Entry 1602, on 2013-12-06 at 15:52:09 (Rating 4, Politics)
We certainly have some fairly average people in government here in New Zealand, but none of them are true nutters in the sense that they have little connection with reality. But that is possibly about to change if the Conservatives have their way.
Their leader, Colin Craig, is undoubtedly a nutter. He is a conspiracy theorist, has wacky religious beliefs, and has a dangerous tendency to believe stuff based on what he wants to be true rather than what the facts indicate is actually true. Even now, when he is presumably trying to appear a bit less extreme so that he can be a viable partner for the government in the next election, his nuttiness cannot be hidden.
The latest silly nonsense is that he doubts whether the Moon landings were real. He tries to hide his real views by saying things like "they might or might not be true and he doesn't know for sure" (code for he doesn't believe they happened) or "that has little to do with his position as a political leader" (which is only superficially true), but it is clear that he does deny the reality of the the Moon landings.
You might say at this stage: so what? does it really matter? My answer is yes, it does, for two reasons. First, if someone so out of touch with reality gets into government it just makes us look stupid as a country, just like George Bush made the Americans look stupid. And second, generally people who have one silly belief also have others and Craig undoubtedly does, including his denial of climate change.
I have been critical of New Zealand's libertarian party in the past but now that it looks like it will disappear without trace and be replaced with Craig's Crazy Conservatives I might wish for the days of Rodney Hide to return! Sure, he also has some silly ideas, but at least he's not an outright joke like Craig. Even the prime minister (the Conservative's potential political partner) laughs about Craig in parliament. Of course that wouldn't stop the PM from using him to maintain power.
As I said in a previous blog entry, not everything about the Conservatives is bad, because there are some of their economic policies I actually agree with. But having a nutter as part of our government is just too risky and, well, just too embarrassing. If the Conservatives ever get any power here then God help us all! - and yes, that is deliberately ironic.
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