This has not been a particularly easy column to write. Not due to any lack of subject-matter or intellectual wherewithal, mind - there's tonnes going on in the politisphere at present; and despite the fact that I'm nearing the end of a ten-day fast, my brain still yearns to trammel through all of it here with you.
Except that's the problem. We've got far too much to discuss for it to all fit inside a single thousand-word page (even allowing for my ongoing habit of stretching out the word-limit on my pieces as far as I possibly can every week, much to the irritation of my editors). And the fact that it's a *single* thousand-word page (as in, the final installment of Sex, Drugs & Electoral Rolls for the year) is seriously weighing upon my mind.
I've come to thoroughly enjoy penning a column every week. It's quite a change from the usual staccato pace of sub-twelve-hour turnaround times for my more usual journalistic endeavors, and there's definitely something to be said for the comparative freedom of a more long-form format in which to better explore a few thoughts.
But enough introspective navel-gazing (a practice which, with an additional 'a', can often leave one all at sea).
One of the themes I've tried to both explicate and illustrate through the twenty-two previous episodes of this piece is that getting involved in politics - whether because you passionately believe in something you wish to push, or even simply because you're a part-passive proponent of what I call 'voting in self defence' - is something that everybody can do. And that even if you're not an uber-hack, you can still make a substantial degree of difference via that decision to stand up, be counted, and make your voice heard.
The best example of this from the last two weeks is probably the Hamilton mayoralty - wherein a mere 14 votes separate the top two competitors. (On a related note, I'm also told that if New Zealand First had had somewhere about the same number of additional Party Votes in 2014, we'd have gotten an extra MP - and the National-led Government would have been denied its majority, thus forcing a change in administration. On such small things do the fate of worlds turn)
But even here in Auckland - a city of more than a million people - there's tacit and tangible evidence that even up against such electoral behemoths as Phil Goff and the combined might of the local (arm of the) National Party, 'the little guy' can certainly make a difference.
By now, just about everybody's familiar with the rise to some form of prominence of Chloe Swarbrick (who successfully parlayed a position of limited resources and effective mainstream-media shutout into a noteworthily strong 'third' placing in this year's Mayoralty contest - beating even a known and moneyed previously somewhat successful candidate like John Palino). This certainly gives allegorical force to the idea of even seemingly unlikely folk from outside the 'established' political machinery being able to Influence Things (tm).
But from where I'm sitting, the true story of 'ordinary people' having a tangible effect upon the surface-firmament of the politisphere is the somewhat less commented upon one (largely because it doesn't necessarily have easily identifiable/sympathizable protagonists) which played out in dozens of local body races located in and around the isthmus.
Here, as previously presented, there was not one - but at least three - Vast Right Wing Conspiracies to attempt to take over (or, if you prefer, 'take back') Auckland. And you know what? They were largely stopped. The four year plan to install Bill Ralston as Mayor now lies in (admittedly somewhat restitchable) tatters. The now somewhat oxymoronically named 'Auckland Future' ticket succeeded in securing only a single Council seat - and even that came about through defection of a previous C&R councilor. At least nominally left-wing (or 'center-left', although I maintain that this is not the same thing - in a manner arguably similar to the subtle yet important linguistic distinction between "jacket" and "straight-jacket") councilors and local board members have made impressive (albeit somewhat incremental) gains across Auckland.
And all of this happened, in no small part, because tens of thousands of Aucklanders decided to do the deceptively simple thing of ticking a few boxes on a bit of paper (hopefully after taking a modicum of trouble to bother to inform themselves at least a little bit first), before marching up to their local post-box or library and chucking it in the slot.
It's not exactly 'the stuff of which revolutions are made' - but it has a tangible, positive impact on the world around you. And in some ways, that's sort-of the same thing.
So the next time somebody attempts to pooh-pooh taking an active interest in politics to you - perhaps by insinuating that a few people pushing their personal beliefs is likely to have an all-up null effect upon the course of political affairs ... remember that that's pretty much the main thing that's EVER had an impact upon politics in the first place.
And sure - these transitions can take time. Especially in FPP electoral contexts, wherein the immediate-ultimate outcome can occasionally feel more like a coin-toss between two almost-equally indifference- or militant-apathy inspiring candidates.
But that's the thing about coin-tosses.
Flip them often enough, and with enough force, and you'll be surprised at how many times they land on their sides.
Or how many coins, taken together, are swiftly exchangable for actual-and-desirable paper-money.
I guess that's why so many of us persist with our politics. Some, like me, are struck down by an almost compulsive avarice. The only way we'll stop pursuing the coins of politics is when two of them are laid upon our eyes to pay the ferryman in grave imitation of Greek funerary rights. But others are waiting for their promised paydays. And those do, eventually, tend to come around provided you work long and hard enough for them.
In any case, when I first set finger to keyboard way back in February to pen the first installment of Sex, Drugs & Electoral Rolls, I outlined a number of objectives which I wished to achieve with my writing. Obviously, I wanted to entertain; but I also wanted to inform, inspire the occasional bout of critical thinking, guide, educate, elucidate, and perhaps even ensnare the interests of the passing reader in putting themselves forward for more ardently political pursuits (that is to say: making the whole thing seem fun).
From a cursory inspection of the steady stream of feedback I've received for these pieces over the previous almost eight months, I'd have to say that for a certain demographic of you out there in the literary/social media wilderness ... it would seem I've somewhat succeeded.
For that, and the treasure of having an appreciative audience as I've prognosticated & propounded both week-in and week-out for the last two semesters, I should like to say thank-you.
I'll leave you now with a poem I found on the morning of one of my court appearances. May it positively guide and inspire your actions in politics as much as it has done mine in life.
"Somewhere in the universe a coin flip lands on its side.
Somewhere in the universe a drop of water saves a life.
Somewhere in the universe a pebble stops a landslide.
Maybe it is because someone believed hard enough.
Maybe it is because everything is secretly fair.
Maybe it is because the universe is a vast place.
Yesterday, I was very cold.
Yesterday, I was very hungry.
Yesterday, I wanted to run away.
Today, I am going to believe hard enough.
Today, a pebble will stop a land slide.
Today, I am not going anywhere."
And remember: "When the going gets weird ... the weird turn pro."
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