The Echo Chamber

Utopian Left Wingers

Long May They Ride

We have published several posts on the desuetude of the Left in many Western countries.  We have argued that the maintenance of the "Centre Right" in government--despite all its faults and errors--is better for the Church and Christians because the Centre Right is less likely to persecute Christians.  We are more likely to be permitted to live in peace, able to serve our Lord without punishment.

The Left in New Zealand is approaching the more extreme fringes of the ideological spectrum.  Consequently, its national support has slumped to around 27 percent of the electorate, according to what is now a pretty stable polling trend.  A recent article in The Listener lamented this turn of events, even whilst many Christians are thankful.

The occasion was a gathering of former Labour grandees trying to drum up support for one of their number who was standing for the mayoralty of Wellington, but who had felt the need to disassociate himself from the Labour Party in an attempt to gain some electoral traction.

The star of the night is Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett. He’s a long-time Labour man, from a Labour family on both sides, who’s now running for mayor of Wellington in the October elections. . . .  The Utopian Strand, Leggett says with a sigh. It sounds like a young-adult dystopian novel, but according to Leggett, it’s the dominant faction of the Labour Party right now. It’s May when we first meet for this story and Leggett has recently announced his departure from Labour after 20 years of membership.

“There’s the Utopian Strand and the Pragmatists. I fit into the Pragmatists, but it’s a much smaller group now,” he explains. “The Utopians are quite happy to sit in Opposition and have their positions validated by a small echo chamber on social media and in activist groups. They don’t really seem interested in the much harder task of actually building a plank for government.”

Long may the Utopian Strand control the Labour Party as they inhabit their own peculiar echo chamber.  Leggett laments the loss of influence of the Labour Party outside the main metropolitan centres.  He cites the case of one Stuart Nash, elected from a provincial electorate, but viewed with suspicion by the Labour Party.

The treatment of Nash – who scored a rare Labour win in the provinces in 2014 – particularly alarms him. “Labour is dead outside the main centres now. It’s just not on the radar of provincial areas,” he says. “Labour dropped to 25% last election and Stuart Nash won Napier, but he’s not held up as a champion. In fact, you are viewed with suspicion if you win votes.”

Long may such utopianism and doctrinal puritanism hold sway in the Labour Party.  May their suspicion deepen towards anyone who actually wins votes!  In fact, we would encourage them to move even further to the Left, like Jeremy Corban in the UK.  Now there's a noble example.  Long may they ride.