Perhaps this is a throwback to the days when we lived in caves.
Trusting someone back then, and knowing where they stood on certain issues, would have been a matter of life or death. If you upset that huge brute in the cave next to you, then you might just get clubbed to death (not uncommon in the modern world either, but at least we have a law for that now).
Given I write articles about political issues, I often get comments from people trying to work out where I stand in the great political divide ... it seems they want to put me in that political box.
Recent comments were: "I keep seeing your posts ... really can't work out which colour you go with"; "Mate ... you baffle me, I read all your stuff and I have no bloody idea which way you lean".
During the election period I attended a Labour Party quiz fundraiser because I love quiz nights.
Some bloke commented that now he knew where my allegiances lay, until I informed him that I had just been at Chester Borrows' farewell that night and, a day or two before, that I was at a Green Party gathering - and the week before that a New Zealand First gathering.
In my early years I was a member of just about all political parties at some point.
The cynical would say I'm incapable of making up my mind, but that would be rather judgmental (another human trait we all need to work on) and couldn't be further from the truth.
It was a very long time ago that I had any political party affiliation. I was naïve - I thought I could change the world. But the conclusion I finally came to was that all these political parties only wanted power ... power to impose their political beliefs on all of us because only they knew all the answers to the country's problems.
The fact is that every political party out there has some very good policies (and some very bad policies) but when we elect a government, it is all or nothing.
We cannot cherry-pick policies from different parties under our current system because when a government is formed, this party (or coalition) has all the power and the other political parties have none.
To my mind, this is a fundamental flaw in our political system.
Another absurd phenomenon I have observed is the worshipping of political leaders. There seems to be an intense desire to have someone in control of everything - someone must have the power to decide.
Take Switzerland, for example - it is controlled by the Federal Council, which holds the executive power and has seven power-sharing councillors elected by the Federal Assembly.
And, surprise, surprise, the president of Switzerland is largely a ceremonial position for a one-year term that is rotated among councillors.
And, as Ripley would say: "Believe it or not", the president has almost no powers over and above the other six councillors. Bizarre you might say, yet Switzerland is a very wealthy country and, according to the 2015 World Happiness Index, is the happiest country on the planet.
It also has one of the most stable governments in the world, even though it is usually composed of a coalition of all the major parties.
Even though the Swiss have a very robust political system, the people rarely seem to worry about government policy to any great extent because, should the government get out of step with the will of the people, any new law it passes can be overturned in a referendum, by the people.
Given all the concerns the public and political commentators seem to have with our political system - and with Winston Peters' New Zealand First party wielding what some see as undue power - perhaps it might be time we took an in-depth look at the Swiss system to see if it has something to offer New Zealand.
Steve Baron
■Steve Baron is a Whanganui-based political commentator, author and Founder of Better Democracy NZ. He holds degrees economics and political science.
