Change for the sake of it

I’m currently sitting in Wellington Airport on Good Friday after two of the craziest weeks of my life. On top of the usual carnage of lectures, work, and sporting commitments I had to pump out 2 assignments last week, and this week I had an exam on Wednesday, followed up by 2 assignments (1500 words and 2500 words respectively) and another exam on Thursday. Needless to say it was “Richie’s 24 hours of madness!” So the break couldn’t have come at a better time, two weeks off...and what’s the goal? Finish 2 assignments to get on top of next semesters work load...Oh Goody!
Anyway while I was pumping out these assignments I came across a thought: “Do politicians aim to create change for the sake of statistics? Or are they truly doing it for the benefit of little Jonny?”

In the last election John Key campaigned on getting our living standards up to acceptable standards, so that we were on par with our neighbours and other OECD countries. Although I recognise that this is a good thing, is he doing this because he knows that as a society it’s the numbers that count? Because even if our quality of life is better in NZ than it is in the USA, how many of us will ever truly be able to experience?

Don’t for one second get me wrong, goals of alleviating poverty, improving our quality of life, and cutting down hospital waiting lists are fantastic, but i’d, love to know the motivations behind them. The problem is, politicians only see the numbers. None of them are living anywhere near the reality of poverty, or being stuck on a public hospital waiting list, or living a lifestyle short of upper class, so for them all they see is the numbers. They don’t see Mr Anderson, a 65 year old man from Manurewa who’s in need of hip surgery and has been waiting for over 4 years now and is daily loosing mobility, they don’t see the Miss Aroha, a 23 year old single mum working 2 jobs and struggling to provide for the needs of her 2 children and her sick mother. For them they see that there are a certain % of the population are living below the poverty line, and that our hospital waiting lists are in crisis. For them their motivation is making change, but for the sake of the numbers, and for scoring political points. Would we have continual bickering over how best to govern if our MP’s were living out of the realities impoverished New Zealanders live in? Would Bi-Partisanship become more common as pathetic differences and historical squabbles are put aside for the sakes of Mr Anders, and Miss Aroha.

Call me cynical, but it’s a good question to ask.