Kiwi or USA - your vote counts on Saturday


Saturday is election day. The day when New Zealand decides if they are going to grab National paltry tax cut bribes or vote with their social conscience. There's been a great debate on NZ Rave on Why Vote for National and here's what I had to say:

Chelfyn and I are of the generation known as Thatchers children and watched her rabid right wing policies knock the stuffing out of the social fabric of the UK. My Mum has been a nurse since the 50s and has watched the health service become more and more privatised, to the point that management outnumber nurses in some hospitals and the head of her local health is an ex tank commander brought in from the army. She's worked in nursing homes where old people are commodoties and are forced to sell their homes to pay for their care.

Please believe me when I say this election is a key point in our history as a nation. If we choose wrongly now we may lose everything that makes New Zealand such a great country. The world is changing fast and we need safe experienced hands to steer the way. Not some banker who has zero experience outside economic theories and finance. I'm genuinely scared at the prospect of what this little pocket of paradise will become if Brash gets his hands on it.

Lets take a real look at the coutry that Brash wants us to ape - the good old USA of A. This is from a conversation I had with a friend from New Orleans this week:

"i've heard so many people saying "why cant these poor black people just learn to do something better" as if every poor person who studies can be a ceo, and noone would be poor. meanwhile 80% of america makes close to $5 an hour, and has no access to healthcare. it saddens me to know there are people there who would want to "privatize" everything, and i really hope that doesnt happen.. it's really devastating what the corporations have acheived over here.. they're dismantling everything that protects the individual or the environment. there are so many people trying to find work, a friend of mine (designer) looked for a year and a half and finally found a miserable hourly job with no benefits (which means no healthcare at all in the US of course). my friend had to go to the ER for his gall bladder.. he was in the hospital 2 nights, and it was $5500. there was no surgery in that price either.. just sitting there unattended with an IV, that was actually put in wrong and made his hand tingle when he played drums for 3 months..and then he nearly lost his job because of missing 2 days of work... its like, it's ridiculously expensive AND negligent. you know it's just so amazing.. if i were to have all the success and money in the world, what i would want to do is move to a place like Waitakere"

A country is not a company. People are not numbers. The best things in life aren't things.