The Libertarian Front-New Zealand's Youngest Libertarian

Annie Fox

2009-12-02T20:54:00.002+13:00

After an entire month of inactivity on my behalf on this blog, I have some very sad news for the NZ blogging community: fellow libertarian Annie Fox (Anna Woolf) died from her cancer at 12:05 pm today.

My thoughts are now with her family and friends - they have lost a great women. Her courage and strength, in the face of something as awful as cancer, has been inspirational.

May she rest in peace.

Straitjacketing Students?

2009-10-27T21:57:00.002+13:00

Although the National Government's introduction of new, across-the-board national standards may have some positive short term benefits, little good can come of further straitjacketing of New Zealand's educational system.

The new national standards are merely the latest in a long line of governmental reforms aimed at curbing the deteriorating quality of education in New Zealand. However well intentioned the latest reforms, the government needs to wake up and realise that the true problems lies with the continual packing of pupils into schools which merely exist for the sake of bureaucratic convenience.

The children and teenagers of New Zealand, like any nation, are an incredibly diverse group of people, with many different talents and abilities that don't reach their full potential. The only way to get pupils to shine, is to treat education as a genuine value.

Education has its greatest value at the individual level, which then rubs off on the rest of society later. How can we expect the youths of the nation to thrive, if they themselves are not taught to see it as that themselves?

The only way to do this is to, once again, get education to be a task of parents and teachers, not of bureaucrats in Wellington. In short: the government needs to butt out of educational arrangements.

So, however well intentioned and well informed National's education reform is, the government simply cannot drastically improve education levels without realising the basic truth: education, fundamentally, is a value. Until the government treats it as such, and gets its head out of bureaucrat-run doll houses known as public schools, continue to expect educational standards to fall into the abyss.

2016 Olympics

2009-10-04T20:38:00.002+13:00

Well, after hearing about Chicago's unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Olympics, I can't say I'm too saddened by the result.

Watching on Fox News, Chicago's presentation seemed very politically correct. If Glenn Beck's figures are anything to go by, the Olympics would've cost Chicago taxpayers a fortune over the next seven years (and for years to go afterward).

A Rio Olympics will be a lot more interesting than Olympics in any other cities that put in bids - after all, the Brazilians are known to put on a party! Of course, there would be downsides to the Rio Olympics: crime, and trying to get tourists to avoid the infamous favalas.

But the real test for Rio will be to see if they can pull it off without excessive bureaucratic pen-pushing. If they can, I might have to pack my bags!

Reply to Richard Goode

2009-09-13T21:52:00.001+12:00

The following is an excerpt of a discussion on the Libertyloop. Although a larger variety of topics are being discussed, I decided to take issue with one particular statement by Richard Goode. Below it is my reply.

Now, from the viewpoint of our many philosophers on SOLO, I would like to get an opinion on it - especially the last part.

> > Libertarians, if they act with integrity, apply the principle of
> > non-initiation of force in their dealings with other people.
> > Libertarians who are Objectivists apply the zero aggression principle
> > because they hold that rational self-interest in the pursuit of
> > happiness is the morally correct way to behave.
> >
>
> But the NIOF principle doesn't follow from "rational self-interest".
> IOFIYCGAWI (initiation of force if you can get away with it) does.

Richard, Ayn Rand's metaphysics wasn't for nothing. Indeed, the most fundamental idea behind her entire philosophy is that reality cannot be faked; therefore man, in complying with his nature as a being with a conceptual consciousness, needs to develop a system of morality that recognizes this (it is also upon this principle that Ayn Rand put so much emphasis on man's ability to reason: logic, briefly, is the process of rationally identifying the world around us, through the very use of concepts).

