Blathering on Politics 2

I used to be far more idealistic and, while I can't remember what I thought I remember the passion I felt in taking part in campaigns. One thing is for sure, as a teenager, I didn't expect/accept that so much of politics was compromise.

Capitalism and communism were good ideas, but in the end the greed of the Haves seemed to have won out and left the vast Have-Nots in their dust. Well, we did that well in the feudal society, didn't we! In a perfect world, governments leaving us alone and we go and make our own way though life sounds wonderful, but I think we can't get a way from the fact that there are those who can't make it on their own. And it seems to me the difference between animals and humans is that we are not about the survival of the fittest, but that we have the capacity to help the weak.

I have a good friend who, for most of her life, lived in rural/farming New Zealand, but ended up in science. She's a generation or two older than me. And we agree on most everything, from education to health to social welfare. And yet she votes right and I vote left and we wondered why that is so. I think in my case, I vote left in the hopes that something spectacular might happen while I surmise from our discussions that she votes right to make sure certain things get done.

Back then, earlier in the year, neither of us particularly cared for our Labour government nor the National candidate. Mind you, in New Zealand, the two factions are called Centre-Right and Centre-Left because there is not the big chasm in many of their policies. But bi- or multi-partisan approach is good; dialogue is good, among people in power, and among regular folk; I've come to accept, respect, compromises, as much as determination and conviction.

I read on one of those "quote a day" sites that, and I paraphrase, the best thing about democracy is the chance for an ordinary man to do something wonderful. I'm not calling anyone ordinary, but you see that I like this quote.

I just don't want a rich money trader making decisions for this country where there are big groups of the weak. Just blathering. It's been a year of intense political discussions, and I needed that magical thing: closure.

Blathering on Politics 1

So, I'm politically a left-winger, but not too far left, and not as far left as I used to be; I'm just not conservative, religious, or for privatization of public assets for the benefit of the few. And we had an election last Saturday, and though expected, New Zealand went right. We have a prime-minister-to-be who used to be a money trader. And don't we already know a big portion of the world's woes just now were created by his peers?

I'm not feeling optimistic nor hopefully, and see the change in the country's reign as a change for the sake of change. Heck, we really don't know what this guy is thinking of doing, except all the stuff he's not going to change from the current Labour policies. Sure, I was getting tired of Aunty Helen thinking she was outside the normal good-taste, good-manners rules of the society, and her government started to stick its fingers into too many trivial things in our private lives; she started to have this seriously strained grin on her face when she was mad as heck, probably obliging her expensive spin doctors' advice, but she did keep us out of Iraq until reconstruction started, and the economy boomed in the last decade. Our new guy loves to liken himself to THE President Elect. Crikey. For one thing, our guy has a perpetual SEG on his face. And he doesn't just flip-flop, he doesn't know stuff.

But a more learned woman over the ditch summarized more intelligently how I feel. Here's Jill Singer's article in the Herald Sun, an Australian paper. "Ruch" is how Aussies think Kiwis pronounce the word "rich", and it's not far off. Kiwis something think Sydney-siders say "reeeech", and sometimes that's not far off, either. I cringed, and am glad someone else noticed it, too, the way his kids were paraded possibly against their wills onto the stage - such a different relationship to the two little girls, and others, on stage; Jill's expression is so apt.

And those who switched sides, yes, they did get bored. And Labour supporters didn't turn up because for months and months the media harped on how Aunty Helen was going to loose.

I look to the east with great envy. (Yeah, you're east of me.)

Unrequited Love

There's this FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup taking place in New Zealand just now. And good on them. Soccer is a bit underrated here; I understand it used to be that only kids who weren't big/good enough to play Rugby played soccer. With better World Cup broadcasts, a professional NZ team joining the Australian league, the Great Beckham gracing us with a visit last year or earlier this year, more mothers being vocal about the violence of and injuries from rugby, and finally recent immigrants trying to remedy the situation, the game has become markedly more popular even in the years we've been here. And NZ FIFA head or some such was pleased we are hosting the first of these Women's World Cup; he got a bit giddy on the radio and went as far as mentioning if/when Australia puts in a bid for The (real) World Cup, we will fully support them. Which would we'd like to co-host, which would mean we'd like to see a couple of games played in New Zealand, I would have thought... But wait. Should we build such high expectations only to be let down again?

For years preceding the Rugby (Union) World Cup 2003 in Australia, we negotiated numbers and dates and games because it was supposed to be a jointly-hosted event and we looked under our collective couches to scrape money to upgrade facilities, until suddenly, Australia dropped us. I can't remember the details, but NZRFU might have been at fault, because we reneged or opposed the International Rugby Board's (not Australia's) clean stadia policy, where advertising of any sort had to be removed within x kilometers of all stadiums hosting any of the games, and/or there was something about the already sold season tickets and the ticket holders' rights to their corporate seats. Anyway, hot potato, Aussies host a great Cup, we're left kicking the dirt under our feet.

Last year when New Zealand went to bid for the 2011 World Cup solo, (commonly agreed here to be the last time New Zealand could afford to host the event, seeing as Rugby is growing and if it gets much bigger it'd be unaffordable for a small country like us,) Australia supported Japan's bid citing the necessity to spread the sport in Asia to increase the number of players and playing nations.

Here in little old Nelson, the city council wanted to upgrade our Trafalgar Park so it's good enough to have one or few of the earlier games in 2011, and there's a city councilperson of Italian descent trying to make Nelson the host of the Italian team. The refurbishment was finally voted on last week, and we're going ahead with the cheap upgrade option, because no matter how rugby mad some of the councilors are, (Nelson is not as big on rugby as some other parts of All Black Land), the latest economic mood forced the powers that be to be reasonable.

In better times, I would have supported the upgrade, because Kiwis do love sports, both playing and watching, and it isn't just for rugby, we would have had bigger concerts as well. But the elderly, for starters, have been seriously struggling the last four or five years with the continued rates (residence tax?) hikes, so I'm glad good sense prevailed.

Back to soccer, and while I'd love to see World Cup level soccer games taking place in New Zealand, (they'd be in Auckland, and perhaps in Christchurch or Welly if we're lucky...) I kept thinking of something I know all too well: unrequited love. We'll see.

Best of luck to all the young, aspiring women, nevertheless.