Election Fever

Some like it hot

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."                                                                 Mark Twain. Maybe we should have waited.  But we've just had the local and regional council elections in NZ.  There are three ruling authorities.  The NZ Government, regional council and local council.  Add numerous jobs for the boys like rabbit boards, opossum boards, health and we hate marijuana boards.  Umpteen thousands of people employed to administer a mere four million people.  The endless layers of bureaucracy spend their time shoving and jostling each other for supremacy.  The long-suffering public forks out for all these authorities, yet has absolutely no say in their activities.  It's got so bad that if you want to chop down a tree on your property, you have to consult with half a dozen different boards.  Even the local Maori will get a chance to veto your application on the grounds that your sun blocking tree, has historic significance to their long dead ancestors.  It's all crap but that's NZ democracy in action. There was an extremely low turnout of voters because most sensible people realise the whole shebang is totally pointless.  It doesn't matter who gets elected, the mindless bureaucracy will continue unabated.  But certain trends have become apparent. The hard-nosed professional businessmen and the slick, I tell lies for a living, politicians have been dumped.  Younger people, sometimes society's rebels, have been elected.  Surely this is telling the establishment that the people have had enough of the dictatorships?  They want a little commonsense for a change.  Not bureaucratic edicts without logical explanations.  It's heartening to see the little people standing up to the 'we know everything' village idiots. To give an example of the 'we hate marijuana board's' efforts.  A huge cultivated marijuana plantation was discovered in bush-covered hill country.  With much jubilation and TV publicity, the in-flower plants were hacked down, strung beneath a chopper and flown to the nearest town.  The seeds fell to the ground over thousands of acres.  Without checking to see which way the wind was blowing, the plants were burned and barbecues held to celebrate the momentous occasion.  The entire town were 'stoned' for several days.  Naturally the seeds propagated and the resulting marijuana crop was the best ever seen in NZ.  Local Maori made a huge tax-free profit, which is just as well, because paid work is virtually non existent in country areas. Despite political assurances that the economy is booming (it is for the tax man), there are more Kiwis living below the breadline than in NZ's entire history.  Local councils spend their time building up their CBDs by encouraging big business cronies to separate the public from their ever-reducing wages.  Regrettably, the average wage has effectively been reduced by 55% in the last fifteen years.  They should be encouraging manufacturers to build assembly plants to employ local people.  This would make retailers more profitable and provide even more employment.  One gets a little tired of seeing dozens of empty shops, yet massive Wal-Mart type stores are being built to serve an increasingly poverty stricken population.  Sadly, hundreds of thousands of intelligent Kiwis have found it essential to live and work overseas. The offshore wages can be three or four times that of NZ.  The jobs remaining have been dumbed down to such an extent that if you have a normal brain and the ability to think for yourself, you're unemployable and designated to live on welfare.  It's cheaper for the employer to hire naive kids graduating from the dumbed down education system.  It's the Mac Job syndrome. Local councils seem to think they have to control everything in their area.  Perhaps they should realise that all that's expected of them is to provide the basic necessities.  Roads, water and sewerage etc.  Poking bureaucratic noses where they're not wanted cripples personal initiative and encourages dependency upon the state.  Like it or not, NZ is sliding socially and economically backwards because of over government at all levels.  But does voting in elections really provide the answer?