I once had an idea for a political party many moons ago. It was a time when I was starting to find out the limitations of the big parties in Parliament, the realisation that the glacial pace of change for the better was no accident.
It was not exactly a “Eureka” moment, like what the Greek philosopher Archimedes apparently had. I called it the Commons Sense Party, based on a policy platform I had strung together in my head based on mundane political observations between 2002 and about 2006. The principles were in some respects very much aligned with New Zealand First, but in others very much not so.
It followed the National Party crash in the 2002 election, and the failure of the Labour Party to use the political capital they accrued. The genesis of it probably evolved out of watching the infamous worm in the televised leaders debate in the election campaign. After a mellow run, it suddenly veered upwards when the leaders of the centrist parties spoke. New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters and United Future leader Peter Dunne both registered statements that the audience picked up on – N.Z.F would go on to pick up 13 seats and U.F. would get 9 in the new Parliament.
Despite being a N.Z.F. member myself, there were several things I could not reconcile with, such as not wanting a youth wing, which every other party in Parliament had; the “Asians come here and breed like flies” mentality of the rank and file membership.
“You can’t have it both ways” is something one might have told me at the time, and in many respects it would be true. But I was not convinced. I have never viewed politics in a singular dimension, or even two dimensions. It obviously depends on ones philosophical standpoint, and the labels chosen for various parts of the political spectrum. With that in mind, I have always viewed politics as being a three dimensional, spherical model.
The basic philosophy of the C.S.P., was egalitarianism. Everyone – as long as they adhered to a basic sworn understanding of how New Zealand functions – was entitled to three things:
- A fair go, free from state or personal discrimination – a welfare system from birth to death for all New Zealanders in need of assistance
- Honesty about our past – good or bad, everyone needs to know about the N.Z. Land Wars; the massacre of 48 Japanese P.O.W.’s at a camp near Featherston during W.W.2. in early 1943 and so forth
- Transparency around elections, and political processes – I’ve always favoured a formal, but flexible constitution that enshrines everyones basic rights by codifying the Bill of Rights Act 1990, and so forth
At the time I was considerably less educated about taxation than I am now – which is still probably not as good as it could be. I did not understand the potential roles that Goods and Service Tax, Land Value Tax or Capital Gains Tax could play. There were good reasons I failed ECON104 in 2003. I was basically told by my parents that I should do a bit of economics at university (even though they knew I had zero interest in it). I do not claim to be fit to be Minister of Finance. That said, I had – and still have – a few ideas that would help the economy.
- Ring fencing sufficient raw materials from our production for our own market before we export to overseas markets
- Going through the existing tax code and closing as many loop holes as can be found
- Put as much bulk freight on rail as possible – trucks will still be needed to get those goods from the railway yard to the market (the U.S. puts truck modules on railway and connects them to rigs at the end point and they drive off – why can’t we do that?)
- The R.M.A is not the problem – the problem is it was bloated to 2.5x its original size by politicians who did not know what they were doing; the 400 page 1991 version with updates is still a workable piece of legislation
- Most O.E.C.D. nations have a comprehensive Capital Gains Tax or other; we have a C.G.T., but it is not comprehensive and thus there are inequities in it – I now think a Land Value Tax (L.V.T.) is probably better than a C.G.T. because of the ease of implementing it, but also because of four very politically loaded ways of measuring accrued wealth/capital/etc, it is probably the least combustible
Alas it was never to be. Any time I had for political activism was quickly swallowed up by joining Amnesty International shortly after. My involvement in human rights activism that has continued in varying degrees for 23 years to this very day.
It is too late for the C.S.P. now. The Opportunity Party in many respects is trying to plug that gap, and is the closest thing I see in N.Z. politics to a party that represents a true alternative. But it was a fun idea whilst it lasted.