Political Elections

Tonight I went to Meredith's host Rotary club meeting. They opened it up to the public (although I could have gone anyways) because they brought in a panel of political speakers representing almost all of the parties here in New Zealand for a political debate. The national election is on September 17, so the race is now on. By the way, elections are a lot shorter here. 6 weeks is a long campaign. The election date was announced about a week ago; it is not on a specific date. So different! Also, there are a lot more rules regarding campaign finance. You really can't buy air time at all! Anywho, each person got to speak for 7 minutes, answer one pre-determined question, and then the floor was open for a few questions. This is who we had:

Peter Dunne for United Future (www.unitedfuture.org.nz)
Stephen Franks for ACT (www.act.org.nz)
Nicola Young for National (www.national.org.nz)
Dale Jones for New Zealand First (www.nzfirst.org.nz)
Katrina Shanks for National (www.national.org.nz)
Rod Donald for the Greens (www.greens.org.nz)
(I think) John Tamihere for Labour (http://www.labour.org.nz/index.html)
Side Note: I didn't quite catch the Labour rep's name, but I think that is him based on the picture on the Labour website. I apologize if my memory is wrong.

It was a good lineup. Nicola used a quote from HP2, the one where Dumbledore talks about it is our choices that determine who we are, which I found interesting. I am more interested in foreign policy than domestic on the whole, so it was good for me to expand my knowledge of New Zealand domestic policies and woes. There is a big deal right now about student loans. The two major parties have released policies designed to reduce student debt through either the abolition of interest or by reducing it based on the number of years a graduate stays to work in New Zealand (designed to work against the "brain drain" to overseas). NZ First has a policy where all uni students can draw a weekly living allowance, and it is not a loan.

I know not many of you will be going to all these websites checking out what each party believes in. Some people have asked me for them, so I wanted you to know where they were. Just so you know, the Greens are extreme left, Labour is left of center, National is right of center, United is right, and I can't remember the rest. I don't want to get something wrong in the blog, so I will leave it at that. It was an entertaining evening.

Tomorrow I only have one class. The other three are canceled because of the teacher's union strike. I hope it is as gorgeous as it was today! The one class I have is my favorite, and we are having another guest speaker. I just checked, and it is Lockwood Smith, the National Party Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs. Next Monday we have Phil Goff, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I need to do some research, but National has traditionally been more friendly towards strengthening US relations, so it should be intersting.

Now, on to a slightly related topic. I have realized recently exactly how international my education has become and what a small world it is. At some point in time this summer, I have had friends either in or about to be in Canada, Senegal, India, China, Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, US, France, and basically every other European country (thanks to GT Lorraine and Oxford). Crazy! Of the 7 girls who lived in The Hotness last spring, we were scattered over 4 continents this summer.

Now, as the final capstone in my small world paragraph, get this. A friend of mine studying in China this summer was minding his own business shopping in a little market, and he hears, "Hey, are you from Georgia?" Now, this is not an ordinary question to ask just any particular person, although with red hair and white skin, I am sure he stood out in China. He asks why, and she replies, "Did you ever go to GHP?" Yes m'dears, it was a long lost GHP buddy! Someone else who knew what it was like to live on the Magic Square! Her name is Shirley Li (I think), she went to Princeton, she is in China studying Chinese, and she runs into - of all people - another GHPer. We are taking over the world!