NZ politics - term limit for PM
What if there was a 2 term limit on being the PM of NZ? Just as there is with being President of the USA. Governments that depend on the PR polish of a popular leader to win elections would never get more than 2 terms, and neither should they. Parties whose policy approach is popular with a majority of the population could govern for 4 terms, without relying for a sense of continuity on one person spending 12 years as PM.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
Arguably, parties who depend on a popular leader to win elections shouldn't even get 1 term. A 2 year term limit would discourage this Presidential style of campaigning, because it would stamp an expiry date on their government. Communicating as a team, one of whom will presumably be the next leader, would increase their chances of seeing their policy platform through to some kind of completion. Ideally, it would motivate less baby kissing and more policy debate.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@strypey a presidential style is what seems to work the world over. Parties that don't announce an intended Prime Minister tend to lose or govern as part of some hobbled-together hobbled coalition.
Again, rejecting the Presidential style would be infantilizing the populace's preference for clarity on leadership.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
> a presidential style is what seems to work
For who?
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@strypey works for the electorate? The trend of parties with declared leadership is there.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
> works for the electorate?
In what ways do elections focused on cult-of-personality bun fights and scandal-mongering serve the electorate better than elections focused on policy differences?
> The trend of parties with declared leadership is there.
I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean by this.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@strypey sorry, I meant to say "trend of such parties doing better".
I think it comes back to this. Isn't telling the electorate that they are wrong to focus on individual leaders infantalizing them? Media circus or not, it looks like people prefer to choose leaders who then choose policies.
Focusing on policies makes sense for referendums; maybe more policies need referendums?
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
> Isn't telling the electorate that they are wrong to focus on individual leaders infantalizing them?
I think that depends on the consequences of doing it. Is it infantilizing to tell people they are wrong to eat only chocolate, or to spend hours every day on the DataFarms being manipulated by The Algorithms? Or is it just a public service message?
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
@tetrislife
> people prefer to choose leaders who then choose policies.
Maybe it only appears that easy because that's where corporate media (both broadcast and network) focus their attention? You could use the same logic to argue that people prefer being surveilled and manipulated by the DataFarms, since that's currently where they spend their time, not in decentralized networks.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
The trend of parties with declared leadership [doing better] is there
For one thing, there are plenty of examples of parties that win elections due only to cult-of-personality leaders not being good for the people (Putin, Duterte, Bolsonaro, Key).
But this reply suggests you misunderstand what I'm proposing. I'm not saying patties shouldn go into elections without declaring leaders. Just that the duration of their term in office ought to be limited.
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@strypey I guess we have to leave it at "parties are more important" versus "leaders are more important". I tend towards the latter, because parties fail at implementing their election manifestos citing difficulties within and across parties (YMMV). With leaders front and centre, there is an incentive to walk the talk and maintain their image.
Can anything really be done about election propaganda, whether parties or personalities?
NZ politics - term limit for PM
@tetrislife
Neither parties nor leaders are important. Policy is important. You could still have systems of democratic government without parties or leaders (eg selection from a pool of candidates lottery), but not without policy.