Sunday, September 21, 2014

Common Sense of the New Zealand Voter Prevails

The general election in New Zealand produced a result that is both extraordinary and comforting. It is extraordinary because the National Party won a third term in government with an overall majority of seats and an increase in votes - the first time a third term government has increased its vote since Richard 'King Dick' Seddon's government in 1899. The left-wing Labour and Green parties both saw their vote decrease over the 2011 election. The race-based Maori Party also saw its vote decrease and the Internet-Mana Party, Kim Dotcom's personal political vehicle for ensuring he maintains his legal sanctuary in New Zealand, was wiped out.

It was comforting because New Zealand voters ignored all of the distractions from left-wing commentators and the mainstream media to ensure the current government's middle-of-the-road economic policies would continue. Voters saw the distractions, including allegations that the National Government has abused the powers of the security services to target New Zealanders and its political enemies, as disingenuous, rightly questioning the motives of those who were making the allegations.

I was hoping for the libertarian ACT Party to do better and particularly that its leader, Jamie Whyte, would make it into Parliament, but nevertheless I am well satisfied with the result. Had the outcome of the election been radically different, with a Labour-Greens coalition introducing new punitive taxes and other economically damaging policies, I would be seriously reconsidering whether I would continue to call New Zealand home. But that is not necessary, at least for another three years, and for that I am grateful for the common sense of the New Zealand voter.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Kiwiwit's Easy Guide to Voting

I imagine the whole world knows there is a general election in New Zealand this Saturday, given I have seen articles about our ridiculous election campaign in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and many other international publications over the last month.  Many other bloggers are publishing their voting guides, giving their careful assessment of candidates in each electorate. My voting guide is much simpler. It has three easy principles that the discerning libertarian voter can apply to ensure New Zealand ends up with the best of the bad bunch:

1) Don't vote for the looneys. That includes all Conservative, Green and New Zealand First party candidates.

2) Vote for the ACT candidate if you have one in your electorate. If you don't, vote for the National candidate. Yes, I know, voting for that bunch of unprincipled wimps in the National Party sticks in my craw as well, but as bad as they are, the others are worse.

3) Give your party vote to ACT.

Simple really.  And remember the old Democratic Party slogan, vote early and often!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Moment of Truth for Dotcom Will Come Saturday

When the Dotcom case first hit the news in New Zealand, I had some sympathy for the corpulent German. New Zealand law enforcement agencies, acting upon the instructions of US authorities, had grossly abused their legal powers and Dotcom's rights as a New Zealand resident by subjecting him to a humiliating arrest and confiscation of assets - all in pursuit of criminal copyright charges that even the US courts have been extremely reluctant to enforce in any case where a service provider like Dotcom's Mega-upload business has been the defendant. But any sympathy I might have had for Dotcom has evaporated as he has attempted to use his considerable wealth to pervert the New Zealand electoral process in his own interests.

I didn't watch the coverage of Dotcom's so-called 'Moment of Truth' rally last night in Auckland but I've read accounts of those who were there. The Mega-man was expected to reveal damning evidence showing that Prime Minister John Key knew about him before the New Zealand authorities acted on the US arrest warrant. Furthermore, he claimed that he was lured to New Zealand with the express purpose of the New Zealand Government extraditing him to the United States. Unfortunately for Mr Dotcom's credibility he revealed no evidence to support these claims. The only credible allegations were those by Edward Snowden (who joined by video from Russia) and journalist Glenn Greenwald that the New Zealand Government has been engaging in mass surveillance of its citizens. John Key has categorically denied these allegations and has released declassified documents that he claims support his denial.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am more than a little suspicious of our modern security state. The security capabilities that are meant to be directed at external threats are often used for internal surveillance and any legal constraints on their misuse are inadequate or ignored. The use of New Zealand's security agencies to enforce the copyright infringement case against Kim Dotcom is proof of this. However, the New Zealand courts have already shown a willingness to uphold Dotcom's legal rights and there is every likelihood that they will eventually dismiss the extradition case against him. But that is not enough for the the former Herr Schmitz.

I believe anyone should be able to exercise their rights to free speech by putting their money where their political mouthpiece is, but I think no one should have any illusions about what Dotcom is trying to do here. This has been a torrid election campaign with the left-wing opposition engaging in what has looked like increasingly desperate tactics to topple the Key Government. The latest polls show the National Party's support as holding at around 50% and it seems likely that, come the election next Saturday, New Zealanders will respond to Dotcom's cynical misuse of our electoral process by denying him and his political allies any representation in Parliament. 

Friday, September 12, 2014

Scottish Yes Vote the End of 'Great' Britain

While here in New Zealand we wrestle with the choices of who is the least bad political party in a crowded general election field, on the other side of the world a more crucial vote is about to take place. I am writing, of course, about the Scottish referendum on independence, which, if you believe the polls, is going down to wire.

Like most distant international observers, at first I regarded this referendum as something of a sham. Early indications were that the 'No' vote would win by the best part of 20 percentage points and that the Scots would soon get back to complaining about the weather and their lack of success on the football turf. My reaction to the latest poll, which has the 'Yes' vote one point ahead, initially was shocked disappointment. Britain is the country in which I have lived the most years of my life after New Zealand and I have a immense fondness for the place.  But on consideration, another part of me concludes that 'Great' Britain died a long time ago and the dismembering of the corpse is overdue.

Britain today is a country that ignores mass child abuse in the name of tolerance. It is a country where you can be arrested for quoting its greatest prime minister. And it is a country that chose to launch the Olympic Games with a celebration of a moribund public health system in which people are much less likely to survive cancer than in other countries. In other words, it is not a country its citizens should be particularly proud of. However, does that justify the Scots seceding?

The problem for the Scots is that the things they want to preserve by becoming independent are the things that have caused Britain to decline from its former glory. They want more National Health System, more welfare and more government interference in their social and economic lives. They think they are a more caring society than the rest of Britain and they want even more of it. The problem for the Scots is that England, or more specifically the Southeast of England, pays the bill and they delude themselves that North Sea oil will continue to pay for their already over-extended Socialist economy. Nothing could be further from the truth. North Sea oil is already starting to run out and without it the Scottish economy will look more like that of Greece or Portugal.

But in my view the worst thing about a Yes vote in the referendum is that it is a point of no return. Britain seemed like a lost cause once before - in the 1970s - but Maggie Thatcher dragged it kicking and screaming back into a position of world political and economic leadership. I have liked to think that the decline since Thatcher was just one more good prime minister away from being reversed. A Yes vote will lock in that decline and Britain will never be Great again. Personally I feel that is a very great shame.