The Spin Doctors

"Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things."      Oscar Wilde The Wizard of Oz is behind the curtain burbling fantasies.  In Godzone (New Zealand) we call it political spin.  Apparently you have to be a doctor to deliver dubious messages excusing why nothing sensible happens.  Hence the term Spin Doctor.  A quick jab in the media bum and the world takes on a rosy glow and all problems are automatically solved. New Zealand leads the world in political fantasies.  Nobody sensible believes a word but itsells newspapers and makes watching the news exciting.  Ho Hum! Tis the run-up to the election in Godzone.  The ruling Labour Coalition Government promises older people that if reelected they will scrap the over 80 driving test and make part of the property taxes payable to the local council, tax free.  Pray may I ask, why they didn't do this during their six years in power?  The opposition National Party states it will increase the old age pension by X amount and other political parties promise the earth because they have to make a noise to justify their existence at the tax payer's expense.  The feel good music goes round and round but when the fat lady sings, the music stops and nothing changes.  It never does.  Mind you, the national deficit will increase, interest rates will rise and more Kiwis will decide that living offshore is to their advantage.  The adage, 'The last person to leave, turn out the lights,' will be recycled providing Wellington Airport isn't fog bound again. I interviewed a wannabe politician on my radio show a while back.  (LewisNews, 10 pm Monday, US Pacific time.)  He was genuine and likeable.  Naturally he spouted his party line about things that should happen, but didn't because his party were in opposition.  But Godammit!  Things needed to change, They had to if Godzone didn't want to continue going down the gurgler.  Trouble is, he was right.  Socially and economically, Godzone is sliding backwards.  Commonsense dictates it doesn't matter if you're an individual, huge corporation or world power.  You can't live on credit forever.  Income twenty pound a year, expenditure nineteen pound nineteen shillings and sixpence, result happiness.  Income twenty pound, expenditure twenty pound and sixpence, result misery.  This economic reality isn't exactly new.  Guess who suffers the most?  And no, it isn't the politician.  It's us, the innocent people.  I think I'll migrate to Victorian England and have a chat with Charles Dickens.  Based on the past, maybe he can foresee tomorrow?  I have Great Expectations for Christmases Past. It seems ridiculous that we are fed non stop propaganda.  Do the politicians assume that we are mindless peasants and unable to think for ourselves?  Is it because they have to tow the party line designed to ensure self interest and everlasting power?  Do they think they are mentally superior when it's obvious that politics appeals only to the mediocre?  What makes them think they're right about everything and that we need their generosity funded by money stolen from our wages?  Where's the logic? I'm very much into energy saving.  Show me a government that is self funding and I'll stand for Parliament lying on the couch.   I'm also taking night classes on how to lie and keep a straight face at the same time.  It won't be easy.  My generation were raised in a world where reality was obvious and not manufactured by Spin Doctors.  But I guess like commonsense and decency, truth is now redundant in Godzone.  Tis the way of the modern world?