READERS REPORT (18) VOTE FOR THE GREATER GOOD

READER REPORT: (18) VOTE FOR THE GREATER GOOD

GERARD O'NEIL     www.stuff.co.nz  26/08/2014                         

When I first became eligible to vote I was very excited as I believed that my vote empowered me to make a real contribution to the way we lived in New Zealand.

Looking back on my first election however, I can see I simply wasted this first vote, as I did not understand the concept of democracy.

If democracy is about building a free and just society for all, where everyone has equal opportunities and rights, then the reason I cast my first vote was all wrong.

It was the 1981 election and Robert Muldoon was the Prime Minister. National had recently imposed an unpopular 20 per cent sales tax on boats and caravans. As I was a keen yachtsperson at the time, I was angry at the additional costs I now had to incur.

I voted against National solely because of the boat tax. In other words, instead of voting in accordance with the principals of democracy (the greater good before one's own personal interests), I put my own personal interests before those of the democratic society in which I lived. This is what I suspect most people do on Election Day.

One of the biggest threats to democracy is apathy. Many only think about democracy at election time, and then are only passive participants. They base their vote on the slick campaigns they see on television. I once went to a public election meeting for my local sitting MP. Two things surprised me: how few people turned out and how different the MP was from his television profile.

Our exercise of democracy needs to be a little more than the exercise we get from pushing the remote control button on our television controls.

Many electors turning out on election day do so not because they have an overwhelming desire to participate in the democratic process, but in order to pay homage to our forebears who fought in past wars in defense of freedom and democracy. This is a just and a noble reason and one I adhered too for many years, however, when I vote in my next New Zealand election it will be for a different motive. I will be celebrating my right to choose.

For the last 20 years, I have been denied my democratic rights even though I supposedly live in a democratic country. This is because I married someone from a developing country and moved there to live. Even though I call here home, pay taxes, obey the laws, raised a family, have a permanent visa etc, one of the things that frustrates me is that I am not allowed to vote. I can only do so after I become a citizen of the country in question, which would mean renouncing my New Zealand citizenship.

Not only am I denied voting rights, the provisions of my permanent visa also state that I am not allowed to belong to any political party, be involved in any political activity, be a member of a trade union, participate in any form of protest, be part of any social movement or criticise the state in any shape or form. If I break any of the above, I can be expelled from the country.

I could describe what it is like to live in the democracy where I live, but it is not worth the risk of being deported. I will just say however, that here, many people vote for the politician that they believe will rob the least. Others leave their decision to divine providence.

If one looks back over New Zealand's democratic history, one could say that the overwhelming majority of our politicians have been people of character, honesty and integrity. It is difficult to name more than a couple who put their personal interests ahead of those of the nation and of democracy.

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