Daily Inspiration Quote by Jim Bolger

Bolger is selling stability as a virtue, but the real move here is to make stability sound like principle rather than self-interest. The line is studded with qualifying tics - "personally", "much more", "I've always had an instinct" - that soften what could otherwise read as a power grab. He frames fixed terms not as a constitutional straightjacket, but as common sense: an "instinct", a preference for governments "going their full term" like a contract honored.

The subtext is pure parliamentary chess. In Westminster-style systems, the ability to call (or engineer) an election early is a weapon: it lets incumbents strike when polls are kind, or it lets coalition partners threaten collapse to extract concessions. Bolger acknowledges the structural friction - "very hard... with a parliamentary democracy" - but uses that admission to look pragmatic, not ideological. The hesitation ("ah...") is telling: he knows the audience understands that fixed terms can collide with the core logic of confidence and supply.

Contextually, this sits in the late-20th-century New Zealand argument about executive dominance, opportunistic election timing, and constitutional reform vibes that eventually fed into MMP-era expectations of restraint and process. Bolger's intent isn’t to romanticize parliamentary tradition; it’s to domesticate it. He’s trying to recode political timing from a leader’s prerogative into an institutional norm, making unpredictability sound like misbehavior rather than strategy. In a system built on flexible majorities, he’s pitching one predictable thing: when the public gets to judge you.