Every election season, smaller parties plant flags in the political landscape — bold, non-negotiable demands meant to signal identity and draw voters away from the major parties. Yet when the votes are counted and the real work of forming a government begins, those flags are rarely still standing. History across New Zealand's MMP era reveals a consistent pattern: without genuine kingmaker leverage, a bottom line is less a boundary than a bargaining chip, and the theater of principle quietly gives way to the arithmetic of power.