LIVING IN A PLUTOCRACY

Chloe Swarbrick : An underwhelming view of change.

Despite all the huffin' and puffin', the result of the general election has already been decided...

WITHOUT THE AID of expensive polling, I can tell you right now who will win the election in September. It will be..capitalism. With none of the parliamentary parties presently competing for votes actually offering anything other than more of the same, the political and economic status quo will remain undisturbed. 

While Green MP Chloe Swarbrick might tweet that its all about taking the 'issues into the halls of power and changing the system that produces them', she is a representative of a party that has meekly trotted down those very same 'halls of power' for the past three years, docilely propping up the Labour-led Government. I think she has an entirely underwhelming view of what 'changing the system' means.

A lot of people have worked out that the system isn't working them for them. That's why over 700,000 folk no longer vote. It's not because they are 'apathetic', but because they can find no party or politician that represents their views. If you don't want to vote for the 'free market' then why should you vote for a party that is offering nothing but market-based policies? If you think climate change is the existential issue of our times then why should you vote for a party that thinks that the issue isn't so urgent that we can't just slouch to supposed carbon neutrality in 2050? If you think, unlike Labour leader Jacinda Ardern or Green co-leader James Shaw, that there are alternatives to the market then why you should you vote for a party that is vehemently opposed to such alternatives?

Nomi Prins: Imagine a country run from the bottom up.

In the coming days there will be some, claiming progressive or left wing credentials, who will try to cajole you into voting for the so-called 'lesser evil'. That means voting Labour or the Green's. Apparently its not about 'transformation' anymore. Even in these days of a pandemic-induced economic crisis, apparently the 'lesser evil' will do. I've written a lot about lesser evilism over the years and it continues to be a spectre that haunts the New Zealand working class. Its like a really bad smell that returns to pong up the room every three years.

Its enough to say that 'lesser evilism' actually undermines democracy because it undervalues our power and worth in the political process. We're just pawns to be pushed around the great electoral chessboard and to give the Commentariat something to talk about and keep pollsters employed.

Unless a truly progressive party appears on the horizon offering the hope of real change, then change won't come via the ballot box. Representative democracy has failed and I don't see any reason why we should participate in a charade behind which powerful and wealthy interests continue to rule the roost. We're not living in a democracy. As economics writer and investigative journalist Nomi Prins observes:

'Imagine a country where the majority of the population reaps the majority of the benefits for their hard work, creative ingenuity, and collaborative efforts. Imagine a country where corporate losses aren't socialised, while gains are captured by an exclusive minority. Imagine a country run as a democracy, from the bottom up, not a plutocracy from the top down.'