ARE JACINDA ARDERN SUPPORTERS JUST LIKE DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTERS?

In their slavish devotion to Jacinda Ardern, Labour supporters resemble the supporters of Donald Trump.

ECONOMIST SUSAN St James has asked the question why this Labour Government is  continuing  to pursue the policies of neoliberalism despite the fact that, for over three decades, it has only deepened and expanded New Zealand's level of poverty and inequality.

I doubt though that St James would of been asking the same question if we happened to be living under another National Government. The automatic assumption is that this is just what National Government's do; they protect the interests of the few at the expense of the many. It is the way of things.

But, even after three decades of dedicated loyalty to neoliberalism, its still widely imagined, in liberal circles at least, that Labour could - and should - be different. There's still a belief  that Labour's continued  defence of neoliberalism is still a mere dalliance and it only has to be shown the error of its ways and it will change its economic path. But the problem is the supposed flirtation has lasted over thirty years and, given the austere views expressed by the Prime Minister on both welfare and housing recently, it shows no interest  in being  shown the error of its neoliberal ways.

Its this inability to see Labour for what it really is - a centrist and neoliberal party that bears little or no resemblance to its  former social democratic construction - that has resulted in a variety of excuses being employed to justify continued support for Labour. We were told before the election that 'Labour deserved a second chance'. We were told that the reason that Jacinda Ardern had led a government of the status quo and not of transformation was because she had been blocked by New Zealand First. A variation on this theme was that she was being blocked by 'the deep state' otherwise known as a conservative public service.  And if all these excuses failed, Labour supporters could always retreat to 'lesser evilism' and 'at least Labour isn't National'.

But barely three months after the election the proponents of such excuses are now criticising Labour for being a centrist and neoliberal party. Its almost as if the last thirty years have never happened.

In recent months I've read and heard quite a number of Labour supporters criticising the intelligence of folk who continue to support Donald Trump. The views expressed have all come from the same playbook. How can anyone support someone like Donald Trump? Can't they see what a terrible impact his policies are having both on the United States and the world? Don't they understand that they are voting against their own interests by voting for Trump?  Along the way the arguments used by Trump supporters to justify their support for him have been described variously as 'bizarre', delusional' or as one  Labour-supporting New Zealand trade unionist tweeted, 'neanderthal'.

Certainly many of the arguments expressed by Trump supporters have displayed little relationship to reality but the smug liberal arrogance expressed by Labour supporters is also one of the reasons why this brand of right wing populism has prospered.

While Labour supporters might  loudly deride the views of Trump supporters they have remained silent as their own Prime Minister in their own country is  leading a government pursuing economic policies that can only deepen and exacerbate New Zealand's level of economic deprivation and desperation . 

And the excuses being employed to justify the support of such a government are as self serving as the arguments being voiced to justify the continued support for Donald Trump. Of course Labour supporters will vehemently deny they are anything like Trump supporters  but their slavish devotion to Jacinda Ardern has been as infantile as the slavish devotion displayed by Donald Trump's supporters for their leader. And while the error of Trump might be coming to an end, Labour supporters will be back in three years to campaign for another three years of a centrist and neoliberal government. We should be outraged that this is the case but we're not and the silence of the over 600,000 people who no longer vote becomes ever louder.