When the government will start it's sententious policy of stopping jobless teenagers from drinking, a novel thing indeed, many will laud it out as a practical approach to commerce (potentially). 'Right', or should we say 'morally right' is given as the defense for what is an outright invigilation of the citizens affairs. The social contract as bequeathed by the aesthetes of the enlightenment made a very present and fundamental declaration: The citizen's part of the contract is to obey the law, the states end of the agreement is to protect the citizen through law. No where there does it say the state has personal pervue into the private lives of individuals.
Then why the need for the endless pontification from the political press box?
My my own view is that new zealand politicians are bored. There's no juicy civil unrest, or power struggle or advantageous war to consume the cabinets time. Instead they make umpteen amendments to laws that really don't need changing or they debate on the minutiae of some civil service department. How boring! Indeed the beehive more resembles the headquarters of some multinational like Microsoft then a civil institution; The cabinet like a boardroom.
I would be laughing if it wern't so serious. The problem I have is that it was the soft delicious silken call that made Odysseus come to wreck on the island of Lesbos. I have enough trust in our politicians to know there isn't some great underhand Machiavellian scheme to create a police state, on the other hand it pains me to see the complete lack of dissent to anything, save the perenial protest about Maori land rights.
Why do politicians want to peer into your lives?
Because they can. They know precisely they can get away with because they have an apathetic population. If we resist, they will back down. We have a right to protest, we should use it.
Why are New Zealanders so spineless when it comes to saying NO?
Which when it comes down to it is really the problem. The people of Libya said no in a state where such dissent could bring you to the scaffold. In NZ we have a state with absolutely no threat of retribution for dissent. It sais so in the Bill of Rights "The citizen may petition the Queen without fear of retribution". Then what are we all afraid of?
Here's an hypothetical and I hope it proves my point. Let's say the government of the day, left or right makes no difference, made a law stipulating that all cars have to be fitted with a Breathalyser device that will not let your ignition start without a breath test. "Great! Brilliant! 'bout bloody time I've had enough of these lunatics" And indeed it's hard to see any downside, except every idea has an antithesis. I could almost put my house, if I had one, on it that there would be no protests down Queen street, no petitions, no screams, no questions, no worries (mate). It's this I find mawkish and dangerous. It may very well be a good idea but it's not the point. New Zealanders have a very supine relationship with their government and it's all one way. Unless there is vociferous criticism, any government will ride roughshod over its citizenry, it's Hegel's principle that keeps the bastards in check.
Scoff?
You think it's not that serious? Here's a pretty little list of countries where it's citizens had/have no form of dissent:
Soviet Union
Nazi Germany
Communist China
Islamic Republic of Iran
Cambodia
A host of south American military dictatorships
North Korea
Cuba
Obviously there are miles of air between these and NZ but in New Zealand there is a form of voluntary self censorship either out of mere laziness, in-articulation (our flimsy education system), chaos or a sense that government knows best. Government does not know best, at least not all the time and certainly not in the private lives of the individual. Whats mine is mine so keep your filthy hands off, say I. So where are the placards? Where are the thousands that you see pouring into London now and then? The Australians have often given the middle finger to authority, we have always rubbed our hands sublimely and bowed when authority has said, "You must"!
So what the hell are you waiting for?
I for one am sick and fed up with hearing your bleating whines on talk back, venting frustration that would be much better directed directly to government. Tell them in no uncertain terms what you think of this or that. Pick a decision or dictat, who cares what, that government makes and oppose it.
Why?
Because the principle of democracy is left to chance if you don't. Why should the farmers of Taranaki care? Because if no one does, do you think the government will? Elect and leave alone is indeed a novel approach but it really is not pretty. And when you sit on your veranda with a glass of pinot noir and marvel at the orange pink of the clouds setting and mountain reflection on the lake just remember, without cogent debate, without opposition, without resisting, without voluntary protest, there is always the distinct chance that the soft caressing hand of Wellington will flirt with your face only so it can squeeze you at the neck.
