Roger Douglas is probably the second most hated political figure of the last twenty years. Even today, "Rogernomics" is a byword for heartlessness and the blitzkrieg, for steamrollering policies through without consultation or consent. So naturally, his worshippers in ACT gave him around half the face-time in their opening address. Then, to top it off, they made sure to mention that the person who beat Douglas in the unpopularity stakes - Valdemort Ruth Richardson - was part of the same ideological camp. And they expect to gain votes from this?
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Suicidal
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NZ would be a third world backwater without the reforms implemented by the LABOUR Govt of 1984-87.
ReplyDeleteThey were horrible times but our current econmoic success depended on them.
ECONOMIC i mean
ReplyDeletethey only need 5% the other 95% can want them dead for all they care
ReplyDeleteRoger Douglas is a hero to many. He saved NZ from going down the toilet. He has subsequently had a long and illustrious career as an international consultant where his advice on policy development has helped a range of developing countries to improve their economies - and by doing this the wealth of their citizens (you know, access to healthcare decent standard of living, all the stuff people like you claim to care about, but are too lazy to actually do anything about).
ReplyDeleteIf you want to compare - what has David Lange ever achieved? Yup nix. Got on the wrong side of history and ended up as part of a comedy duo with Gary McCormick.
wonder which one history will remember. The failed PM whose need to be loved sabotaged his career, or the pig farmer on a mission to save the country he loved, regardless of the effect on his personal popularity.
Where the heck are the ACT parties backers this election - that ad was so budget it made the alliance's look like Saatchi and Saatchi had been at work. whichever moron thought having someone with parkinson's do the camerawork for the greens also probably needs seeing to...
ReplyDeleteThe important word in I/S's post is Blitzkreig. There is little doubt that NZ had to change but did it have to be so sudden?
ReplyDeleteDouglas made a comment in the early '90's that "we have had the Bulldozers in, it' time for some landscape gardeners". There is also the admission by Lange in the "Revolution" sereies that the top %10 of earners have done really well from all of this and the middle 70% have not gone anywhere while the bottom %20 have gone backwards"
Incidentally, how would Douglas implemented his policies without Lange to front them? wouldn't have happened.
ACT only has to convince 1 voter in 20 to support them. And a small proportion of the electorate always liked the Douglas/Richardson agenda, while many others are too young to remember. In this election anyone born before 1987 can vote ... and who born after 1980 would even remember Douglas?
ReplyDeleteThat said, promoting such historical characters doesn't make a lot of sense ... National isn't bringing out Bolger, etc.
There's a reason the Nats aren't bringing out Bolger - too much bad blood there. Remember how he's now chairman of Kiwibank (the bank they love to hate) which would, incidentally, prevent him from overtly supporting any political party (including Aunty Helen's)...
ReplyDeleteRoger Douglas and the rest of his cronies (including Don Brash) with their "moral imperative to lie" did generational damage to our democracy. Since our democracy is the most precious thing we have, they deserve all the condemnation they get.
ReplyDeleteGazza, you could have replaced Douglas with any vaguely intelligent right-wing neoliberal slash-and-burn nutbar. The only thing special about him is that he was in the right place at the right time to have an influence on someone who could actually make history happen - David Lange. Sadly Lange let Rogernomics go too far, too fast - reform was desperately needed, no doubt about that, but there's such a thing as throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
ReplyDelete