The Greens' Grand Ambition

Timing is Everything

The Greens in New Zealand have always been divorced from reality.  But since at the last election they managed to take a sizeable chunk of the left-wing, Labour vote they are feeling their oats.  To their credit, the Greens are trying to re-invent themselves as a mainstream political party.  Doubtless they believe they have a fair chance of taking over as the primary opposition party to the centre-right.
 

Consequently the Greens are trying hard to grow up from the puerile, hug-a-tree hippie movement from which they emerged initially.  They are wanting to appear business friendly--well, that is, small business.  Large corporations are still regarded as the Devil incarnate.  They are picking up Labour memes standing up for beneficiaries.  They actually believe that environmentalism, as they define it, is on the cusp of widespread public support. 

They could not be more mistaken. 

The developed world is about to hit the wall.  The first casualty will be Greenism.  Global warming propaganda is on the wane, more and more discredited as the days pass.  "Green" energy projects are falling over everywhere, from Spain to Germany to the US.  Solyndra--the government funded wind turbine company--will turn out to be one of the great scandals of the Obama presidency.  But more green energy boondoggles are to come. 

Debt--public government debt--is about to become a pariah.  Long time coming, but we are about there, at least in our reckoning.  Greece looks like being the first domino chip to fall.  Antipathy for, and vigilance against, government indebtedness will likely be the prevalent attitudes of governments and financial markets for at least the next two decades, and possibly well beyond.  Governments are going to have to cut according to their cloth, and their cloth is going to be much, much smaller because debt is going to be a no-go zone.

A consequence will be governments throughout the OECD unable to fund the vast social spending projects that have become de rigueur.  Cut, cut, cut will be an inevitable, necessary "evil".  Sure there will be riots in the streets, as in Greece, but the consequences of not cutting are going to be much, much worse. 

Precisely at the time when the Greens believe they can become a mainstream leftist party, socialism and social welfare, and the vast social welfare programmes are about to become hand-grenades with pins removed. 

To be sure, initially the electorate is still want to go on living in la la land (as Greece has shown).  Doubtless, the voter is going to become tired of cost cutting and spending cuts.  Inevitably the electorate is going to vote big spending, big promising social welfarist parties back into power--and possibly the Greens may succeed in achieving what they now believe is in their grasp.  They may occupy the Treasury benches.  But then the storm will come.  When it dawns upon them that the world does not work like a Fabian Socialist workshop any more, it will be too late. 

Greenism's obit will be published; greenism will likely be consigned to the dustbin of history.  Impeccable timing, guys.