Jacinda Ardenne is in so many ways a uniquely positive leader. She was born in Hamilton, New Zealand but her father became a sergeant and gained a position in charge of a small town police station. She has been raised as a Mormon.
Her mother complaining about flyer delivery got Jacinda her first job, something my mother did for me.
She was studying at Arizona State University at the time of 9-11. While many were condemning all Arabs as terrorists, Jacinda asked "Why?"
New Zealand has an electoral system different from America or Canada. Voting districts are decided by whoever gets the most votes. Each voter also a chance to vote for a party. Most often there is a disparity between the parties of winning candidates and the party preferences of the other pooled vote. To reflect that differences other Parliamentarians are selected to better represent the will of the voters. Their system is more democratic than ours. A politician can be elected by winning in a district or off a party list if their party gets enough votes. The parties negotiate to decide how decisions are to be made.
Jacinda at an early age proved to be talented and conscientious and found herself being ranked high on her Labour party list. In her first two elections she was successful at getting elected to Parliament on the opposition side. After negotiations with two other parties she was able to be the Prime Minister.
Just another personal note. During the inaugural celebrations one of the performing bands was Fat Freddy's Drop that I discovered while visiting New Zealand and still listen to them.
Notably she was the first Prime Minister to give birth while in office. As an unwed mother it was assumed it must have resulted from an accident. Not so, She had become conscious that time was running out and with her supportive boyfriend Clarke Gayford she made attempts to become pregnant and consulted with infertility experts. She had given up hope, but the day she was declared Prime Minister she learned she was pregnant.
A crisis occurred when a terrorist killed 50 Muslims and injuring many others in Christchurch. She visited to give comfort to the survivors and their families. She was expecting anger and grief from an Iman, but was told he thanked the people of New Zealand for supporting his community.
New Zealand did not have as much gun violence as many other countries, but she felt something had to be done to curb guns. She called together the first responders who were familiar with pump action guns and asked how many were hunters and then asked them to differentiate between five and ten round guns. They admitted for hunting ten rounds were unnecessary so the government banned the ten round version and set up a recovery program to encourage citizens turning in their 10 round pump action guns. Jacinda also campaigned to restrict violent messages on social media with some success.
Another strategy was to not mention the name of the killer and give more emphasis to the victims. Donald Trump called and asked why she was calling the killer a terrorist. She pointed out that the killer was trying to spur more violence. When Trump asked if there was anything he could do, she responded "You can show sympathy and love for all Muslim communities." Not recorded his response, but I imagine it was silence.
Another personal note. My cousin Linda and her husband Derek happened to be in New Zealand at the time with a pet care program that allowed them to get free room and board in return for looking after pet needs. They had been in Christchurch about two weeks before the killing, went to a nearby community and returned about two weeks after the killing.
The Covid pandemic caught everyone off guard, but Jessica had been monitoring developments and when it hit New Zealand had to make some difficult choices. Lockdowns and other restrictions were part of the defense. When vaccines became available the government did what they could to expedite distribution. Jacinda noted the "Freedom Convoy" in Ottawa, Canada that marked resistance to vaccines. New Zealand achieved a high rate of inoculations and were relatively safe, but with long lasting effects. On the positive side they managed to increase life expectancy.
On the brighter side her government declared a new national holiday, Matariki , the Maori New Year. The government had made the teaching of New Zealand history compulsory in schools. She felt all New Zealanders had to appreciate how the country was founded and be conscious of mistakes that had been made. Quite a contrast to Trump who wants to downgrade the horrors of slavery.
There were many ups and downs during her administration but her popularity started to decline and she became sensitive to criticism and started to think someone else could better represent the Labour Party.
A couple of instances triggered the decision to resign. During a medical exam in preparation for a trip to the Antarctic a small lump was discovered and she started to think if it was cancerous she would have to leave. It turned out to be insignificant. During Parliament an exchange with an opposition member led to a remark that was captured on mike where she called him "an arrogant prick."
On the other side she was feeling guilty about being a too often neglectful mother. She decided to resign.
Her administration did many good things for New Zealand that resulted in social benefits. One goal had been to create a capital gains tax, but was unsuccessful. Asked many times what she hoped to accomplish as Prime Minister, one striking response was "I want people to feel {this government} that it is open, that it's listening and that it's going to bring kindness back." She chose the word "kind" for her title. Being Prime Minister in the best of time you have to make difficult choices.
She and Clarke did get married.
Jacinda was able to move to Boston and work on fellowships with Harvard University allowing her to interact with students on case studies. She also is very involved with a Climate Change project led by Prince Andrew. She endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. President.
We need more politicians like Jacinda who are not afraid to ask "WHY?"
Another blog on Jacinda Ardern http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/03/a-better-way-to-deal-with-sick-shooters.html
A book I read awhile back helps explain a difference between America and New Zealand. http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2012/06/fairness-and-freedom-book-review.html
