NRT: The Herald supports oligarchy

Written By: - Date published: 4:09 pm, August 28th, 2013 - 27 comments
Categories: democracy under attack, democratic participation, Media, newspapers, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: ,

no-right-turn-256No Right Turn makes the point on what the NZ Herald considers a “democracy under attack” to be. Their track record indicates it only ever happens if they find it harder to get advertising revenue or some of their audience finds harder to make money off selling other people’s assets. Of course having people participating doesn’t appear to them to be a part of democracy.

Just a few years ago, the Herald cast itself as a defender of democracy in the debate over the Electoral Finance Act. But in its editorial on the Labour leadership election yesterday, it showed its true colours. According to the Herald, letting a party’s members vote on its leader:-

carries risks not just for Labour but for the good government of New Zealand if the consensus between the two major parties on economic fundamentals is undermined by a leader’s public commitments in a campaign for the party’s vote.

There is good reason to confine these elections to a party caucus. MPs are generally well briefed on policy issues and aware of the national interest. They also work closely with leadership contenders and are best-placed to assess their character and capabilities.

So, letting us dirty peasants have a say is a threat to “good government” (whatever that means). Better to leave the decision in the hands of a nice, safe, well-insulated and easily subvertable elite. Of course, exactly the same argument applies to national elections. So I guess we can conclude that theHerald supports oligarchy there as well.

What the Herald fails to recognise is that democracy isn’t about making good decisions – its about making our decisions. Those decisions may not be to the liking of the Auckland business elite the Heraldexists to provide a voice for. But if they don’t like it, they should try and convince us, not demand that power be returned to a tight little circle who know best what’s good for themselves “the country”.

27 comments on “NRT: The Herald supports oligarchy ”

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  1. Clement Pinto 1
    28 August 2013 at 5:08 pm

    Ignore the silliness of the Herald’s comment. In many countries, including the US, the party Head Honcho, who may end up being the nation’s President with enormous powers, is initially elected by the party members/delegates to be their leader. Big fail, granny Herald.

  2. bad12 2
    28 August 2013 at 5:23 pm

    i have yet to pay money to read that abnoxious retard of a newspaper ‘the Herald’, the day that the bean counters decide that i should pay to stick my nose in their filth by pay-walling the online edition i will happily and laughably say good riddance…

  3. BLiP 3
    28 August 2013 at 5:33 pm

    . . . if the consensus between the two major parties on economic fundamentals is undermined . . .

    Smell the fear.

  4. vto 4
    28 August 2013 at 5:34 pm

    What say thee Herald?

    Stand and answer.

    (here at ts)

    • In Vino 4.1
      28 August 2013 at 6:44 pm

      Not “What say thee?” That is like asking, “What say him?” (Which ought to be, “What sayeth he?”)

      Some right-winger will scorn all of us for it.

      Please replace with, “What sayest thou?” (I think “What say thee?” if you have a source for it, would mean something different like, “What if you’re the one?”)

      I would love the Herald to stand and make an answer, but no chance. Too busy planning next slant on selective (mis)information.

      • QoT 4.1.1
        28 August 2013 at 7:56 pm

        It works if you use plural pronouns for organisations.

        • In Vino 4.1.1.1
          28 August 2013 at 8:15 pm

          True. ‘Ye’ (or ‘you’) would have worked.

          Not wanting to be negative – I eagerly read both vto and QoT, usually with near to or right on 100% Pure agreement.

          Only a beginner in this area…

    • Paul 4.2
      28 August 2013 at 6:57 pm

      Maybe a pointed letter to the Herald? But then, by the sounds of it, they censored Minto.
      http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/08/28/a-tale-of-two-cities-or-the-column-the-nz-herald-declined-to-publish/
      The Herald…Pravda would be proud of their one party propaganda.
      The media in New Zealand. Pathetic puppets of the corporations.

      • Mike S 4.2.1
        28 August 2013 at 8:44 pm

        Good luck with a letter to the Herald. They won’t publish any of mine after a couple of run ins. Below is the email exchange I had with their letters editor the last time I tried to write a letter to the f***ing Herald.

