Government of disappointment

Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the 90-day law? At least they'll build some houses. No mass house building programme? At least they'll give us a capital gains tax. No capital gains tax? At least they recognise climate change is "my generation's nuclear free moment". Chickenshit on climate change? At least they'll deliver on abortion. But I think we need to admit it: this is a government which is not going to deliver. It is not going to meet expectations. Instead, their central policy is disappointment. Disappointment at their failure, disappointment at their cowardice, disappointment at what they could have done - but chose not to fight for.

That's the central problem, and its been apparent for a while: Labour doesn't fight. You can argue about why that is - the coalition, Labour's internal conservatives, its fear that someone might call them "progressive" or "liberal" or "socialist" and its belief that those are dirty words rather than ones to wear with pride - but to be honest, I don't actually care. I am not a member of the Labour Party, and it is not my responsibility to solve their problems. All I am interested in is results. And looking at those, this government is a failure. It promised change, and it has delivered the status quo. It promised hope, and it has dashed those hopes, every time.

This government is just one disappointment after another. And the obvious question that needs asking is why would anyone vote for that?

No doubt this will attract an angry storm from Labour hacks and apparatchiks, presenting Simon Bridges as a cross between Satan and the Christchurch shooter, and crying angrily that if people don't vote Labour, they'll get National. Which I guess is Labour's answer: we should vote for them (and protect those apparatchiks' jobs) out of fear. This ugly behaviour just makes them look like an abusive, controlling partner, and it just results in the same question: why would anyone vote for that?