Opinion: Trump win a sign of times

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What Americans have seen for decades is an elite system where a few have hijacked a political system which had convinced the masses that voting wouldn't change a thing.

It brings to mind a great American president's words; Abraham Lincoln gave the warning, "you cannot fool all of the people all of the time", and it is has now come back to haunt the elite with a vengeance.

When you looked at the electorate votes it became clear early on during the evening that Middle America was angry.

The failed big ideas began in the US with Reaganomics, the stimulating effect of its tax cuts was supposed to "trickle down" to the masses, but the flow had the viscosity of glue and stuck to the one per cent; the truly mega wealthy.

In my view, Trump's victory arose from the establishment treating ordinary Americans with contempt.

This week people decided that their vote does count, that they do matter and they certainly came out to vote in a big way.

Bear in mind that leading up to the election 72 per cent had no trust in Washington politicians. The people had already said they wanted change.

This victory by Trump is yet again a dramatic lesson for the commentariat, pollsters and the political establishment.

This is another great message for the elite that the ordinary people in the Western world are not going to go on being ignored.

The pollsters and media got it wrong because they refused to see what is happening in America.

This is not a Republican victory over the Democrats, this is a rejection of neo-liberalism or, in plain words, this is the rejection of the elite enriching themselves at the expense of the hard-working, law-abiding middle-class workers.

Supposed free trade deals were high on the establishments' agenda and, in my opinion, it was NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Association) that was the first nail in the coffin for the US elite.

Bill Clinton sold NAFTA as the way to "promote more growth, more equality . . . and create 200,000 jobs in this country by 1995 alone."

Sound familiar? Of course, he failed to mention how many hundreds of thousands of jobs would be destroyed at the same time.

And, yes the TPP is NAFTA on steroids, which is why Hillary Clinton changed her tune and why Trump opposed it from the start.

The only independent analysis of the TPP showed that New Zealanders would also lose thousands of jobs if the TPP was ratified.

Apparently unemployment is down, apparently wages are up? But if you were to ask the people of Rotorua if they believed the story line from this Government I do not believe there would not be even a majority of agreement.

Government debt is up, people are borrowing more just to survive, and so public debt is at precarious all-time record highs.

Many Kiwis are not even able to keep their bank balances positive from pay cheque to pay cheque.

It's absolutely time for New Zealand to make a change.

- Fletcher Tabuteau is a Rotorua-based New Zealand First list MP.