Conspiracy theory of the day
This election hurts my head, so I thought I’d note down some of the strange thoughts it is giving me. View this as no more than the ramblings of someone who hasn’t had enough sleep.
I was talking to my Mum yesterday, and we were both surprised with Laila Harre being involved in the Internet Party – with the “robust debates” between members and a range of incompatible belief structures seemingly undermining the idea that this was an alliance based on ideology.
I say alliance, as both my Mum and me remember her from her days in the Alliance party, and we both have massive respect for her as a politician and for her work outside of parliament. In this way, her leadership of Internet-Mana funded by a misogynist millionaire (no more offence intended than the offence I’ve taken from some of his tweets about women) and the fact she didn’t stand in a winnable electorate both seem strange.
But then it occurred to me, perhaps she is part of the Chris Trotter school of politics – where the ends justify the means, the ends in this case being the removal of the “right” from power, given that “progressives” are inherently “good” while the “right” is inherently “evil”.
In this case, Internet-Mana actually constituted a threat to the progressive program – as it predominantly ate up the votes of established left-wing parties. Becoming leader of the party, undermining it, and using its funding to push a narrative that will mainly support the Greens on election day, are all actions consistent with this.
Like I say, this is a conspiracy theory with no substance. But this has been a very strange election …
The mind bending part of this post is you discuss politics with your mum.
Of course I do – my family was very political, hence why I’m not particularly political 😉
A while back I heard that according to IMP research a lot of the young votes they were picking up (or at least polling well with) were people who would otherwise vote national, on the grounds that the largest determinant of a person’s first vote is their parents own voting pattern. If this is true then IMP has been a good strategy.
True true, if that is the case it makes sense. Also if they were capturing people who didn’t vote.
I’m hoping the election day itself throws up a bunch of surprises, things just seem so fluid. I haven’t been this undecided in an election before, even though I am always a swing voter.
I hope so too, has already been a surreal ride. I’m voting tomorrow, for the suffragettes <3
I’m waiting all the way till Saturday – will be the first election where I haven’t voted early! Also the second time I haven’t voted for either Labour or National – the first time was my first vote in 2002 where I voted United Future with a whole lot of others who didn’t quite realise what the party was 😛