Māori Roll Voting

Given the original Māori Party was formed, right? Go back to 2004. Let's call it so they've been around how long? Twenty-ish years. Let's call it 20 years. Would we call it a success, the Māori Party? A party for Māori. What have they achieved? Have they done more damage than good? There's a question. Do we differentiate, say, between Māori and Māori? And by that I mean Māori who aren't as angsty as some and are perfectly happy on the general role. Is the Māori movement generally just for agitators? And as such, you have people with very specific agendas and those agendas are almost certain to clash. See, I got no doubt the Māori Party in their current iteration will implode this election. I think everyone does basically. I've got little doubt Labour's going to scoop up most of the support. The same Labour Party that got Trout's last election because the Māori Party 2.0 was the repository of so much hope and promise, apparently. The history of Māori roll voting, it's mad. Absolutely mad. Labour forever, voted Labor forever until New Zealand first came along, until then Labor came along, until the Māori Party Part 1 came along, and then Labor and then New Zealand first until Māori Party Part 2 came along. It's the Māori vote. Is the Māori vote a cheap date type of fear? You know, you flash a bit of bling and say something random. So you can reel them in. How else do you explain the wild gyrations in direction? On a broader question, just what exactly have the Māori seats delivered? Specifically, ever. Under any party, for anyone. Is the mistake? I was thinking to myself yesterday, the race bit. See, Peter Sharples is not Rawari Whiterty. Tori Anaturi is not Debbie Packer or Dover Samuels or two Wiley or Tuku Morgan. But because they all happen to be Māori, they should all apparently be the same. Is that the mistake? Race is first, second, and third. Ideas, policies, visions, they come a long way down the list. After you've all arrived as Māori, you suddenly realize you don't actually have a lot in common, and as a result, you fall out. Because that's the undeniable outworking of the Māori vote and the Māori parties. The vote swings wildly, and quality and delivery even more wildly. Kapakingy is but another sad chapter that we've seen many times before. It all ends the same way in a great big shambolic mess. So 20 years in counting. What's the point?