Our Government, on the other hand, is worried. They are so accustomed to dealing with a charitable USA that they are afraid they will not be able to cope with patriotic bargaining (here). Their hand is weak because their country is weak. New Zealand has become a nation of people who get what they want by complaining, reply to every criticism by apologizing, and respond to every radical demand with capitulation. And then claim to be ‘proud’ of what they do.
It has not always been like that. New Zealand was built in the 19th century, drawing from the Industrial Revolution in Britain. There were contractors and engineers from Britain and the work was done by colonists from Britain (see Sweat and Toil: The Building of New Zealand by John McLean). Since then we have been shamefully conditioned to vilify the colonists. Now we are expected to accept a regression to Maori primitivism, which is absurd. By writing superstitious anthropomorphism of geographic features into law, for example, New Zealand is inviting incontrovertible international ridicule.
Our authorities are prepared to lie to maintain that position. Claiming that the Treaty of Waitangi is a partnership agreement is the present example. Furthermore, our Government must enforce the lies to sustain them. If people refuse to be indoctrinated, they are forced out of their vocations (e.g., Janet Dickson here). This pushes people out of society and reduces national productivity.
Another means to reduce productivity was the recent proposal to call in sick for work as a protest to Waitangi Day. This proposition attracted several supportive comments, with one claiming that it is “the daily norm in New Zealand” (here). We seem to accept that now, but my grandparents’ generation did not and nor did the colonists. New Zealand has lost social cohesion, largely due to racial differences, such that we are no longer working for the good of the country as our forebears did. The simplest action to address that is to disestablish the contrived distinction of part-Maori and non-Maori people in New Zealand: The Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 is the most inappropriate legislation our Government has ever made.
We have also taken up an ineffective ideology. People participate best when they have to, but under socialism people only apply themselves to the degree that they feel like it. Natural altruism is acceptable because it is adaptive and it is also found in other animals. But socialism takes that to the next level at which people accept insufficient responsibility for the outcomes of their behaviour. We need to purge socialism from our culture, as it is the depraved system of a decadent society.
That is in part what President Trump is doing; removing inappropriate patronage and dependency from society, and a recent poll shows that the American people like what he is doing. See “Trump hits highest approval mark of either term as new poll finds America loves his policies,” The Independent, 10 Feb (here).
Another piece in the Daily Mail (10 Feb, here) says,
“Asked whether they think the president is doing more than expected, 49 percent agreed while 41 percent say he is acting at the rate they expected. Meanwhile, only 9 percent of the 2,175 adult respondents said Trump was doing less than anticipated…
“Fifty-three percent say they approve of his job so far, while 47 percent do not approve of what Trump is doing with his restored presidential powers.”
The lesson for us, of course, is that President Trump is showing that it can be done. An example is stopping USAID payments, and note that has attendant benefits for New Zealand (here). America will be great again, partly by no longer wasting money propping up underperforming economies like that of New Zealand. We need to respond to Trump’s initiative by implementing a similar one of our own. For example, Government should stop giving public tax money to Maori entities.
Once we have our own country in order, we can front up to President Trump with confidence. He would respect that and agree to a significantly better deal than we will get in our present state. Indeed, the whole world would respect us as they did back in the days of Rutherford, when New Zealand was the little country that punched above its weight. Trump would then see us as a strong useful ally instead of the deluded egoists we have collectively become.
We have come from a creative, resourceful, hard-working colonist culture and if we can reprise that background, we could make New Zealand great again. But our Prime Minister has refused to do it and the question is: Why?
Why will Christopher Luxon not stop the waste?
Barrie Davis is a retired telecommunications engineer, holds a PhD in the psychology of Christian beliefs, and can often be found gnashing his teeth reading The Post outside Floyd’s cafe at Island Bay.
4 comments:
Ask Chris Finlayson. Luxon is just a puppet and a Muppet in the Party system. Mps must be ready to revolt. Multiple portfolios now sit with very few ministers. Only the loyal ones. Seymour is very astute and putting pressure on Luxon as well.
MC
Luxon needs to STOP his stupid love affair with the Paris climate accord, to whom he is going to give $15,000,000,000 of our money, to achieve nothing in return.
Davis' sycophantic adulation of Trump will evaporate very quickly when New Zealand finds itself in his sights. Today Trump signed an Executive Order authorising reciprocal tariffs on goods from any country that puts tariffs on American goods. All very well you might think; New Zealand doesn't do that any more. But that's ignoring the warped thinking of Trump who has decided that any country imposing VAT on imports is just as great a threat. Since he doesn't understand how tariffs work, it's no wonder he is clueless about value added taxes. And guess what. We collect 15% GST on all imports, including of course on all that stuff we buy from Amazon. I daresay the new Ambassador will be quick to report that affront to American dignity to the boss. He might even drop a reference to the USS Buchanan into the report to emphasise what a malor threat we are to American security. And then, to coin a phrase, all hell will break loose. Won't be selling much to the US after that lot hits the fan! Far fetched? That's what the Canadians would have said a month ago.
President Trump has issued a large number of executive orders, some of which will fail. In the future, some people will take a glass half empty position and judge Trump to have failed, others will judge him to be a glass half full success. Irrespective of which position you eventually take, I can get some leverage out of Trump’s presidency in the interim.
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