I have been surprised, and not surprised, by two aspects of the Opportunity Party. 

1) I'm not surprised by the media's fascination, 

2) I am surprised at the amount of angst shown by people increasingly alarmed at the prospect they may be heading for Parliament and some sort of influence. 

The media, and especially digital media, sadly require these days astonishing amounts of content for the constant churn appetite that they, ironically, have created and so a shiny new political party was always going to get plenty of attention. 

But I have never seen the angst this party has created among those who write, text, and talk to me. Small parties have come and gone; Social Credit, Values, the Alliance Party, various forms of the Māori Party, United – they've all had a burst of sunlight. 

United got the worm and flew for a while but even in its original guise as TOP, they never came close to the noise the Opportunity Party creates at the moment. 

Here is the good news —unless you are an actual fan of theirs— they will get a level of exposure that will ultimately see them combust. 

Even Helen Clark on social media yesterday called it fantasy dressed as policy. 

The leader of the party appeared on Q&A and got roasted. 

Every time she fronts, as articulate as Ms Wong may be, a new chink in the Opportunity armour is exposed. The latest is this mad board overruling elected MPs. 

Now, far from being frightening, this is all good stuff. This is democracy in action. There is nothing to be fearful of here. 

Knowledge is always power and in this case the knowledge is what leads to Opportunity most likely not getting across the 5%. 

This country is not up for upheaval. We don’t want, or vote for, upheaval. 

We vote for variations of what we get sick of, hence bits of National morph into NZ First or ACT, and bits of Labour turn into the Greens, or Alliance, or United. 

Opportunity is a lab experiment, hence the media interest and alarmism. 

They are not serious people. Helen Clark sees it, I see it, Luxon saw it when he ruled them out. 

By November 7th enough of the rest will see it as well. 

So relax. As you were.