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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Clive Bibby: We have had enough


The following contribution is not a boast. Nor is it meant to be a statement that is verifiable as fact - although it probably could be. It is simply the personal opinion of someone who believes he represents a majority of voters in this country who are concerned about the direction of where this nation is heading.

It is time to take stock of the current situation and do something meaningful in order to stop the potentially disastrous trend which has no mandate and is foreign to most kiwis who value their freedoms.

Readers might ask what qualifies me to make these claims.

I’ll let you be the judge of that after reading my personal history followed by observations where you can note the similarities to your own life experiences.

Here goes.

I am a simple person - but l am not a simpleton!

I will be 77 years old this November.

I am what many describe, using the most insulting terms that are becoming popular in today’s New Zealand Society, as a “pale, stale male!”

I am a member of what is arguably the luckiest generation to have been born in this country. Our formative years were spent during a couple of decades when New Zealand came as close as it is ever likely to get to becoming the true “egalitarian“ society. Sadly, that status appears to be a rapidly fading dream.

Contrary to what the radical Maori activists would tell you, our numbers include many of their forebears who have benefitted from our association at a time when the nature of ones birth mattered less than the quality of your individual character.

A good many of us are the product of a provincial, small town upbringing where families recognised their responsibilities for one another irrespective of status on the local social ladder. Many have made contributions to their communities that have far exceeded their financial ability to do so.

Most of us have experienced “struggle street” - sometimes as a result of bad choices but also, often simply as a result of events that found us in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, those difficult times usually helped cement families together, all working for a common cause and in the process, becoming stronger and more resilient. We all had to make contributions to the family unit that were critical to our survival - the size of each contribution dependent only on our individual ability to make it.

Our values are those of our forebears who went to enormous trouble instilling behavioural standards in us that were recognisable and accepted by society as the codes by which we based our interaction as equals. Unfortunately, too many of our current leaders would fail to recognise those values if they fell over them.

The absence of and lack of commitment to those standards is one of the main reasons we are in this mess struggling to find common ground upon which we can build sustainable plans for the future. We have lost our way.

Those values systems included the following beliefs:

All kiwis are entitled to expect these living conditions as citizens of this country.

* a society based on equal opportunity for all irrespective of race, religious preference, sexual preference, political persuasion or status on the social ladder.

* the freedom to pursue personal objectives as long as they don’t interfere with the basic rights of others.

* a society where those who can acknowledge a responsibility to support those who can’t. It is called a welfare system that ensures no individual suffers needlessly as a result of being excluded from opportunities that should be available to all.

* an education system that is available to all in all it’s forms that teaches the real history of this country, warts and all. None of this revisionist crap that is currently being foisted upon us.

* a justice system that protects the ordinary person from the powerful and ensures that the laws of this country are applied evenly to all irrespective of individual background or origin.

* a government that is by the people, of the people and for all the people.

I’ve probably missed a few important things from that list but there should be enough there for most to identify with.

I would be surprised if most people haven’t ticked a majority of the boxes.

If you don’t identify with most of my observations, then it is more than likely you will struggle to understand why l am predicting a groundswell of those who have had enough that will become a tidal wave by Election Day.

Already the signs are beginning to show in the opinion polls and that momentum is likely to grow until it sweeps these imposters from the treasury benches next time we get the chance to vote.

They say it takes one to know one.

I trust my own judgement on this one. It’s really quite simple.

To use an familiar East Coast description - the facts are “sticking out like dogs balls!”

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay. 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very well said Clive, I agree and relate to all that you have said in your article, spot on. I have a lot of friends, work colleagues and family (not pale, male & stale) who feel the same as you.

Terry M said...

You've certainly nailed it Clive.

Doug Longmire said...

Clive - you have described it exactly. Well said.
Like you, I am "pale stale male", and yes there was a bit of a struggle when I was a pharmacy student - having to hitchhike from Paekakariki to Petone and back each day to save money on train fares.
But your dot points are very very relevant and they all describe a decent, respectful, hard working, honest, democratic society.
All of these are currently under siege from the Marxist "transformative" government, led by Comrade Ardern.
However the signs are that, despite the media being under Pravda-like control, the public are slowly waking up and saying NO !!

Rex B said...

The politicians and the bloated bureaucracy have earned the voters mistrust. They think it's OK to lie and spread misinformation, anything to stay in power.
This is not democracy, this is Marxism.

maic said...

Sleepers awake because our country is going down the drain! We can't trust most politicians, we can't trust the bureaucracy, we can't trust main stream media and we can't trust the whining activist groups wailing for more privilege and resources.
I say we need to do three things if we are to achieve meaningful change,
1. Kick our this government and keep it out.
2. Bring in school choice where the funding follows the child and where a reduced Ministry confines itself to objective educational standards without the ideology.
3. Bring in Swiss style Direct Democracy so citizens can effectively oppose poor and unwanted legislation and initiate legislation of their own.
When you think of it we are where we are because the politicians can ignore the wishes and values of the people and get away with it. When you have a useless government and a useless opposition with no immediate citizen power to oppose them it's no wonder the country is in its present unhappy state.
So it's up to you Kiwis to save the country and save yourselves and your children and grandchildren. No one else is going to do it for you.

Owen said...

The problem is not with most people reading this column. It is our kids at school, college, universities who are being thoroughly brainwashed to believe almost exactly the opposite. Their values, if indeed they are values are entirely different. They are driven by "fairness" as opposed to equity. The are taught to distrust authority, shun success, to tolerate everything and anything except intolerance, that the only absolute is there are no absolutes, no one truth on anything except their own truth, that their voice and view is equal to or better than any"leader" or "expert".

So life is full of uncertainty. They need endless reaffirmation. Life has no meaning so death has no meaning. They cannot cope with solitude, quietness, darkness or matters of tradition, habit or the disciplines of respect, commitment.

They are so easily captured.

5th generation Kiwi said...

Clive, like you I'm an older (68 year old) pale stale Male, but you also forget to add, Boomer, and Colonialist who is responsible for every wrong. What makes matters worse I drive a ute. There really is no hope!

Unknown said...

Well said clive,however the.elephant in the room.being
HOW CAN WE.EFFECTIVELY REMOVE THIS ARDERN.GOVT NOW,

Anonymous said...

Clive, you described what the Labour party once stood for. Now in my 90th year I was proud to say I have never been anything other than a Labour supporter. This last year has altered that as we see a LINO party,i.e, Labour In Name Only. With the party system one has to accept the package and seldom does one support one's party 100%. But now my disagreement with the trends advanced by this government is well over 50%. Sadly I can see no acceptable alternative and the looniest party on the ballot paper is likely to get my vote. So much for responsible democracy...

Rod Kane said...

Personally I don't think we have traditional labour and National parties to choose from anymore. National is only a shallow mirage of the party that it once was and in spite of all their conventions and meetings they just don't see the issues that the rest of us do. Labour is not Labour at all. That party is now an extremely toxic mix of socialism/communism and tribalsism. This is without doubt the most poisonous PM we have ever had and her maori caucus has openly displayed their collective greed and hostility toward the NZ public. The arrogance is breathtaking, not only the divisive policies, He Puapua et al, but the change of the country's name, the place names, the statue removal, the grants, the tender preference, hospital admissions, the beach ownership, the water grab etc etc. This is something none of us would have ever believed but it is here and it is travelling at the pace of a cruise missile.

Questioner said...

Do you think our beloved forebears both Moari and Pakeha fought to the death in two great wars so the country would end up with governance such as this?