Reform and the National Party Agenda

I read something the other day, about the the differences amongst branches of Conservatism.

For some, the goal is to take Government power in order to reform and manage better the institutions of Socialism. If only we were in charge, they reason, we'd protect all of those programs and entitlements people cherish but wouldn't waste as much money and time on it as the Socialists do.

For others, one might call them genuine Conservatives, the goal is to take Government power in order to remove those programmes and entitlements, recognising that they present an extreme moral hazard by their very existence.

Which is why it is interesting reading David Farrar's take on exactly where the National Government is right now. I do understand that National has a strategy of not going faster than the electorate is ready for, given the upheaval of the late eighties and early nineties, and its impact on the minds of party planners, but it does seem a rather limp-wristed set of reforms to get New Zealand out of the mediocre state it is in now.