Why do we do this to ourselves?

I was just thinking today that the third term for any political party is the killer ... every time we have had a three term cycle (in my memory and thats about 4 occasions) the last three years is the killer. The party with the majority just cant get it right. I think we have a short attention span - we get bored, the politicans get bored and then being back in opposition sharpens them up.

I dont know if there is a better way and still be democratic - I wonder what would happen if we made grand coalitions a requirement for the third term e.g. National or Labour would hold the majority and get to have the prime minister but the coalition partner would have to be the next highest polling party. Then the next election cycle the leadership would probably still swing but the whole process would be more informed - plus we'd probably get a few more decent ministers in the meantime.

I mean, honestly, in the 21st century - do we really need black/white (or red/blue) partisan politics to this degree? And in a country the size of ours can we really afford to have decent talent languishing on opposition benchs for years at a time. I grew up in a family which was very clear about the difference between party politics and choosing someone who would represent the electorate fairly. One of the great things about MMP is being able to have that choice. But I think we need to take MMP a step further - many of us are still voting with a two party viewpoint (even voting Act or Green for instance is couched in terms of influencing a major party)

One of my delights this election was watching two nine year olds who each had a strong loyalty to opposite sides in the major party stakes get totally engrossed in tracking the Bill and Ben party vote particularly in the electorate seats of candidates they knew. I'm really grateful for a system that allows that kind of idiosyncrasy to happen. Bill and Ben actually achieved their party goal in our house.

In my total idealism I just wish that in some way we could have elections where the outcome is about balancing the values and goals of all New Zealander's into a collaboration that moves our country forward, rather than having winners and losers. We were the first country to give women the vote - maybe we could be the first country that could have a genuine negotiated representative democracy.