Dr. John Hinchcliff - Historical Novelist & Creative Philosopher

by NDK Creative Artist

“Dr. John,” as he is known, is perhaps one of the most accomplished men I have ever had the privilege of meeting and getting to know. If I was running the world, having read his political manifesto, I would use him as a model for all politicians and world leaders; the Powers That Be will not like that idea, that’s for sure.

This is not to say that Dr. John is a perfect man, no such man exists. But it is my way of saying that I believe he has the sort of vision and qualities of character and experience that mean he should be a leader at a greater level. A level where he’d have the opportunity to shape the future, as in fact he already did, as the Vice Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.

The Politician and Statesman We Need

In 2007 he ran for mayor of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Dr. John Hinchcliff represents for me the sort of statesman and politician we need. Not necessarily because of his record and his many achievements, but because of the character and nature of his ideas, and his determination to make them manifest.

When I attended a meeting of candidates running for mayor, sponsored by Auckland’s Green Party, I was both heartened and disappointed. Dr. John had prepared an entire mayoral manifesto that was thick with his vision. You could see and know what he wanted to do, because it was all there in a document about 20 pages thick.

Not one of the other candidates had such a vision. They had pamphlets, thin, glossy, pamphlets with pictures of themselves on them urging one to vote. It was all very American. Dr. John was the only standout candidate, and frankly, after reading his manifesto, the only one worth actually voting for. Here’s why: Dr. John had a vision for Auckland City, and it was an integrated vision embracing every aspect of what concerns Aucklanders, and the world.

Auckland, however, would not end up with such a mayor. It would end up with the mayor who messed Auckland up the last time he was in office. One of the returning mayor’s first acts was to retire the hybrid car of the mayoral office and replace it with a conventional luxury(!) model fossil fuel burner. This in a city with the worst traffic pollution in the entire country.

“Auckland struggles with its air quality and the car he is driving produces at least twice as much noxious emissions as one of these (Prius models),” said Stephen Bollard of the Clean Green Car Company.

That’s a responsible mayor for you who promised to “curb council spending” and one whose first acts included dumping a cheaper, cleaner more modest car for a luxury car.

But with a well-financed name, what can you expect? Money wins elections, not votes. Media influence wins elections, not issues. Money makes it happen and until voters become citizens so will it continue.

The reason for the election of the new mayor appears to me to be that the media simply ignored most candidates and made the election for mayor a two-horse race, and the environmentally-friendly incumbent was definitely on the out. That’s an old story all the world over.

I was gratified to know that the people I spoke to about Dr. John and to whom I promoted his cause, voted for him. There were some I asked about Dr. John’s chances, and they candidly said that he “would not be mayor.” They would not tell me why when asked and it was obvious they did not want the issue pressed. I found that very interesting, to know that there is an inside cabal who know, and an outside cabal who do not. It says a lot about the nature of our democracy and our civilization today that such things occur.

In a free society truth and democracy would walk hand-in-hand.

As a consequence I found it very hard to think about what to do to promote and support the election of Dr. Hinchcliff for mayor of Auckland. But I knew, after looking at his manifesto and comparing it with the materials other candidates presented, that he was not going to succeed. Why?

I knew that nobody would read his manifesto. They should, but they wouldn’t. They should read it because it is a comprehensive statement of vision and ideal that is achievable. Those who did read it, and have some awareness of the situation in the world, would embrace it, but otherwise, no - it would be too much for them to take in and give any consideration to, let alone compare with other candidates, from whom I could not find a clear articulation of vision at all.

People have been trained to respond in Pavlovian fashion to sound bytes today, the short pithy vote-triggering phrases of Politicus Americanus that come into their living rooms day and night, and tell them how things are run in a “Rah-Rah” democracy. This has, in my opinion, done incalculable damage to democracy for it’s not how things are done at all.

The illusion is the perception of reality that people have of how things work, and it is not how things work. It’s just another lie. So I wrestled with what to do and now that I’m writing this article, I know that this is what I needed to do and I’m saying it how I see it.

Hinchcliff as Visionary

Dr. John Hinchcliff would have made a fantastic visionary mayor for Auckland. He would have done the sort of visionary job that Mayor Robbie did, and had, and perhaps that was the problem. The visionaries are what we need for society today, so I heartily recommend reading Dr. John’s Political Manifesto. It’s a blueprint for the future of society, and it is a visionary one, exactly the sort of vision that is needed. That’s what all the other candidates lacked. Vision.

Not one of the other candidates had one that was relevant for the 21st Century. I found that disconcerting to say the least. It is even more disconcerting to see the men and women with vision get passed over, that tells you something even more about the nature and degree of decay in our civilization, and it does not bode well for our future, if we have one that’s worth living in.

