[pf] Idiosyncratic?

· This is a bit of a mish-mash; I guess it illustrates how I and my world
differ from most people. This is nearly 9:30 AM on Tuesday morning, here in
NZ.

· My daughter was going towards the shop where the bus stops, and I was
returning home with the milk and this morning's mail (that my wife had just
got from our PO box). The first thing I heard from my daughter was: "Oh
dear! You're so different from everybody else in the neighbourhood!" What I
was doing was standing on the sidewalk on one foot, while lightly brushing
some bits of broken glass into the gutter, using the toes of my right foot
as you might use one of those bamboo leaf-rakes. Outside the house I was
barefoot as usual, unless it's so cold I might get chilblains (inside,
while sitting still, I wear slippers in the winter). I have enough callus
on my feet (including toes) that the glass doesn't stick in. Our daughter
has in the past commented on my quadri-dexterity. Picking bits off the
carpet between my first and second toes, then carrying them (walking on
heel only) to a waist-high rubbish-bag where I carefully drop them.

· The rest of this is a note I sent this morning to our Greens e-mail list,
commenting on the green way of life as distinct from politics. It's Subject
was: "The Greens, instead of Green Party"

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At 12:42 21/8/2000 +1200, Gina Dempster <.-.-.@parliament.govt.nz> wrote:
> Good news on the Royal Commission into GE [in New Zealand].
>
> The Green Party had been given the special interested person status
> after arguing that its members were not the general public, but
> a group of people committed to working together
> to represent green philosophies in their families and communities
> as well as in politics. 
>
At 18:44 21/8/2000 +1200, Jeremy Hall wrote:
>That's powerful.  How about Values Not Politics for next election's slogan?
>

· I agree, Jeremy - about the powerfulness of: 
"a group of people committed to working together to represent green
philosophies in their families and communities".

· Although I was one of the small number of people who urged Jeanette
Fitzsimons to stand for parliament (before she was really willing to take
it on - she had to be urged into it), I have consistently believed that the
future of our communities, New Zealand and the world depends on each person
deciding to abstain from greed and to change their own life towards a much
more sustainable path. And I have believed that Government, and even
Parliament, were side-shows, /incapable/ of the sort of leadership that
would be the only other way to get there far enough and fast enough.

· So that statement to the Royal Commission was no more than a correct
description of The Greens; it wasn't "putting a gloss on things" in order
to get interested person status.

·  Personally, I'm much happier to be labelled a member of The Greens than
a member of The Green Party, even though they're indistinguishable to most.

· And I'm not against some people having goals like: ".. for next
election's slogan", but that's not what The Greens are about, IMO. Yes it
would be nice, and possibly useful, to still have "the balance of power"
after the next election, and it certainly is useful to have the respect and
status that *being a party in parliament above the 5% threshold* gives,
when trying to convince "the man in the street" that their past choices
have been foolish and detrimental,  but having no members in parliament in
the future would have some good to it - Greens would then put more energy
into working for the main goal, outside of national politics.

· I'm a little sad that the people in the great expansion of membership in
this last year (i.e. the majority of current Green members) probably think
that The Greens are "the good guys" but other than that they are just
another political party. Those 1000 to 1500 people won't have a chance of
thinking about the distinction Jeanette and I made above. The "way of life"
focus, rather than politics.


P.S. Neither I nor Bera were given that special "interested person" status,
that allows in-person presentation plus cross-examination. At one stage, it
was suggested that Bera and I might get it (based on our qualifications,
including her MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge, England, and PhD in
Biophysics), while The Greens might not. It's good that the Commissioners
are showing good judgement already.

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sent to PF by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html#top
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