In my experience as a political candidate I have found that the “Meet the candidates” format is pure theatre with little to no information and devolves very quickly into tribalism instead of remembering that we are all Kiwi’s and that we are on the same side, wanting the same outcome; a better New Zealand for our children and grandchildren as stated in the bible and as this is a Judeo-Christian country we have a debt to both our forebears and veterans that fought and some died, for when we utter the words “we will remember them” this is what this means, we will remember the sacrifices made by them to win the wars so that we can sacrifice to win the peace.
The format that I promote is the fireside, town hall or forum style where subjects/obstacles are raised and then discussed and solved, this synergistic relationship is what creates a high trust society called team work, which we have lost due to forty years of theatrical politics where little has been accomplished, food is the next ingredient required to bond a community together, the culture of an “us” or “we” instead of an “other” which has been promoted over the last five years is the main aim or goal here.
When solving problems together we enable everyone to not only participate but also buy into the process understanding the situation and then moving onto a solution, if no solution is found or agreed upon then the members of this new group can then work together to discover through a journey of empowerment and discovery the answers that will improve members lives.
One major takeaway from this process is that you don’t have to like each other but you do have to work together and a paradigm that we can borrow from the Swiss, a key pillar of their success, when making a decision/law etc. the whole idea is to build the product so that the minority of the decision can live with the outcomes, thus, meaning that don’t just settle for job done but think about what impact this decision will have on everyone with a focus on your children and grandchildren, ask questions like what did we get wrong? will this decision enable us to change it if it is not fit for purpose or does not achieve the desired outcome? what can we add to this idea in the future to improve or make this better for the minority of the vote?
Let’s start with the immediate issues such as cost of living, waste management, transportation, local economic development etc. These seem like overwhelming issues, but you would be surprised how many solutions you or your neighbour already have, this is what I would like to come and discuss with you, and I think we should aim to leave with some pragmatic next steps when I leave regardless of me being the Mayor or not.
Please join me when you see my meetings and if you want me to come and discuss issues that your village or suburb is facing please email me to set up a meeting to discuss how we can solve these issues and if I am voted in as Mayor how we can support you in the future.