The raft of media commentators, bloggers and academics quoted each day in Bryce Edwards’ NZ Politics Daily column at NBR Online portray an unfamiliar world to most New Zealanders.

It is one where Prime Minister John Key is wrong on four major issues and Act is toast as a political force.

The public opinion polls show otherwise on Mr Key while the verdict on Act is unchanged.

This convergence of opinion from both left and right is a reflection of what American philosopher Arthur Bloom called “the closing of minds” back in the 1980s.

He referred to a phenomenon where classical liberal views enshrined in the Enlightenment were shut out, as universities in the US and elsewhere, including New Zealand, questioned traditional values and authority.

Mr Edwards himself revealed the source of this so-called critical theory when he compared Act with a quote from Italian Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci in the 1920s: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

Mr Edwards, a political scientist at the University of Otago, may not be a Marxist though he believes Act has “all but died but isn’t being allowed to be buried.”

He further suggests Don Brash, John Banks and their colleagues “should have started their own new party rather than trying to resuscitate and reform that which is already too far gone.”

Mr Edwards may turn out to be correct but as former leader Rodney Hide has noted, Act remains crucial to any National government under MMP.

Yet not one voice was raised in favour of Dr Brash’s views on marijuana – even from those who support it.

Dr Brash raised the issue in a completely rational way in an important part of a speech on law and order in a free society. It was not a statement of policy but would guide the thinking behind it.

He says he reached his conclusion that using marijuana should not be a crime “after long and painstaking reflection.” He is not alone: the Global Commission on Drug Policy agrees prohibition of drugs has been as disastrous as on alcohol.

So why was Dr Brash depicted as a nutter? Because the closed mind syndrome does not like to be challenged and the issue was instead just another story of dysfunction in Act.

Similarly with Mr Key: we are persistently told he is wrong on New Zealand troops in Afghanistan and on the rushed police surveillance legislation; and that he has bungled both the Pike River Coal and Christchurch earthquake disasters.

On Afghanistan, he was advised by Imran Khan, a noted cricketer who from the safety of London has political aspirations in Pakistan. Whichever way you look at it, Pakistan is behind the deadly attacks against Nato and Kiwi troops in Afghanistan.

A withdrawal of New Zealand troops would be a cowardly submission to powerful forces in Pakistan, which is reviled around the world for its indifference to millions affected by flooding while building a nuclear arsenal, not to mention other acts of terrorism outside its border.

Criticism of Mr Key for any shortcomings over his handling of Christchurch and Pike River must be put in perspective. The polls show the public doesn’t believe he can do much else.

His popularity is unrivalled in the democratic world with the exception of Stephen Harper in Canada. By contrast, presidents Obama and Sarkozy, prime ministers Gillard and Cameron, and chancellor Merkel have much tougher jobs and much less popularity.

The political commentariat lives in a small cocoon. It is just as well the voting public knows.