Mike's Minute: What will the protest actually achieve?

The good news about the arrival of the protest is that after today, it's over. 

This has been one of the more misrepresented activities in recent years. 

It's hard to know what it is actually about, or whether those taking part even know what it's about. 

Is it about the Treaty Principles Bill? Is it about a general attitude towards the Government and their Māori policies? Is it a PR stunt for the Māori Party? 

And perhaps most importantly of all - what does it achieve? 

The answer, of course, is nothing. 

If it is about the bill, it dies after the select committee process and, even if it didn’t, although you are more than justified to protest, a protest doesn’t change the right of a Government to do what they promised they were going to do. 

It's called democracy. 

Democracy is slightly complicated by MMP, which may or may not produce what you thought it might. But democracy was what led to MMP in the first place because we voted for it. 

The two winners out of this so far are the Māori Party, who have got a lot of attention and drummed up good numbers in various parts of the country for their campaign. 

They have of course alienated themselves from many, but they don't care, and you were never voting for them anyway. 

The other is David Seymour who, whether you agree with him or not, has argued coherently and eloquently. 

Not performing so well includes the media who, yet again, have sided too often with the protest. I saw a reporter literally singing as part of her reportage. I saw a reporter dispute official figures from the police for the turn out, as though a dispute is fact. 

Jenny Shipley talking of civil war was as astonishing as anything. At least Chris Finlayson, in weighing in, kept his head. 

In a country with real and serious problems, a bill destined for the waste bin is not worth the energy this has been given. 

Our priorities are all over the place. We have looked shabby, unhinged, violent, and low rent. 

We are not living up to expectation, or our potential. This is not the country I grew up in, or indeed love. 

It is a wayward place in desperate need of some serious leadership and even more discipline. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.