DEMOCRACY is a fragile system. At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln's address redefined democracy as government of the people, by the people and for the people. Measured against that standard, the American democracy has been imperilled for some time.
At evidence is the current presidential selection process. Americans may be faced with the choice of election between two candidates with the highest disapproval ratings in history. It's a disservice to democracy when 55 per cent of voters are saying "none of the above".
How did America get there? A major contribution has been the endemic corruption brought about when legions of lobbyists, representing special interests, get to write the laws.
Democracy, government of the people, is ill served when the rich and powerful have greater influence over political decisions than do the rest of the citizenry. It is such corruption that earmarks decline of a Government's obligation to be for the people. The mere inference of corruption, even when difficult to prove, may have significant impact on business opportunity.
In the past, New Zealand's reputation for being corruption-free has enhanced its opportunities for business internationally.
In the "Panama Papers" scandal, the Prime Minster would like us to believe there exists no hint of conflict of interest in his personal lawyer's representation of the interests of foreign trusts, possibly using New Zealand as a haven to evade foreign taxes on assets here. He'd like us to believe his lawyer's lobbying of then Revenue Minister, Todd McClay, to keep the current legal loopholes in place would have been done without the PM's knowledge. In turn, Todd McClay, who oversaw IRD at the time it kept the foreign trust regime intact, would have us believe he was in no way influenced by the fact that the lobbyist who urged the IRD maintain the status quo was the PM's lawyer.
Todd McClay says he's insulted at the idea John Key's lawyer might have influenced his decision to stop the IRD from revising the legal loopholes that make us a tax haven.
There is an insult, alright. It's to the intelligence of everyday New Zealanders who Todd McClay trusts will believe him. The same spirit of disdain for the average New Zealander was on display with Mr McClay's visit to "consult" on the TPP. Instead of public consultation (relegated to half an hour in Palmerston North), Mr McClay met successively with Pacific Helmets, QWest, the district council and Chamber of Commerce, all of those meetings closed to the public.
It's in that anti-democratic spirit that McClay's dog-and-pony show was welcomed to a closed session of our elected district council.
After the political bad judgment occasioned by keeping the wastewater settlement secret, with its attendant cloud overhanging those counsellors hanging over from 2007, one would think there'd be some common sense around the table to caution against meeting the Government's barker in private over the TPP. No such luck.
If if accurately depicted, Hamish McDouall managed one of those comments unlikely to win Mastermind. He asked how the council might work with the community to better understand the TPP. McDouall, who has attended, apparently in sympathy, at rallies where the TPP has been challenged, ought to know that many of us understand the TPP only too well. And we don't want it.
But what is less welcome than even the TPP, is a council whose three long-serving members, Rob Vinsen, Philippa Baker-Hogan, and Ray Stevens, obstructed and had refused even to listen to the petition of citizens on the TPP. "It's a national issue", they said. Not suitable for local council.
That same principle seemed to yield easily before the charm and blandishments of magical Mr McClay.
It appears there's one democracy for the common folk and another for the Government's lobbyist.
Next spring there's an election coming. Perhaps, we might borrow from the wit and wisdom of wannabe president Donald Trump and say, to a few folks too elevated to listen and participate in democracy, those immortal words: "You're fired!"