NZ Politics

I looked up the process just to get on the ballot for my local council and it was a mess of paperwork. The county even reccomends having a lawyer do it because of all the headaches. I could easily go to every door in my section of town in an afternoon. The system is rigged by political parties.

It seems like a long game, with a lot of work (and a bit of luck) to get to somewhere of note (ie, an MP position).

Running as an independent is about as likely for success as Seymour’s school lunch program.

So you need to get yourself into a party. But you can’t just rock up to your party of choices offices and have them put your name next to their logo in the next election.

And if you do slog through however many years of volunteering and lower level staff jobs, there’s still no guarantee you’ll even get a shot at a candidate opportunity.

And if you do get a shot, you’re at the whim of the party, at least until you’ve made a name for yourself.

Not charismatic, not empathic and when im annoyed I get increasingly more unhinged. Even if people 100% agreed with my ideas I doubt they would accept how I try to get there.

Also if I ran someone would probably find an audio clip of me saying the n word on Cod as a teenager and destroy my career.

I dont want someone like me to represent a wide group of people. I can only represent myself and my own interests.

Being a politician sounds like hell to me, half the people automatically hate you, and just way too much bullshit you have to put up with. I also don't think I'd be particularly good at it.

Because I lack the physical capability to do the job if elected.

I'm actually at a stage in life where I think I'd probably do more good than harm, but ironically the same thing giving me enough free time to contemplate running for something is the thing that prevents me from being able to.

I do have a strong desire to try to improve society somewhat.

Of the people I know personally who ran for local body, two are now on council, one was too eccentric to make it, and one had to back away because of the intensity of hate that can be directed at young families by some members of the public on an opposing side of the political spectrum.

I once thought hey maybe I could just join a campaign on good days lying down to raise awareness, but that last person's fate put me off that as well.

Impossbile, I'm not even allowed to vote where I live. :(

I don't have a better answer than I just don't want to. I don't want to be a public figure. I don't want to be always working. I don't even want to talk to people. I'd make a terrible politician.

And then there's the part where you want to enact change but the system is rigged against you.

Because people wouldn't vote for me. Because I haven't found a think tank to fund my campaign.

I'm Pakeha*, middle-class, male and (getting) old(er). I'm already over-represented.

Also, there's a difference between moaning about the public servants that are employed to do the will of the government, versus elected representatives who try to impose their will. I think its fine to complain about the latter if they're doing stuff you disagree with. Though the majority of complaints about local government are horrendously uninformed and wrong. But that's the world we live in.

*can anybody point me to how to access special characters in gnome?

I'd register as a Christchurch council candidate but only if someone would pay the fee. I'm broke and in my thirties, I had more money when I was 19-23 lol. Good news though, my friend Vince McLeod became press secretary for NZ Loyal, and I'll be voting for Kelvyn Alp. They got rid of Liz Gunn, and Kelvyn actually cares about housing. On rare occasions I'll write to Kelvyn on Signal or Telegram. He doesn't have millions of dollars, he's just a political activist who knows a lot of people. Whereas most of Parliament are lawyers or from business.

Politics is largely a waste of time, but if you're outside politics you can still meet like-minded people and at least keep ideas flowing. Perhaps change public opinion slowly over time. I'd love to see these middle age and elderly councillors get voted out, but I don't know who's going to run - probably a university student in their early 20s who thinks that they know everything? I'm not going to vote for a university student or university graduate who's into climate change and lgbt as their main ideologies. Parliament is already full of these people. Even Christopher Luxon, a supposed right-winger, says that climate change is real and that he enjoys the Big Gay Out. You kind of have to say these things to get on television and radio, but we all know it's insincere marketing, and for some reason we go along with it.

I'm so far to the right that I view Christopher Luxon as a progressive, but for me it isn't about political spectrums or ideology, it's about energy. I'm in favour of expanding the school lunch programme to the point of having on-site catering, with actual chefs, not just sandwich makers on a temporary contract. Is that right wing? I want a country I can be proud of, and I think that we need something like "patriotism" or "national pride". Those words mean different things to different people. Anyway, it's an untapped resource - national pride. Labour may have built the school lunch programme but I still resent that they don't make food on site at the schools. Other countries do it, and by not having this programme on site, we are behind other countries. I'm not proud of what NZ has become.

Millions of dollars wasted in Afghanistan, and we can't even have a good school lunch programme. My opinion: if you don't have any passion or energy then don't get into politics, do something boring instead. Don't reinvent the wheel. Politics is so dogmatic and plain here in New Zealand. I'd be happy to run as a candidate but I won't do media interviews or any of the other stuff that I described above. People are tired of the B.S. and we need to get to the point. Instead of asking "what are your policies" I'd ask people "what do you want" or "what would make you proud to be a New Zealander".