Governments should hand out gongs to their political donors (just ignore what we said yesterday). We need a group of public spirited wealthy men to support political parties, to ensure they pursue sound, sensible and responsible policies, and so they don't have to seek the support of ordinary voters instead.
I had thought such aristocratic attitudes had been strangled at birth in New Zealand. Sadly, it seems they're alive and well in the Herald's editorial team. Still, its nice to know the contempt they hold us in, and the real reason they oppose the Electoral Finance Act.
And is it just me, or does the phrase "sound, sensible, responsible" government immediately conjure the image of fat men smoking cigars in a back room somewhere, and the phrase "what's good for big business is good for New Zealand"?
