As I already mentioned, politics is one of my passions. When I came to New Zealand, I thought it would really interesting to start comparing New Zealand political culture to American political culture and what was most important to each government.
The New Zealand government is run much differently than our government in the States. New Zealand is a Constitutional Monarchy. Being a member of the British Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning monarch and Head of State. Her representative, Anand Satyanand, is the Governor General of New Zealand. They also have an MMP, a mixed member proportional parliamentary system, which allows political parties to occupy a proportion of seats in Parliament. The party with the most seats holds power. Currently, the National-led party, led by John Key, holds power in New Zealand.
I've always been involved in politics, keeping up with current events and so on. When I went to Wesleyan, I noticed that most people at my school are also involved in politics (whether its supporting some NGO or being involved in a political party club), even on a larger scale, the high school students and even more so, college students, are so involved in American political culture. Our voices have become so strong in politics, whether its at a local, regional, or national level. Since I've been here, I don't find students rallying around a common cause. Even when I talk to some students, the politics is highly influenced by what's happening in America or Britain. It's almost upsetting to see that so many students have nothing to rally around and are content with the social, political and economic foundations of their country. This is just my opinion, maybe I am missing something, or maybe I haven't dug deep enough or talked to enough kiwi's about why they are so 'pleased' or 'unconcerned' with politics in their country.
After the 2008 recession, all hope was lost about the economy recovering until New Zealand was named the host of the Rugby World Cup (2011). Why wouldn't the students rally around something like this? Is the RWC going to be enough to pull the economy out of the recession?
Read About It Here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/26/new-zealand-economy-rugby-cup
While the recession in New Zealand seems to be of a lesser scale then the one taking place in our country, we're going to have to take similar measures to pull ourselves out of it.
What do you think about Obama's Ultimatum to the Republicans about "Buffet Taxing"?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obama_tax_and_cut_gambit_prRNsmkLmIfXhksWvPW67M
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