Beneath all the politics, increasingly shrouded in the mist that hide both truth and meaning, there lies the bedrock upon which our landscapes, our peoples, and our economy depend. They are philosophical. Everything depends on a philosophical base – yes, even the science that some assume an exploration of an ‘objective’ outside ourselves reality – yes, definitely economics and policy.

Why we don’t easily go there is also philosophical. In New Zealand, a technocratic education develops a fear in thinking beneath. We may be accused of ‘a lack of objectivity’ by those who are most blind to their own subjectivity. We might have Prime Ministers who make empty remarks like “people cannot eat your values,” when it is his values that have led to poverty and infant mortality.

I am, I’ve decided, a fan of pre-election Manifestos. This is the world in all its beauty and fragility. This is our planet, our country, our landscape. These are our people, these are our mokopuna, yet to be born. This is our duty. This is the type of world, country, landscape, community and individual morality and values we want to encourage. This is how we think we can get there. These are our policies.

Make your choice from this vision, and those others who see the world as a machine generating quanta, with people and land as mere cogs, tools in the making.