Momma do the laundry, momma pay the bills, momma cook the food, yo, I ain’t going nowhere. Simply because I can’t.
Life has just got a bit too hard for our youth - growing up means death by debt. House debt, educational debt, iDebt.
So why not flag adulthood. Party more. Update the Facebook profile. Stalk hot Tinder chicks on that smart phone you can’t really afford. Scoff some nachos. That’s what a Millennial would do.
Kim Dotcom launched his Internet Party yesterday and he’s hunting the youth. The Millennial’s, whom many parties have wined and dined but failed to score. It’s a collection of bright, remarkable people that have just as much to offer as any other group of New Zealanders of any other generation, but due to unfortunate timing they find themselves stuck in an impossible rut. Unable to get a job, living with mums across the country from the Wairarapa, to Invercargill to Kaitaia.
The economic prospects for this group are pretty miserable. They have been ignored for years by policy makers. Those with jobs are often on terrible pay. They amble up country lanes and strut down city alleys - looking for stuff to do, sometimes getting themselves in trouble. They aren’t bad; they’re just bloody bored.
Nor are they hard to find. When wet weather or hunger drives them indoors you’ll find them hardwired to the internet. The web is a mate, a confidante, an amigo who won’t scab your nachos. Sure it costs money, but the old lady’s got that covered.
Northland has a lot of these young people, so Dotcom’s rumoured teaming up with the Mana Party led by Hone Harawira of the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, is a cunning manoeuvre.
Growing up in small town NZ you’re encouraged to ‘get out’. Get out and make a life for yourself. But what if you didn’t have to? What if your town had innovative local industry that could employ you? Whanau wouldn’t be scattered. Our marae would be healthier. Regional pride would reign. Teachers and whanau of city kids would advise their youth to ‘get in’ to the regions.
Dotcom talks of boosting innovation and creating high-tech jobs, supporting investment in sustainable development and clean energy technologies, and minimising our impact on the environment. He’s not the only one, but these are key issues if we’re going to create a cleaner, smarter more prosperous future for our kids.
Our regions are crying out for investment - and since NZ has so much untapped potential to develop in clever, sustainable and environmentally friendly ways, why wouldn’t we? Let’s have our nachos and eat them too. Let’s move forward with economic development that works with the environment, not against it.
So will Dotcom capture the imaginations of the youth? He certainly has things many young people like. Charisma - tick. Big house - tick. A car for everyday of the week - tick. Hot wife - tick. In this regard he’s beating John Key at his own ‘look at me I’m a gangsta’ game. Sipping on a bottle of Moet simply doesn’t cut it anymore - Dotcom probably baths in Bolly. He’s the polar-fleece clad Peter Pan to our generation of lost boys and girls.
Like him or not, and irrespective of his motive at least he has a vision for New Zealand. And this election it’s critical that we all ask ourselves just what we want for our future. Will the New Zealand youth like what he’s selling? Totes! Will they like it enough to get out and vote? Maybe, if mum can shout gas.
This blog is part of the #election2014 series. The series discusses New Zealand politics and the policies and, sometimes, lack of them, of our political parties. We hope that it provokes a bit of debate.
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