do with events outside of the control of government. The problem I have with the current government isn’t the fact that things aren’t the best but more the fact that things would have been tough but due to incompetent management the situation has been made a whole lot more difficult that needed to be. The three headed monstrosity decided that giving unaffordable tax cuts to landlords then engaging in a massive slash ‘n burn to the infrastructure pipeline was somehow going to get things back in order.

The net result of this slash ‘n burn by the government has resulted in what has occurred today – the construction industry collapsed which then had a flow on effect to the rest of the economy. The day labourers who would visit the local bakery for a pie and a bottle of V? well, they’re no longer employed and no longer spending their money at the local stores resulting in small businesses cutting back on hours because the foot traffic that would result in a shop buzzing with activity is now but a slow trickle. That reduction in hours that spread through to those employees being paid less and them having to cut back on their own spending – a downward spiral has started.

Regarding external factors, there was a vote in the United States congress to over turn the tariffs imposed by Trump on Canada and it passed with the narrowest of margins – 6 Republican crossed the floor to vote for it meaning that almost 90% of Republicans in congress have fallen in line with Trump and are unwilling to break with him. It’ll either die in the senate or get through but it’ll be vetoed by Trump but either way the whole episode is nothing less than a giant empty virtue signal. As I’ve said, anything less than a veto overriding majority in both chambers for the Democratic Party in the midterms is an indication that the average American is happy with the status quo and the rest of the world should heed the message that the future is one where the United States is no longer a major player in it.

I think the United Stats are going to be learning a very tough lesson over the next few years – 8 years of George W Bush and 8 years of Trump have taught the world that the United States cannot be trusted. When you have a population who are wholly ignorant about the role the United States play in the world and whose view is myopic and provincial then it shouldn’t be surprising that someone like Trump ends up being voted in. As much as large sections of Americans online don’t want to admit it – Trump represents middle America just as George Carlin noted, the politicians in the United States are a reflection of American society.