POLITICS | SOCIETY | DEMOCRACY
When The Supreme Hero Has Gone, The World Needs To Start A New Journey.
What comes after Jacinda Ardern in the world of New Zealand?
It was a swift move.
Less than 48 hours after PM Jacinda Ardern took off her gloves, New Zealand had a new PM, Chris Hipkins. He will sit on the throne in due course. Some practicalities are still to be done, but the deal is done.
Chippy threw his hat in the ring, and the Labour Caucus choir sang hallelujah and amen to that.
In this article, I won’t speculate what the new PM will and won’t do, but think about how the people’s state of mind became the state’s political journey. And do we need another hero?
Ardern’s journey from nice to nasty.
Ardern rose to fame and power quickly. When she took the reins, she was the unexpected saviour of the ailing Labour party in 2017.
The journey began, and she had a great lift when she formed a coalition government. She wasn’t a hero yet — just a promise.
The Christchurch terror attack made her the hero with nerves of steel and a heart of gold. She battled the dragon of military-style weapons and their fierce supporters and got the legislation changed.
The second battle came in the form of a virus, and by healing the country from fear into hope, she gained a vast reward: a landslide victory in 2020 for the party and herself a second term in office.
Then the journey was over, and the hero’s magic started to wear off.
She became a human — and a target of inhuman attacks — cruel and insensitive people used every tool in the Goebbel’s paybook to trash her reputation. Even in the distant land of milk and honey, the almighty USA, Fox news and their supporters used every opportunity for their vicious attacks on her.
A hero’s journey comes to an end.
The game was over for her; her tank was empty. She saved some glory and respect but lost her hunger for hanging in there until the axe would eventually fell.
She is now the sage of the nation. A nation that needs to find a way to live without a charismatic leader to guide them through the rough times ahead. It’s not going to be a hero’s journey but politics.
She will most probably keep her smart mouth shut until she starts another journey — if it is a hero’s, one doesn’t matter.
The state of the nation now.
Now the playing field is more even.
There is no single person to attack, but it’s time to see the policies and practical moves the different parties will implement or promise to implement if they win the election in October.
What is visible is some relief.
The weariness was palpable in Labour before the announcement. Labour got rid of a larger-than-life PM who started to look more like a liability than a force that earned them the big victory in 2020 and would pull off another big one this year. And Opposition was making a speedy recovery from their political syphilis.
Opposition is celebrating.
They don’t need to use nasty and vicious personal attacks to move the gaze away from real issues to a formidable woman who was still way more popular than any of the opposition PM candidates. Ardern was simply too much and commanded the context of governing so well that the only way for opposition was to be nasty and personal.
The time of the hero was over. It was time for a mediocre political race.
It feels like people are suddenly awake again.
It all boils down to practicalities now.
Is Chippy able to be the real fix-it guy, as many have seen him? Is he able to turn the tide and get things done in a way that is impossible to deny and bury under political rhetoric and pure manure?
Businesses, big and small, and people have now suddenly a new chance to influence. They can become active as citizens and not followers of a charismatic leader. They can take responsibility for being involved and included.
Somehow Arder’s legacy is in this relief: she set the bar so high that we know that there should be no glass ceilings in any shape or form. She opened the door but was no longer there, blocking us from going through it. We can now look at the alternatives and not just personalities.
It reminds me of the wise words of the former SGI-UK Director, Ricky Baynes:
“I believe that true for the twenty-first century, are not those who are in a position to give orders, or who nobly take on the burden and worry of extra responsibility, or those charismatic figures who shoulder the burden of making decisions for the rest of us. They are people who are clear about the purpose of their lives and are totally fulfilled human beings; fulfilled in everything they do.”
We have left with relief and hope, thanks to Ardern’s courage.
Reading the tea leaves is always a tricky business.
Timing in life and politics is everything. There is only gut feeling — intuition if you like — to make the right move at the right time.
Many political animals lack the skill to sniff when the time is up. They hang on and end smaller than they should have been. Ardern chose wisely not to become one of those relics. She left when she still was taller than anybody else in New Zealand’s political animal farm.
Now is the time for lesser players to make it work for the rest of us. It seems that we have a hero every 10–15 years. So, it’s time for the ordinary people to sort out the shit for the next wee while. Chippy or no Chippy, it is more now up to us than the individual politicians.
It means that you and I need to become active and make our votes count. Exciting year it is — and it has just begun with a huge boost, thanks to Ardern.
And if you happen to read this outside New Zealand, use us as a laboratory to examine how democracy works. There is more to learn than the small size of the country might suggest.
Below is my first article about Ardern’s resignation.
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