Politics

I don't seem to write about politics very often, even though I enjoy reading other peoples blogs about politics. I guess if I was more interested then I'd take the time to follow the issues better and perhaps have something unique to contribute to discussions.

But my interest in politics is at a bit of a low. I think this is because for months politics has been about personalities and allegations and not at all about policies. It has deteriorated into a mud-slinging match.

What I'm interested in is what ideas politicians have to improve the functioning of New Zealand. This either isn't happening, or it isn't being reported by the main stream media. Perhaps the media in NZ have realised that character assasinations by politicians sell more papers than reporting policy .

Perhaps our elected officials should be held accountable for meeting measurable performace targets, in order to keep them focussed on the job. For example, when Don Brash was the Reserve Bank governer he had to keep inflation below a certain level. If he didn't then I imagine his employment agreement spelt out the repurcussions.

I suppose the electoral system is designed to work this way, but in practice everyone forgets the promises shortly after the election, and the goalposts change, and the excuses begin, and the blame shifting starts.

I dare say that this post reveals how naive I am about human nature.....Ah well.