Chelsea I really love your writing in this piece. And I love that you’re doing the work to convince people of the best course of action. To me that is the most important ingredient of election season, and sometimes hard to come by.

I’m a bit confused about your use of “neoliberalism”. As I understand it, neoliberalism arrived in full force in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1984, under a Labour government.

It’s that understanding that fuels my desire to disengage: for my entire life, both National and Labour have represented two faces of the same agenda. This ideological confusion makes it really hard for me to choose the lesser of two evils.

That leaves the minor parties, and again I’m at an impasse. There are some really great candidates in the Greens, but it’s hard to see them having much impact this time around. Then you have TOP, who are at least widening the Overton window. But the leader refuses to polish his language for progressive tastes, so many progressives will shame anyone that voices support for them.

I don’t see it as straightforwardly as you do.