Rodney Hide
is a ‘populist politician’ of the worst kind. He takes a fact and turns it into
a lie because he does not tell the whole truth. His diatribe today is an example
of that. He plays on people’s prejudices and distorts reality.
Take for
example his claim that the rich pay their accountants to avoid taxes while the
poor are destined to pay at an effectively higher rate. If ‘any’ Government
were to expand and examine the reasons behind such a claim, then bring in policies
that force the rich to pay their fair share (that is proportionate to what they
are earning) such claims would be more valid of course, but that does not happen.
He claims
that successive government policies have created the gap between rich and poor.
That ‘partial’ truth therefore needs to be looked at in the light that 'history
teaches us lessons, if only we would learn them.' Look at why the poor continue
to fail and cannot manage to get their feet in the economic door; represented by
a living wage and the capacity to own their own homes. Political survival and
the need to attract enough votes in a three year cycle make this a likely
outcome.
It seems
that no party has the courage to make the mix between State and private participation
work. Both major parties are hamstrung by their perceived political backers,
thus making it nigh on impossible le to embed economic and social policies,
much like those we see in Scandinavia, both historically and in the present.
The widening
of the gap between rich and poor (and that entails the failures within the educational
system) is alluded to by Rodney Hide but he deliberately mistakes the reasons
for this. Our decile one schools are just that—decile one, not failures. The
teachers in such schools are every bit as good and passionate about their work
as those in decile 9 and 10 schools (if not better), but they are hampered by many
factors, the least being the lack of capacity for parents to mirror the strengths
and skills needed along with the economic clout to take part in the ‘competitive
race’ that schools have become. How many students can afford the lap tops or Ipads
that their counterparts possess in those schools at the top of the pile? Even
those in the middle are struggling now.
Rodney also plays
the ‘race’ card in a cynical manner, by trying to blame ‘The Treaty’ and political
correctness for the failings of students in lower decile schools. The small amount
of time spent on such issues is nothing compared to the lack of resources the
families and teachers face in such schools.
His comments
about ‘benefits’ are repugnant. To talk about school girls dropping out of
school in order to gain a ‘benefit’ is a gross misunderstanding of what is
going on out there.
I wish
Rodney could take the time to go to South Auckland and other areas of New
Zealand and learn about life in the suburbs and not just take a few ‘figures’
and turn them into a nasty little attack in order to increase the fortunes of
his almost defunct party.
However, if
his outbursts stimulate debate about finding answers to New Zealand’s serious
problems, then fine---bring it on!
