There are 1001 reasons why the vast majority of ordinary people in this country feel powerless, faced by an arrogant and unresponsive Government. Many of them have given up, believing that any form of protest is futile. They have come to believe that their sole life challenge is to pay the rent or the mortgage (if they can get one), raise the kids, watch a bit of telly and try to get some untroubled sleep.

This perception is supported by our own anecdotal evidence, which indicates that governments don’t listen to voters until MPs’ earnings are threatened once every three years.

Some weeks ago, the Republican movement – vexed by Gog’s criticism of what we believed to be a blatant and disrespectful exploitation of the Royal Family’s absence from Sir Ed Hillary’s funeral – claimed that New Zealanders financially supported the Royal Family.

We asked Finance Minister Michael Cullen if this was true. While one of his friendly robots automatically answered the email, no response has yet been received. A gentle reminder has resulted in a reply written by a human being to the effect that, when Dr Cullen isn’t too busy, he will respond. We thought that one of the 10,000 extra civil servants hired by Cullen and Clark during the last eight years might lift their wrists to the keyboard and deign to truly respond; but no…

We also asked Annette King and Helen Clark some questions about their links to important people involved in the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board issue. Once again, we received automated responses from robots – but we’re not holding our breath while waiting for the truth. They might think this problem will go away if they ignore it but we know that in the long term, there is no better target than a group of plump ostriches’ bottoms…

There is no reason to believe that an alternative government would take a less high-handed approach to voters, either. John Key makes grand claims about reducing bureaucracy, but is content to approve further waste of taxpayers’ money by inviting two National lame ducks on a state-paid overseas tour.

Understandably, there is general frustration that a small group of privileged people constantly mess around with our lives, and we get just one fuzzy opportunity every three years to voice our anger. With MMP, nobody reaches any kind of decisive conclusion – apart from the tiny group of opportunists who get to rule us for the ensuing three years.

The most significant result of this public fury has been the over-subscribed petition to call a referendum on Sue Bradford’s anti-smacking legislation. There will, of course, be a referendum and the next Government will take no action, just as no previous government has ever acted on a non-binding referendum.

There are people in the Grey Power movement who believe it’s time for Binding Citizens Initiated Referenda, and they have a point – not least of which is the conviction many people hold that MMP governments are not so much concerned with protecting and improving people’s lives than enriching politicians.

But if we had such a system of referenda, 98 percent of knee-jerking people - outraged by violent crime - would probably vote for the return of capital punishment, and we’d be hanging them high every week.

Binding referenda are not the way to deal with corrupt, self-obsessed governments elected through a deeply flawed voting system (although the Swiss seem to have found them useful). Perhaps we need a second chamber. Perhaps the republicans have a better solution…