Democracy's interesting isn't it?

I mean it’s our best option, but look at what we got this weekend in the latest mad grab for power. We’ve got an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist revealed as a NZ First candidate (read the Stuff piece from yesterday and weep), and we’ve got a ruling party announcing no tax on fruit and vege, in a completely pointless policy that even their own Finance Minister hates.

It feels like a world gone mad, but then I have to remind myself, we voted for this, and people may yet vote again for it. Democracy in action can be a terrifying ride. I said on Mike’s show last Friday that I worry about the Kiwis with short memories who are saying they’ll vote for Winston again this time round.

My colleague Kerre Woodham put it best when she said, ‘I’m sure there are intelligent people who vote NZ First, but I’ve never met or heard of one’. To throw a vote to Winston is to waste your vote. The people voting for Winston are doing it because they say he’ll ‘get rid of all the Maori signs’, or he’ll ‘get rid of all the gender nonsense.’ I mean those two statements alone give you some insight into the NZ First voter’s mindset.

But what these people fail to understand is how MMP works. They’re voting for Winston like he’s going to be Prime Minister, like he’s going to have enough sway to move the needle and change things in this country, like the bigger parties are just going to do everything he says. Like he's going to be in government.

Think again.

Firstly, he's not NZ First he's Winston first. His goals for this country are less about caring about what’s right for it and more about what’s beneficial to him. He appointed a losing party to government in 2017, ignoring everyone who voted for him, just because he wanted to take the biggest bribe and settle some scores. He abandoned his base, for power. And once there, he allowed that government to implement all the things he now rails against.

As Richard Prebble wrote the other day in his Herald column, “New Zealand First was no handbrake. Peters was part of a Government that issued compulsory vaccination mandates and developed co-governance. Only he would have the nerve to campaign against policies he made possible. If history is a guide, then the more Peters rules out supporting Labour, the more likely it is that he will support that party.” All voting for NZ First will do, is split the right vote further and make for a more chaotic outcome, or worse, push a left leaning coalition back into power.

For all the people who bemoan the state of the country and ‘that’s why they’re voting for Winston’, they’re rolling the dice on no change at all, on keeping status quo – but potentially worse. A coalition of Labour, the Greens, Te Pati Māori and NZ First.

Let that sink in for a minute. It’s not a vote for change at all. It’s a vote for a circus act. For those who're voting for Winston because they ‘don’t like Luxon’, you either want change or you don’t. Think about the party and the policies, not just the person.

For those who're voting for Winston because they like him personally, bear in mind he'll be one year off 80 next year and he won’t be hanging around. It’s more for him about scoring points, proving something, making his mark and then buggering off to go fishing again. So if you vote for him thinking he’ll be sticking around, I think you’ll be disappointed.

When I give my thoughts on Winston, invariably people text me that they’re - 'never listening to me on radio again'. I hope that’s true. The head in the sand Winston worshippers I can live without.