The NZ Herald editorial today says that with National's moves to dump its market rents policy for state housing, it is buying into the new political consensus. The paper thinks that although the market-rents policy was principled and essentially more equitable, National is dumping it to avoid losing a debate on it in election year - 'Any policy, no matter how principled, is likely to be abandoned if it risks providing ammunition to opponents.' The Herald is slightly ambivalent about this pragmatic trend, but concludes that ideological compromise improves democracy, even though it reduces choice and principles in politics. Rather simplistically the Herald explains political pragmatism by saying 'the more confident a party becomes that it will win the next election, the more risk-averse it becomes'.
The paper also seems to be celebrating the growing consensus in politics as logical for both main parties:
Any policy with echoes of the 1990s is likely to be expunged from National's prospectus between now and the next election, much as Labour came to terms with the successful elements of monetarism and the market economy before its election in 1999.
Additionally, the editorial points out that the Labour Party's dumping of the market-rents policy has been masterful because the move has effectively done very little - if anything - for improving equality, yet it has silenced the lobby that has complained about poverty in NZ, and therefore the Government has had to do little else in this area. A very good point.