        My letter to the herald regarding Time Warner and The Hobbit:

        Sir

        I find it extraordinary that one media corporation, namely Time Warner has enough power not only to get millions in concessions from our government, but to be able to actually force a law change in our country. 1.4 million New Zealanders recently asked for a law change through referendum and were ignored. But one American corporation which exists only to maximise profit for its foreign owners requests a law change and our Prime Minister pushes through a new law in less than a day! This shows John Key’s true colours, always profit before people just like in his days working on the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Those criticizing the actors and CTU should remember that for centuries our ancestors have fought and sometimes sacrificed their lives fighting for the human rights we enjoy today. However small a particular right may be, to flippantly suggest that someone should give up that right to a foreign corporation is hugely disrespectful to those ancestors. Wake up New Zealand. Your government clearly views the profiteering demands of a foreign corporation as more important than those of the New Zealand people. We must be a laughing stock in Hollywood.

        Reply from Kevin Hart, Letters Editor:

        Dear reader. John Key never worked for the Federal Reserve. If you wish your letter to be considered for publication, you might amend it so it is factually correct. Regards.
        Kevin Hart
        Letters Editor
        NZ Herald.

        My reply back to Kevin:

        Hi Kevin

        Below taken from wiki and from John Key’s own website. My understanding is that the New York Fed is the main branch of the United States Federal Reserve. (A privately owned run for profit central bank) I have amended the letter to reflect (see below). Hope that suits

        regards
        Mike

        In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill’s global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates. Some co-workers called him “the smiling assassin” for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis.[4][8] He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.[9]

        Kevin’s reply back to me:

        Mike. The Federal Reserve is the US equivalent of our Reserve Bank. To repeat, John Key had had nothing to do with it. Regards.
        Kevin Hart.
        NZ Herald.

        My reply back again to Kevin:

        Hi Kevin

        Thank you for your reply. Being a journalist, your research skills are no doubt a good deal better than mine; so I’d be grateful if you could point me in the right direction in the hope I can get the correct information now and in the future? I’m trying to find a summary of John Key’s work history prior to him becoming an MP in NZ. The links below are some of the sources I have used to gather my information. But they all state Key’s involvement with the New York Federal Reserve, an organisation you’re telling me that “John Key had had nothing to do with”

        So I’m confused, as the sources I’ve listed would appear to be reliable, including an article from your own New Zealand Herald. I would really appreciate your help in finding the true facts regarding this matter, which I’m assuming you must get from a non-mainstream, non-widely regarded, perhaps even non-even heard of, secret journalist source?

        thanks in advance and regards
        Mike

        http://www.newyorkfed.org/fxc/members/members_past.html
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10412660
        http://www.ny.frb.org/fxc/members/members_past.html
        http://www.johnkey.co.nz/pages/bio.html
        http://www.national.org.nz/bio.aspx?id=28
        http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5119885.ece
        http://www.nyse.com/press/1253528968415.html
        http://www.thecommonwealth.org/YearbookInternal/172036/head_of_government/

        Received no further correspondence…

        • Colonial Viper 4.2.1.1
          28 August 2013 at 9:06 pm

          Seems like the Herald fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the Federal Reserve system of the USA. Firstly, while commentators may speak of “the Fed” or the “Federal Reserve Bank”, they are really referring to the Federal Reserve system of banks in the US. Unlike the NZ Reserve Bank, these banks have private banks as their shareholders, and their employees on their various boards and committees. The Federal Reserve system is not a government bank, although it takes some direction from the US Govt.

          John Key served on the Foreign Exchange committee of the New York Fed (a key member of the Federal Reserve system), on behalf on his employer, Merrill Lynch. Although not technically an employee of the NY Fed, it is likely that he did receive remuneration from them for serving.

  5. Colonial Viper 5
    28 August 2013 at 6:48 pm

    It was a historical mistake to let anyone apart from landowning Christian men to have the vote.

  6. Sable 6
    28 August 2013 at 7:14 pm

    The Herald like most other mainstream journalistic sites beats the right wing drum. I personally don’t take anything they say seriously.

  7. gobsmacked 7
    28 August 2013 at 7:25 pm

    There is good reason to confine these elections to a party caucus. MPs are generally well briefed on policy issues and aware of the national interest. They also work closely with leadership contenders and are best-placed to assess their character and capabilities.

