NZ Elections - Why We Need To Vote & Voting Strategy For A Family Friendly Government

A. Why We Need To Vote

We need to vote for 3 main reasons:

1. We need to vote to participate in Righteous Rulership In Relationship With God as part of our privilege and authority given to us in Gen 1:26-28.

Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Our God-given creation mandate is to rule the earth.
Unfortunately this Rule has been corrupted by Men's idea of Rulership that is hardly like God's idea of Rulership.
The Image of God idea of Rulership is that of a king / heavenly Father who care and nurture all people and its environment.
Men's idea of Rulership is that of a king who exploits people and the environment to benefit some of the people.

The corruption of God's idea of Rulership saw a shift from Theocracy e.g. Moses in the first stage; to Monarchy e.g. Saul, to Autocracy & Dictatorships e.g. Medieval kings in the 2nd stage; to Democracy in the 3rd stage which is an attempt to remove the excesses and injustice of the 2nd stage.

But democracy does not remove injustice so long as as the leadership is not in relationship with God.
In a democracy, we can actually have "Tyranny of the Majority" whereby those with a majority can push through legislation that suits them - leading to an abuse of the minority.
It can also have the "Tyranny of the Minority" because Parliament can impose a decision which is opposed by the majority of people e.g. Anti-smacking law.
Minority parties can also become king-makers and force the hand of the two major parties - and hence force legislation which may not be agreeable to the majority of the people.

Nevertheless, we vote to participate in Rulership in a democracy.

2. We need to vote to Prevent Evil or to Prevent Family-Unfriendly Government.
If we don't vote and only those who are liberal vote, then laws like Decriminalizing Prostitution and Civil Union will be passed. And more of such laws will be passed.

3. We who want traditional family values need to vote to Register our Voice - if not we remain the Silent Majority.
A poll shows that 86% of kiwis are not in favour of the anti-smacking law.
Yet our 86% voice is not heard at all!!!
So we who are concerned for the preservation of family values need to vote.

How then should we vote in order that we have a Family-Friendly government.

B. Voting Strategy For A Family-Friendly Government

The Kiwi Party and the Family Party stand out as Family Friendly parties based on their mission statement.
The Kiwi Party is guided by Judeo-Christian values.

Our first instinct would be to vote for these parties, which would be the case in"First Past The Post" Elections.

However, in MMP, the government would be formed by either Labour or National - with their coalition partners if these two parties do not win a clear 50.1%.
That is where it becomes tricky.

We who want Family Friendly government are caught in a dilemma.

Normally our voting strategy would be thought of in this way - Which party and their coalition partners are more Family-Friendly?

But now, the voting strategy seems to be better framed in the negative - How can we vote to prevent a Family-Unfriendly government.

Kindly see the website www.valueyourvote.org.nz for a summary of how family-friendly the various parties are.
We can see that the Labour Party is not family friendly whereas the National Party fare better in terms of family friendly legislation.
We need to prevent a party that is not family friendly from coming to government.
Only the National Party can prevent this.

The National Party is not my first choice party vote.
The Kiwi Party would be my first choice.
But for this election, we need to prevent the Family-Unfriendly party.

If the Labour Party has no chance of forming a government, then we would vote for our first choice Family Friendly Party.
But if the Labour Party has even a chance of slipping into government, we need to prevent that.

How real are the chances of Labour sneaking in to return to form the next government?

Based on the Roy Morgan Poll for the period 9-16 Oct released on 24 Oct 08, the following are the ratings:

National: 43%
Labour: 32%

By moral right, National should form the next government being clearly more popular.
Alas it is not that straightforward.
If it is that straightforward, there won't be a voting dilemma and I can vote my preferred party.

If we factor in the parties' announced coalition partners, the picture is not as one-sided as it seems that National has over Labour.

National: 43% + United Future (0.5%) = 43.5% + Act (3.5%) = 47%

Labour: 32% + Greens (11.5%) = 43.5%
or
Labour: 32% + Greens (11.5%) = 43.5% + NZ First (4.5%) = 48% + Progressive (0.5%) = 48.5% + Maori Party (2.5%) = 51%

This close contest is also predicted by TV3 polls.
Kindly see 24 Oct Friday’s NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10539225

May God give us all wisdom as we vote this Sat 8 Nov for a Family Friendly Government as a first stage to restoring the Image of God in this nation.