Entry 2454, on 2026-08-23 at 16:55:28 (Rating 3, Politics)
Well, the general election (here in New Zealand) is only a couple of months away, so we should all be thinking about how we are going to vote, right? But many won't, of course, so why not?
Some don't put any thought into it because they don't care. Maybe they have other things which interest them, and politics is just not a priority. Maybe they will bother to vote in a rather arbitrary way, or maybe they just won't make the effort. I can understand this attitude, and for anyone so apathetic I actually think not voting is the best option.
I suspect most people are in this category, but most of them still vote because they believe it is some sort of duty. In some countries, such as our neighbour Australia, it is even compulsory. This seems like a misguided idea to me.
Others might be so cynical about politics that they don't vote as a sort of protest against the system as a whole. Again, this is a very understandable position to hold, because it is not uncommon for a party to not follow through with its campaign promises, or even not follow what most think is the party's underlying philosophy.
I would encourage anyone in this position to vote according to the "least bad" option. No one should expect to get exactly what they want, but they might get close to it, or at least less close to what they don't want. At the very least, a single vote is unlikely to result in a terrible government that wouldn't have been elected otherwise.
Finally, some people might not think about their vote because they don't believe they have to. Many people say they are "Labour voters" (although it could also be another party) and they vote that way every time, no matter what the policies are, and irrespective of the current needs of the country. These people do vote, but I often wish they wouldn't!
In fact, that last category is probably the most annoying to me, and the most harmful to the country, and to democracy as a whole. And it is often very theoretically smart people who think that way too, including a lot of university academics I know. Honestly, never be fooled into thinking these people are superior in any way. After working in a university for almost 40 years I can assure you they are not, at least in most cases, and outside of their tiny little area of expertise.
So the ideal way to think about it is to decide what your political philosophy is, and to vote based on that. I'm a bit more hesitant to vote on policy, because that is too often abandoned once a party gains power, and in our MMP system policies are often a victim of coalition agreements too.
So if you are a collectivist and don't care so much about individual responsibilities and rights, then vote for a more socialist party. If your primary concern is for the individual then vote for a libertarian party. If you care primarily about the environment, including climate change, then vote for a green party. If you want to maintain existing values and institutions, vote conservative. This might sound obvious, but many people have never thought about where they really do stand on the political spectrum.
Something I find quite helpful are the on-line political opinion questionnaires, like "isidewith". These ask a series of questions about your priorities and preferences and match them to the parties. You get a score indicating how close to your ideas each party is.
And before you ask, when I did it I most closely matched with Act and least with the Maori Party, which is exactly what I would have thought, but it is still worth doing. I also got a good match with some parties I might not have expected, so if I decided not to vote Act this time, I have reasonable alternatives.
The people who vote for the same party every time might find this exercise useful. All I would say is be honest in your answers and try not to think about which party might hold those views so you just get the outcome you want.
Politics change. The Labour party from 1984 is probably the most extreme example of where a theoretically socialist party went "far right" and down the path of neoliberalism. More recently, our conservative party, National, has gone down the woke path far too much in my opinion. So you can't rely on a party being consistent, and the phenomenon of a party abandoning the values of its usual supporters is well documented.
The other unfortunate outcome we should try to avoid is the parties knowing they will get certain votes no matter what they do. If Labour knows they will get those votes from their permanent supporters what reason do they have to try to offer them policies they might want? They will get their vote anyway, so why bother?
Just finally, it might seem I have used Labour supporters as an example of bad voting strategy here too often. Maybe that's because I used to regularly vote that way before they abandoned my values, so I have a sort of grudge against them. Also, Dunedin is a "Labour town", to a significant degree because of the woke university types. However, all voters are susceptible to these issues to varying degrees, so no matter who you usually vote for the same points apply.
Vote wisely, my friends!
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