KEY POINTS:
Two days from now we have the opportunity to decide to a large extent the direction our country will take, at least for the next three years.
When the tumult and the shouting die, it is only to be hoped that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet will depart, most to the back benches and one or two, perhaps, from Parliament altogether.
The second television debate between the main party leaders on Monday was, like the first, heavy on sound and fury and light on illumination, reminiscent of an acrimonious debate in Parliament, bereft of courtesy or any other good manners.
I was struck again by the contrast between the low-key and polite Obama-McCain confrontations and the Key-Clark slanging matches, but that probably has a lot to do with the amateurism of our moderators compared with the immaculate professionalism of their American counterparts.
However, far more important than the outcome of Saturday's election is that we take the time and trouble to cast our votes.
In a democracy, even a so-called one, it is almost a sacred responsibility to do so, for the more of us who do, the more the result will reflect the will of the people.
But only on election night. Under the MMP system you can be sure we will be excluded from what happens after that, particularly if the vote is such that a coalition has to be formed.
The wheeling and dealing that entails will be firmly in the hands of the politicians, half of them appointed rather than elected, and we will have to take what we're given, as we do with so many other things that patched-together governments do.
So let's take a look at the field.
Labour, hamstrung by having to suck up to NZ First, the Greens and Maori, is well past its best-by date - arrogant, bossy and way out of touch with the community it supposedly represents.
It has been quick to descend into slimy personality politics, and the vision of its party president fossicking around in musty, 20-year-old files in Melbourne in a desperate attempt to dig dirt on National's leader reveals not just an innate nastiness but the level of desperation to cling to power.
National under John Key is untested, but is the only viable alternative to Labour. Mr Key is a quick study, but I suspect people will vote against Labour rather than for National. How many will go so far as to give National both ticks remains to be seen.
The resentment against Labour is deep and its leaders seem to have no idea of how widespread is the public's frustration at state interference in our personal lives.
Thanks to Winston Peters, NZ First should be a gone goose this time, which is a bit sad, really. I sometimes wonder what might have happened had he kept himself in check when he was in National. He might well have become Prime Minister and our political and economic history might have been quite different.
The Greens have earned a presence in Parliament, but only to help to keep National from too much capitalistic environmental improvidence. Any suggestion that they get within a bull's roar of the levers of power, however, is intolerable, for they are so far to the left that they are almost into fascist territory.
Act, too, under the irrepressible Rodney Hide, deserves a couple of seats, if only to keep National from moving too far to the left. Mr Hide is a breath of fresh air among the self-important political stuffed shirts and maintains an ebullient eccentricity that is all too rare these days.
As for Roger Douglas, he is not just yesterday's man, he is last century's man and if he had any gumption he would be enjoying a leisurely retirement.
Of the rats and mice, Peter Dunne is an honest and useful administrator, as is the veteran Jim Anderton. Both have a place in the House.
Then there's the Maori Party, which, because of its raison d'etre, is unique. It would be nice to see its MPs with a share of real political power.
It's all very well to say that Maori are well represented in the other political parties, but many of those are seen on marae to be "white Maori" and are subject to being whipped into line by their party bosses.
There is, I think, and always will be, a place for a political party that has nothing but Maori interests at heart.
That leaves the so-called "Christian" parties. The less said about them the better. They can no more agree about politics than they can about theology so have absolutely nothing to offer. They are best ignored.
As for me, both my ticks on Saturday will go to National. Thus do I vote against both Labour and MMP.
