Picking up on the new wave, of just not voting, I'm thinking of starting a new political party... the NZDP or NZ dictator party.
People who don't want to vote would be encouraged to just one final vote: for me and some cronies, and my one promise 'I'll abolish voting and be dictator.'
I can then offer a bright future similar to Yemen, pre-2011 Libya, Myanmar, North Korea and Syria.
If I can't get over 50% which, by my calcuation, I should get by 2017, I might see if I can start the Proxy party. Vote once, for me, and I'll hold your votes to cast as a block for the party of my choice (probably me again).
A remarkably clever parody or satire of just such a political move is in the hilarious Peter Cook movie The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Rise_of_Michael_Rimmer (written by Cook, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman)
I think what we're really seeing is a byproduct of the growth of multinationals and people seeing themselves as consumers not citizens. I don't vote for Burger King, X-box or Facebook why should I have to vote for government? I can easily see many people being quite happy with government being replaced by a savvy marketing-led consumer business.
And frankly nothing would improve appetite for democracy so much as not having it.
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