SAME OLD RUBBISH, DIFFERENT ELECTION

Yesterday I, along with hundreds of others no doubt, received a e-mail from one of my local MP's, Nicky Wagner.

The e-mail, which included a photo of a smiling Barack Obama, attempted to link the election of a National Government with the election of Obama to the White House.

'It's time for change,' Wagner told me. Wagner, not known for her radicalism, went on to say that, 'just like in the United States', it was 'time for a fresh start'.

My Webster's Dictionary defines change this way: 'to alter or make different, to put one thing for another.'

But National are not offering to alter anything or make anything different. Just like the other parliamentary parties, National are offering nothing but more of the same failed neo-liberal economic policies.

The economic crisis is real but we are stuck with a bunch of hapless parliamentary politicians who have nothing new to offer.

And who are the politicians who are supposedly going to give us this 'fresh start'? It's yesterday's men and women - Bill English, Maurice Williamson, Lockwood Smith, Nick Smith. Are you excited yet? No, I didn't think so.

Much of the joy generated by Obama's victory was all about seeing the back of the Bush regime but that sense of exhilaration will not be evident here.

Neither Labour or National, along with their minor party supporters, have an inspiring vision that has captured the public imagination. National will just get elected because most people are tired of Helen Clark and Labour.

National's call for 'change' amounts to little more than parliamentary musical chairs. John Key replaces Helen Clark, Bill English replaces Michael Cullen - and so it goes.

'Change' has been the most over-used word used during this election. But the word has been emptied of its meaning.

What is needed is real change but John Key isn't offering such change - he's just offering the same neo-liberal policies and ideology that have screwed us over for too long.

One thing is certain -real change will not come from any of our present parliamentary parties.