Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar’s having a big cry about the Greens indicating they’d legislate against the dodgy contract this government has struck with Sky city. To David, the property rights conveyed by contract law are paramount above all other rights. Including the rights of the people of a sovereign nation to have their government to exercise their will.
We’ve seen this tactic play out for a long time – right wing governments privatising goods and services away from the public good. They’ll often step all over human rights as they do so – both big time (think Pinochet’s murderous regime) and small time (such as Paula Bennett’s disregard of the privacy of beneficiaries). Then they start crying about property rights and invoking the might of international capital if anyone suggests changing back.
Well I can understand how every political party supporter wants to see their party’s legacy intact forever and ever, but David is being a little bit precious with his scaremongering. Let’s put it this way, David, your Thatcherite ideals have had a bloody good run in this country. By my count your lot have had their way for nearly thirty years.
But you need to understand that this time is coming to a close. There is no longer an opposition that is willing to maintain this consensus and there’s no taste left for it in the electorate at large. And, at some stage, whether it be 2014 or 2017, things are going to change.
And by my reckoning they’ll stay changed for at least another thirty years – that’s roughly how long these things seem to go. So David, I suggest you calm down a little (and you too Phil O’Reilly) and start getting used to the fact that we’re all swinging back to the centre from the far right. It’s about bloody time.
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