Paula Bennett: Is the gap widening between left and right?

Timaru MP James Meager. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

Is our collective national identity at risk? Are we becoming more Americanised in the gap between left and right supporters and our belief that the divide cannot be crossed?

I used to like the way that Americans wore their politics on their sleeve. They loudly and proudly were either Republican or Democrat and could debate politics largely in good humour and passion.

Now those divisions have become chasms and increasingly we see angry people and violent protests. People either hide their political views or are now incapable of discussing politics in a thoughtful respectful way.

New Zealand is getting more and more like that. We are losing the ability to accept differences. There have always been elements of it. I experienced it a lot when I was a National Party MP. You would meet people who could only see you for your political views and were incapable of having an interesting rational discussion.

I get it. Sometimes people won’t like you for what you believe and don’t have the intelligence or desire to understand the rationale that often goes with the decisions you make. The argument that those of us on the right of politics who come from a welfare or poor background then “pull the ladder up behind us” is absolute rubbish.

I heard it again recently when newly-elected MP for Timaru James Meager delivered his outstanding maiden speech. I recommend reading it in full. Yes, I am biased because I know James well as he worked for and with me in Parliament for many years and we have remained friends since, but even so, it really is worth a read.

To quote James directly “My mum and dad split up when I was in kindergarten, so Mum brought me, my younger brother, and sister up on her own — a single mum in a state house on the benefit with three kids. So I know what it’s like to be poor. I know what it’s like to grow up sharing a bedroom with my brother until I was 18.

“I know what it’s like to have to walk everywhere because we didn’t have a car until I was nine. I know what it’s like to see a father struggle to pay his bills and borrow money from his kid’s school savings account. I know what it’s like to see a solo mother juggle three kids, part-time work, correspondence school, and all the other worries that a single parent living in South Timaru has.”

He then goes on to talk about how his mother changed their lives by working hard and putting parenting first. (Honestly, go read the speech he says it far more articulately than I do!) Immediately some on the left accused him of being a traitor to his class. How dare he join the evil National Party when he should be handwringing on the left.

How can he come from that sort of background and then turn his back? He hasn’t. The left does not have the monopoly on caring and wanting change for the better. Instead of pity, some of us want to see people with dignity and a place in society that sees them grow and prosper.

I leave you with another James quote “Our purpose is to fix what we see is wrong in the world. Our purpose is to seek a brighter, more prosperous future for all New Zealanders. And so I stand here, flaws and all, in the most powerful room in the land — humbled, completely humbled.”