By: Barry Soper | Tuesday, July 24, 2012 6:00 AM

Those who can't remember the past are condemned to repeat it, once said an American philosopher, and it's a saying that should haunt politicians in this country.

But many of them live in the hope that we all suffer from collective amnesia.

The asset sales debate is a good case in point.

The Big Dave Lange/Roger Douglas team looked unbeatable after their first term in the mid eighties. Douglas went into the 1987 election campaign asking for a mandate saying little more than he had unfinished business to attend to.

Labour won 48 percent of the vote, about the same as the Tories at the last election.

Douglas got about the business of selling state assets, Big Dave got spooked and the rest, including Labour, was history. Rogernomics became Ruthanasia with Ruth Richardson picking up from where Douglas had left off.

Assets were flogged off, railways, Air New Zealand, the so called People's Bank the Bank of New Zealand and Telecom to name a few.

It seems now Labour's been remembering the past and they're not about to repeat it, opposing asset sales with the zeal of happy clapping Christians.

State Homie John Key was too busy when assets were being flogged off making his own money mountain so he can't be expected to remember the past but he's now being condemned by some because he's repeating it.

Asset sales Key-style is a little different though. He did tell the punters before the last election what his plans were and unlike other asset sales, the Crown will keep a majority shareholding.

Key's telling mums and dads who dip into their pockets for a slice of the action that if they hang on to their shares for three years or more they'll get more of them, maybe one share for every ten they own as a bonus.

But it's a sweetener that's put a sour taste in the mouths of those who have stepped up to the auctioneer's block in the past.

They're now moaning about how much the bonus will cost, we won't get as much as we expected from the sales they argue.

So on the one hand they're opposed to the sales while on the other they're saying we're not earning enough from them.

Who ever said you can't have your cake and eat it too?