The election of most businessmen to political office is a mistake. It changes nothing. It merely continues the status quo, as the online free documentaries in the Century of Self films explain at FreeDocumentaries.org.

Instead of real progress, we get the myth of progress that has been foisted on us since the advent of the industrial age. The industrial age is coming to an end; it has run its course and as a means of living a good life it has proven itself to be the worst possible course. It is inimical to all life. It is not a lifestyle, it is a deathstyle.

Have you noticed that visionary leaders are no longer in style? I believe that this is symptomatic of an increasing lack of imagination.

The Importance of Articulation of Vision

I remember Dr. John telling me after this political meeting and debate that he felt he was not on his best form that evening. I don’t think it would have made one whit of difference if he had been on his best form. The race had been decided at the political level of the media, and the meetings were a “formality” to a foregone conclusion.

However, from what little I saw of the opportunity to articulate vision, I frankly despaired for the health of a vital democratic process for twelve speakers had so little time to say anything of any consequence.

When the articulation of vision is given such short shrift, then I believe that the manifesto one creates, embraces and promotes is not going to have a fair shot at having a hearing. For any political party to provide such a short period of time for the expression of a candidate’s vision is to me as short-sighted as bats in broad daylight. It demonstrates a completely devalued sense of vision, almost as if it doesn’t matter and is simply a formality, or an opportunity to heckle and ‘score points’ as good as the concept of “time for a change” - regardless of the merits of an incumbent or the current situation in the country.

When you have a limited number of choices, such as in a two-party political system of governance, I find this limiting and dangerous, because the achievements of one party are invariably undone by their opposition, and thus you get a boom-and-bust cycle driven by little more than the idea “time for a change” rather than a cognizant informed evaluation of the situation and its relevance to your life.

The idea of “Time for a change” is based on the concept of “a fair go” which is rooted in the New Zealand psyche and one of the most fundamental social concepts for New Zealanders. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great concept, but it seems to me that when people use this as the fundamental guiding concept of what government they will have, then they’re making a mistake.

“Is your life better or worse under the rule of a the current government?” would be a better way to evaluate whether or not one should continue to have that party in power or not.

An American narrator has just said “The world is excited about the Clinton-Obama contest” and I’m thinking that the prevailing mood is not excitement, and this is purely promotion to the American public. The world is well aware that the American election outcome is nothing to do with how its public vote, and has not been for some time.

Dr. John’s Mayoral bid was not without shadow or signs of back room manipulations either, it made the national news, and yet this is not the character of the man at all, or I have seriously missed my measure of who he is. But it colored his campaign with a taint that politics should be free of, and I personally found that abhorrent, while I was also glad that it at least gave him some exposure that he was not otherwise receiving.

The Brochures-and-Buttons Manifestos

Dr. John’s political declaration of intentions is a complete document and he graciously gave the Free Articulator permission to publish it, so you could see just how comprehensive it is. The other candidates did not have such documents; they had ‘brochures and buttons.’

It is a reflection of the man whose 2003 biography We are, therefore I am; the Life of John Hinchcliff by Jade Reidy is a ripping read of unassuming proportions for a man of such accomplishments (résumé). However, those unassuming proportions are typical of the Kiwi male and the national psyche; we tend to understate things and see them more from a community perspective.

When I listened to each of the candidates talk about what they wanted for Auckland in the allotted 3 minutes, I was stunned at the nature of the bum’s rush. We’re talking a city of 1.4 million people with massive traffic problems, pollution that’s killing 300-400 people a year (according to some), a city that needs to be considering a number of environmental problems, and start to get a much greener policy happening than it has at present.

If I stop to consider what a title like We are, therefore I am actually says of John Hinchcliff, then I find that this too says much of how the man thinks and I find it resonates well with my own thinking which is less of myself and more about others - that’s how I was raised. Dr. John puts others first, realizes that his existence is dependent upon the relationship he has with others. He is a generous, but not a soft, spirit. You don’t build a $200 million dollar educational institute by being soft in an environment challenged by older, more traditional institutions of learning.

So, what’s Dr. John like?

I’m going to leave you to discover that yourself by reading what he has to say in his own words, with some essay-like comments from me over the next week as each part of this Feature is published. My assessment of him is summed up in what I’ve written here.

What he says and writes inspires me, encourages me, and makes me want to bring into being much of what he talks about.

Where do we go now?

If you can't wait for more, explore the archives sorted by month via the links in the right-hand sidebar, or use the Category links in the same place.

If you'd rather we did all the hard work, you're in luck. Here's a list of articles that are related to this one:

• Dr. John Hinchcliff’s Parihaka - Review
• Dr. John Hinchcliff - A Creative Mover & Shaker Interview
• 30 Years vs. 30 Days: A Battle Lessig Had to Turn Down to Win His War
• An Urgent Message from Al Gore
• I’m Going Green in 2008