Friday, July 09, 2004
The big picture
While everyone is getting all fizzed up reviewing the detail of National's Law & Order policy, NZP rips Russell Brown to pieces quite nicely here, My Right can't help but think that the point has been missed by most.
This is a classic battle of fluffy educated but untested theory vs pragmatic solutions. Or put another way, left vs right.
If Brash did one thing right, it was to use this address to emphasise that the namby pamby left has managed to get under the skin of enough of 'middle New Zealand' with their inherently condescending, I know best, ideologist policy manufacturing to have done themselves out of office. And not before time.
Family Group Conferences, Rehabilitation Strategies, Whanua consultation, Iwi driven re-entry to society.... all these things are nice ideas. Some might even work if properly implemented and administrated (i.e. without losing sight of what the desired policy outcomes are - a safer community first and foremost) - but when left unmonitored in the hands of zealots - they are just plain dangerous.
And eventually the critical mass begins to realise that.
