Explaining NZ Politics to a Friend in America:

your right Jeff, but really our democratic system is a two horse race as well and for all it's trappings very similar to American politics. There are no real progressive parties with mainstream support and neo-liberalism underscores the whole political agenda. Not to be doomsday about it though laughs. The most progressive party is TOP http://www.top.org.nz/policy however they are very new and have little chance of even having a person in parliament. Our government is effectively owned and operated by diary farmers (our form of big business) with a plethora of unnecessary subsides given to them to make them even richer, especially water. Labour our mainstream left party, the only chance of opposition to right wing National is a party of inertia, that champions workers rights while selling them down the river. So all up I would say democracy is acting poorly in NZ, the people and there views are not represented, leading to millions of Kiwis not turning out to vote. Grass roots and social, political movements in NZ can make a real difference voting is simply a symbolic gesture to maintain the status quo with it's embedded institutionalized exploitation. A change will come, and it will not be at the ballot box, but through denying the pseudo power and forced choice of voting. Freedom can not be restrained by the state indefinitely.

Is NZ first's Immigration policy intrinsically Selfish?

Why NZ first's immigration policy is selfish. Their position on immigration although appealing in a knee jerk reaction way, aka less people taking jobs etc does not fix the major problem that people are literally starving in third world countries and need to come to NZ. immigration is a problem because NZ actively lets in people to the country we can exploit for cheap labour. I know you and I would not want to be exploited for cheap labour, we also wouldn't want to be starving to death somewhere. The problem is bribery in the immigration system. We should not prevent people coming into the country because we think they are going to steal some resources or jobs from us. We should prevent them coming into the country so we can unceremoniously exploit them, effectively keeping them in a western form of poverty as opposed to a third world form, immigrants are faced with slavery in the west or death at home. Immigration is a forced choice for many, denying them immigration is a death sentence, we have to come together, let in the worst off into the country, instead of giving the rich a free ride in NZ by buying up million dollar assets and them receiving instant citizenship. NZ first does not plan to tackle any of these problems, it is just delaying any form of solution, so although it looks appealing, it is not, if you value human life a just immigration policy. Just my opinion.

What's Wrong with Demockracy in New Zealand?

The irony is whether someone is on the left or the right of the political system, when you question the basis for the foundation of their beliefs, anger either overt or passive appears remarkably fast. The politically neutral person who simply wants a pragmatic and effective solution taken up by government is dis-regarded. A point Gareth Morgan makes explicitly clear in his interviews were the best expert policy is simply ignored and disavowed.

The left and the right are driven by emotion, fear of loss, fear of lack. The middle-ground, the gap between right and left, is the best place for a party to be placed that aims to bring both parts of the political spectrum together and rule based on justice and fairness in a democratic fashion. A party that unites National and Labour is what's needed! and if that is simply a Utopian dream then votes as know them should be modified to create legitimate social change.

An alternative view would then allow everyone in society to vote not for parties but on policies themselves. The MP's who sit in parliament with their own hidden agendas must be neutralized. This is because the technology within our hands, to allow the will of the people to determine the road ahead is now possible. Why should the people accept the rule by others when we the people are capable and willing to rule ourselves.

Government official's and political parties have grown complacent with their unjustified position of administering democracy. They believe the way things have been done is set in stone, but even stone is broken. All politicians and bureaucrats would do well to re-read Rousseau's "The Social Contract" again. The philosopher makes it explicitly clear, that a magistrate appointed on behalf of the people to administer the law should act not on his will, nor his parties, but on the will of the people.

Hence, as we have found out over many years that politicians can not be trusted, they must be in time dispensed with altogether.

Democracy has caught a long, debilitating sickness due to the negligent misconduct of 'Kafkin' civil servants. Thus, Democracy must be returned back into the hands of the people to restore it's full political and emancipatory potential. The emancipation movement is universal, common to everyone, and not yet achieved.