New Zealand is only months away from another general election where we get to decide who is going to run the country for another 3 years.  It is a privilege that we in the West have, choosing who should govern the nation, and it should not be taken lightly.

However, increasingly choosing a government has become more about who we don’t want to run the country than it is about who we do want to run the country. In other words we don’t vote governments in, we vote governments out. Whatever is left from the choice that we vote out is what we are left with to run the country.

I am not sure if it has always been this way with our governmental system, but it seems to be an increasing trend.  Not only in the way that people vote, but in the way that political parties lobby for election.  Very rarely does a party make a stand on the positive of what they can do for us.  Instead, they tell us what they will undo, stop, or change about what the current Government is doing, going to do, or has done.

Government sittings in parliament are little more than a slanging match. If my kids behaved liked our, so called, leaders I would be forced to break the (idiotic) law that bans smacking – so I suppose I am lucky they don’t behave that badly. It doesn’t seem to matter what a person is like when they enter the parliamentary system, by the time they move forward from the back-benches they have been sufficiently groomed into the prevailing mindset so as to be just like their peers.

If the politicians are more interested in scoring brownie points and humiliating the opposition then they are of intelligently debating issues facing the country perhaps they will listen to the people?

The unfortunate reality is that the New Zealand Government takes no notice of the general population.  The only time they pretend to pay attention is leading up to an election, where they will make all kinds of promises that they will unfortunately not be able to keep once elected (always because of circumstances they were unaware of at the time the promises were made).  When a referendum is held and 80% or more of the population voice an opinion about what they want and the Government freely ignores it then the concept of democracy becomes a farce.

As we approach this election the main parties are determined to disqualify themselves from receiving the intelligent persons vote.  From the absurd appeal to drug culture by offering to legalize cannabis, to the sublimely idealistic belief that lifting GST on fruit and vegetables will have any real world impact (although it may insure a few more jobs for those at the top).  The current Government has finally decided to curb spending (no… really? Is there an election coming up?) and thought they would “partially” sell a few assets to help raise capital.  Obviously partial sales are not sales and therefore not breaking their promise to not sell assets.

I don’t think the anti voting strategy is a way forward.  I think now, more than ever, we need to vote our way forward. To be blunt, change is not going to come from within, we the voters need to break the traditional cycle of incompetence and buffoonism and look for politicians that stand for something more than we are traditionally fed.

Is it me, or is there less days between birthdays now?

You’d think with another year passing that I would be wiser. I am not so sure about that. But I have learned a few more things along life’s way.

One of the things that I have learned is that it is when the going gets a little tough is when people show their true colours. You never really know someone until you have seen them under pressure, even if you thought you knew their character previously.

Children grow up way too fast – they make you feel even older than you are (who would have thought that possible?).

Sheep can be one of the stupidest animals on the planet. Yet I see a lot of myself in their stupidity. I make a lot of the same kinds of mistakes over and over. Perhaps some time over the next 40 years I will learn to do better.

Machines still break down. You’d think all the advances of technology we would have sorted that out by now. So much for evolution. It seems things don’t improve over time after all.

The Government is still not the solutions to my problems.And if you watch parliament TV it is rather obvious why nothing good normally comes out of the Government.

Still, I have some new ideas and new prospects on the horizon so hopefully I will be too busy to worry about what others are up to. I’ll be interested to look back in another 12 months to see how far I have come.

Britain has a new Government. We have a new “Apprentice.”  The USA has new natural disaster on their doorstep.

But does anything ever really change?

A wise man by the name of Solomon once said that there is nothing new under the sun. He said that just as the seasons come and go and come again, so it is that there is nothing new.  It has all been done before, and will be again.

Teens dying from alcohol overdoses may be a recent phenomenon, although teens doing stupid things is nothing new. I was rather interested to see the parents of a teen who OD’ed on alcohol feature on TV news. They were giving other teens advice about looking out for their mates, and not letting them get too drunk. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no admittance that their own parenting skills may have had anything to do with the matter.

These parents obviously have no understanding of what it means that the sins of the father will be passed down to the next generation.

Governments come and go, but it doesn’t seem to make any different to the average citizen. The only difference seems to be the ways they find to tax you.

How do you cope in a universe such as this?