Letters: What's in it for me?

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If only New Zealand voters would think beyond the "What's in it for me?" syndrome.

If only they would consider instead, what is the best choice for the future of New Zealand, and the heritage that we will be leaving our children?

Before you cast your vote, please ask yourself, do I want a government hell-bent on dividing our country in two, with privileges for some that are denied to the majority? Or would I like to see existing racially-based legislation abolished and replaced with laws that treated all of us the same?

National, Labour, the Greens, TOP and Maori parties all have in their sights a re-written constitution that includes a distorted English version of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Now there is nothing wrong with the original Maori wording, but allowing the Waitangi Tribunal to "translate" it nearly 200 years later was equivalent to letting a little boy loose in a lolly shop.

The treaty agreement brought to an end years of savage tribal warfare and slavery among the Maori tribes, and was created to unite two races under one supreme chief (Queen Victoria) with one set of laws that applied to everyone.

However, our illustrious Waitangi Tribunal members have decided in their wisdom that what it really meant was two separate races under two sets of laws - in other words, an outright endorsement of separate development.

Before you consider voting for any of the above-mentioned parties, please give thought to what it would be like living under a future constitution that legally enforced apartheid in our country; a nation in which one sector of the population had children with privileges not available to your children; gave access to educational assistance and extra health care based on remote ancestry rather than citizenship and deprived you of ownership of your beaches, nature's wealth, and even the rain that falls from the sky.

We are one nation and one people, despite the efforts of those who are intent upon driving a wedge between us, so come out of your political closet when you vote and think of what may lie ahead instead of what's in it for me?

MITCH MORGAN
Kaipara