A Tale of Two PM's: The abject failure of a social experiment, and where to for Labour from here.

When Helen Clark referred to a farmer's notion of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as a "pretty communist", calling it "silly" and a "misogynist attack", one wonders if Aunty Helen really grasped the enormous error Labour made in placing a Prime Minister in power solely based on her ability to portray herself as feminine and 'kind'. Ardern herself on her exit from Parliament as the leader of the Labour Party wanted to be known not for her successes as a leader, representative for the people, or Prime Minister but rather as "someone who always tried to be kind". That alone gives us an indication of how seriously she took her role as the person who was supposed to be watching over New Zealand and it's people in their best interests.

Unfortunately for us, she was anything but kind. Her cruel, divisive, and dictatorial policies while she was in power made her one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in our country's living memory. Remarkably, Labour made the point that during Jacinda's reign of terror in New Zealand it had simply become too dangerous for MP's to undertake in-person campaigning in the lead-up to the 2023 election. It's unlikely that Jacinda's legacy will be based on her personality - its far more likely that she will be remembered for the abject failure of her Government to accomplish anything it promised the people of New Zealand, and instead that it went on an ideological rampage designed to tear down all remnants of the great Kiwi nature we grew up with and wanted to maintain at all costs.

Jacinda Ardern was always a social experiment. Labour needed to do something different, and so they set about finding a young, attractive woman who could feign empathy with minority groups and ideologies - one who could bring together the worst of identity politics and rally an army of wokies behind her as a buoyant and driving force into the Beehive. They used her to keep a wave of support whilst in the background undermining everything we stood for as a nation. New Zealand didn't want or need her brand of kindness, but once installed there was no deleting her - the virus overtook the operating system and nothing but a complete factory reset would purge the corruption.

Enter Chris Hipkins. Now trying desperately to convince us that Ardern was so weak she could not withstand the 'mean tweets' about her and had to resign her position because she was so devastated by them, legacy media is bringing us little from our new Prime Minister by way of  what we can expect in the next 9 months before New Zealand decides what it will tolerate.

Labour will be hoping that by resetting the leadership to a white male (still a minority because he's a ginger!) it will take the heat out of Ardern's unpopularity and give the Party a chance at resurrecting some support for October's election polls. They won't have forgotten that a third of the protesters in Parliament Grounds in March 2022 were formerly Labour voters, and the drop in favourable polling would have been the talk of the elite few over the summer break. Already Hipkins is hinting that he will likely walk back some of his predecessor's more polarising policies - but will he? Is he any more free from the puppetmaster's strings than Ardern was? If you believe that, then good luck to you come October!

We can never forget that Hipkins and Ardern were joined at the hip - they were the heads and tails of the same coin, having the same values all the way. As Thomas Coughlin put it - Ardern, Robertson, and Hipkins were friends before they were allies. Hipkins didn't make any move to kerb Ardern's dictatorship, nor has he indicated at any stage that he is likely to in the future. Sure, he uses "New Zealand" more than "Aotearoa" in his media stand-ups and he seems to be hinting at significant policy changes from his government, but what does that really mean to Kiwis choices come election day? Will he finish what Ardern claimed to have started a month prior to her resignation, and slash unpopular policy from Labour's to-do list? Or will that send him into the same internal tailspin it did for her? Will he sweeten the pot for Kiwi's in hopes of buying favour for the price of tax cuts and a halt to the rising cost of living (at least as much as he is able in the face of a looming recession)? Perhaps we'll see an end to foolish handouts like free lunches, racist Creative NZ arts projects, and period products in all state-sponsored schools. Or will we see Hipkins engage with the Maori caucus head on and take co-governance off the table. That last suggestion was satire obviously - Hipkins wouldn't dare take on the native elite any more than anyone else in Government or Opposition would. 

We wait with bated breath for the announcements that will surely come.

One thing is certain though. Labour will happily betray New Zealanders as soon as they have retaken the reins of power - the same way they did when Ardern was first elected. They will make grand promises that they won't deliver on, and they'll slide a swift kick in the pants right through the back door with nary a care for long-term popularity. They know Kiwi's are both apathetic and have short memories.

Warn your neighbours, warn your family and friends: never forget what they did to you and to your country in just six short years. Don't let them have the opportunity to spend any more time in the Beehive bringing about another torrent of destruction. 

We simply don't have enough left in the tank to give them that chance!