Grand causes? Have a biscuit
08/09/23
A quick test of an effective pledge is to pose the opposite: If it is something no-one would support, then it is meaningless. The opposite of a pledge to ‘’lower inflation and grow the economy’’ would be a promise to ‘’increase prices and crush the economy’’.
In 2017, luminous billboards of Jacinda Ardern promised Grand Causes: To deal to child poverty, build 100,000 new houses, and practise a new politics of kindness. No-one in this election is running on child poverty. You would need a team of archaeologists to find the word 'KiwiBuild'. Kindness has had its own elimination strategy. We have gone from ‘Hope and Change’ to ‘Perhaps Just a Biscuit’.
Progressive politics has become a home for urban miserabalism. Being depressed about climate change is a sign of political commitment. If you were treating voters on a therapist's couch, you would resist this catastrophising in favour of calmly dealing with problems you have control over, wrote US political commentator Matthew Yglesias.
Josie's latest Post column is here.
In 2017, luminous billboards of Jacinda Ardern promised Grand Causes: To deal to child poverty, build 100,000 new houses, and practise a new politics of kindness. No-one in this election is running on child poverty. You would need a team of archaeologists to find the word 'KiwiBuild'. Kindness has had its own elimination strategy. We have gone from ‘Hope and Change’ to ‘Perhaps Just a Biscuit’.
Progressive politics has become a home for urban miserabalism. Being depressed about climate change is a sign of political commitment. If you were treating voters on a therapist's couch, you would resist this catastrophising in favour of calmly dealing with problems you have control over, wrote US political commentator Matthew Yglesias.
Josie's latest Post column is here.
