National has lost its way

As usual Andrea Vance’s political analysis is pretty spot on (‘‘National is in the wrong fight, not hearing what it needs to hear’’, Sunday Politics, May 21).

Christopher Luxon is just so wooden. Pressed beyond his framed pat answers, he is at a loss. His framed answers might have been enough for the corporate world but not for the brutal world of politics. Ma¯ ori will judge him for not being able to speak from the heart. We don’t know who he is.

As for the National Party, I have to admit that I was a supporter of neoliberalism in the early days. Something had to change but after I saw the damage that it was doing, particularly with the Ruth Richardson Budget, I recanted. The huge transfer of wealth to a small minority is simply disgusting. I have yet to see any real justification for it.

I am no idealogue but to me the first principle for a conservative is to maintain social order, to look after all citizens, otherwise disorder and chaos ensue. We are human. A co-operative species, we look after our own, even the most hapless. Every family has them.

‘‘Things must change in order to remain the same’’, so the famous quote goes. Things must change in order to maintain the social order. And that is the rub for politicians. The National Party has lost its way.

Narena Olliver, Greytown

Vance hit the nail on the head when she described National’s rusted-on support from the golf and Rotary fraternities.

It would be appropriate if she were to also highlight Labour’s glued-on cavalry of greenwashed hyper-decarbonisation worshippers.

It is time for a full systematic revamp, where self-serving mouth-pieces are replaced by members from every single socio-demographic segment, with equal (or proportionally correct) representation, from the super-wealthy to minimum-wagers and every group in between.

Now that our political system appears to be broken, why do we not realise that now is the best time for a systems overhaul, where each of us becomes represented by some form of ‘‘voice’’?

Rene´ Blezer, Taupo