    That is taken, word for word, from British newspaper editorials in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when UK Labour started to involve the wider party in the leadership election. The UK Tories did likewise, much later. Leaders and Prime Ministers have come and gone, and nobody in Britain has written such nonsense for years. It ranks somewhere below creationism in credibility.

    I marvel at the insularity of the Herald’s self-important editorial writers. “Who knows and who cares what happens in dozens of democracies around the world? We knows bestest!”

    But don’t worry, In 2025 or thereabouts, the Herald will welcome the moves to change National’s rules.

    • Colonial Viper 7.1
      28 August 2013 at 8:54 pm

      Yep. 75% National caucus 25% membership. “A well balanced and properly thought out ratio, ensuring real democracy but preventing the radical and sometimes extreme results of the voting systems used by both Labour and the Greens.”

      • Hanswurst 7.1.1
        29 August 2013 at 1:04 am

        “Yep. 75% National caucus 25% membership.”

        And each member will be allowed a number of votes equal to the number of electorates in which they own land.

  8. Ugly Truth 8
    28 August 2013 at 7:48 pm

    “mobocracy isn’t about making good decisions – its about making our decisions. ”

    FIFY

    • Hanswurst 8.1
      29 August 2013 at 1:12 am

      No, you’re getting mixed up. The reason for having representatives elected by the public is so that the people’s will is reflected. It’s the function of parliamentary process and institutions like the courts, media, advisors, civil servants and our education system to promote good decisions, but they have bugger all to do with electing representatives.

      • Ugly Truth 8.1.1
        29 August 2013 at 4:37 am

        No, Hanswurst, you are ignorant of the corrupted nature of western democracy.

        http://www.actsinjunction.info/nwo.html

        • Hanswurst 8.1.1.1
          29 August 2013 at 5:01 am

          What I posted doesn’t give an opinion either way on what you are (or seem to be) on about in posting that link. What does a bunch of musings on the judiciary have to do with parliamentary representation and how does it support your distinction between “democracy” and “mobocracy”?

          • Ugly Truth 8.1.1.1.1
            29 August 2013 at 5:25 am

            Judicial fraud can arise when the district courts don’t have jurisdiction. The NZ parliament doesn’t acknowledge the limited nature of the personal jurisdiction of the courts.

            The main difference between democracy and mobocracy is the rule of law. The point of the NWO link was to show the common theme of the NWO and the corruption inherent in NZ’s political system, which effectively denies the source of the rule of law.

            • Hanswurst 8.1.1.1.1.1
              29 August 2013 at 7:35 am

              Okay, this is disappearing up its own arse. You singled out a line from the post and questioned its take on the reasons for a universal franchise. Now it turns out you weren’t talking about that line at all, but just pushing your own, entirely unrelated pet theories on the judiciary. Good day.

              • Ugly Truth …
                29 August 2013 at 7:52 am

                You seem to be unusually familiar with disappearing up your own arse, Hanswurst. You don’t work for the MSM, do you?

                The connection between the democracy and mobocracy of the original line is the rule of law. The connection between the rule of law and judicial fraud is the corruption described on the NWO page.

  9. tracey 9
    29 August 2013 at 5:00 am

    Mike s

    wow. Not surprised. Previous herald letter editor was very christian and conservative. He woldnt publish me but he regularly published my uncle a staunch nat supporter and previous nat candidate. I used to chuckle cos if he had known my uncle is gay I reckon his head would have exploded. Ross from whangaparaoa who I dont know was constantly published with his conservative views on his sleeve.

    everytime I get a call or a door knock offering me the herald I tell them exactly why I wont. Their eyes widen… no one taught them how to cope with this response.

    interesting article below about why right wingers are happier than left wingers.

    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11115225

  10. tricledrown 10
    29 August 2013 at 9:38 pm

    The quote by Bertrand Russell.
    The stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of self doubt!

    • Rhinocrates 10.1
      29 August 2013 at 10:06 pm

      Yeats – the worst are full of conviction, best are not… still, I do think that the capacity for doubt is a virtue while certainty is not.

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