The good people of Epsom have probably grown accustomed to the circus operating out of their leafy suburb. From dead babies passports and factional knifings to… well… John Banks. They’ve put up with a lot. And now it seems they will be asked to again hold their noses and vote for an incest fan, since Jamie Whyte has been outed as an incest advocate.
I’m grossly distorting Jamie Whyte’s position here, and that’s my point. ACT should have seen this coming. Of course his writings would be pored over and misrepresented. Anyone with half brain (or a rational utility maximiser model of behaviour) would have seen that Whyte’s work as a philosopher and commentator would be used against him.
To be fair, Whyte’s response was excellent. It was carefully phrased, ideologically consistent, and well-reasoned. But that is his problem. It’s the old debate between categorical and consequential, between means and ends. And in politics, that battle is all but over. Convictions are prisons, and honesty basically has no place in politics. Mr Whyte will have to learn to start petty point scoring and pitching his messages at the voters of Epsom. And I doubt they care much for incest.
Fundamentally Useless 