Following from this, it is only through the application of the mind to the external world that human values can be gained (the origins of values being a topic for another time). The reason why actions such as theft, murder, etc. are contrary to Rand's morality is that they deny this principle. Rather than man depending on the use of his own mind, he is reduced to the position of a second-hander - someone who, in denying the conceptual nature of man (even if he doesn't know it consciously) declares himself unfit for genuine productivity that results from the proper use of the mind, and therefore proceeds to live off the fruits of others' labour, that being his only possible course of action.

In Randian terms, this is the ultimate form of altruism - the complete reduction of man to an complete parasite. Similarly, the differences between the Randian use of the word "altruism" and the common use of that word is a topic for another time.
_______________________

Now, in response, you may say something like this:

The situation is, group A has more of something than group B. Wouldn't Group B therefore "use their minds" and go and pillage group A?

The answer of course, is no. This is because that particular situation is only peculiar to the time period it's happening in, and Group B may well become richer than Group A through perfectly rational means later on.

The conceptual nature of humans, however, is a fundamental aspect of humanity, completely regardless of who's got the bigger share of the pie. Therefore, such a statement would be trying through non-essentials, much like the people who talk about Capitalism in terms of profit and ownership, rather than the NIOF principle. It is also where the difference between the metaphysical and the man-made comes in, which is another essential part of the Objectivist philosophy.

A Reflection on Modern Russia

2009-09-02T21:14:00.002+12:00

The 1st September in any year ending with a nine is always a good time to look back on the war that, 64-70 years ago, claimed millions upon millions of lives. It is also a good time to analyse the thoughts about the War that come from some of its key participants. Out of those nations, the views that stand out the most is those of Russia.

At today's ceremony to commemorate the War, Putin put the blame for the War solely on the Western nations, notably Britain and the US, for making deals with Hitler that led to the start of the War. That is, of course, without mentioning the most important pact of the times - between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. Similarly, a Russian documentary last weekend justifies Stalin's invasion of Poland by making the claim that Poland and Nazi Germany actually entered into a secret alliance. (!)

Unfortunately, too many Russians today believe in this nonsensical idea of Russian patriotism - many even look up to Stalin admirably, and use Russian actions in WWII to justify Russian imperialism today.

Which is really a sad reflection on modern Russia.

The Wonders of Road De-regulation

2009-08-18T21:49:00.002+12:00

In response to the increasing number of traffic fatalities in this country during the year, the government has been considering the idea of raising the minimum driving age from 15 to 17, and putting in some other regulations concerning alcohol into practice.

I have a better idea. How about stripping NZ roads of most street signs, getting drivers to focus on the movements of drivers around them, rather than focusing on those signs?

This idea is called "Naked Streets", and has been tried with success in many Western countries, including the US, UK, the Netherlands and Sweden. In removing traffic signs, it successfully gets drivers to voluntarily cooperate with one another to ensure smooth traffic flow.

In those countries, the concept of shared space has been tried out alongside the "naked streets". Shared Space would work in downtown areas and suburban shopping areas where pedestrians are common sights, although for arterial routes the road does needs to be for cars to facilitate large-scale transportation. Some signs (for instance, signs signifying exits on motorways) would need to stay, but the majority (speed limits being the main example) would not.

Similarly, the give-way rules would still apply -but note that these are already used voluntarily by drivers to ensure smooth traffic flow anyway- as well as some traffic lights.

The effect of this would be to ensure that drivers are a lot more cooperative with one another one the road. Now isn't that the best way to ensure against large-scale traffic fatalities?

Rioting in France

2009-08-11T22:07:00.003+12:00

Hmm. Looks like the French are at it again.

A shame really, that a nation with a culture like France should fall into relapses of this violence every few years. I suppose, that's the price you pay for the society of moochers which has always been the end product of socialism.

Unfortunately, this has always gone hand-in-hand with the idea of "liberty". The combination of the two has never been pretty -case in point: the French Revolution.

The Evil of Appeasement

2009-08-06T20:43:00.002+12:00

Today, 6 August 2009, marks 64 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Unfortunately, the West has failed to learn the lessons of Hiroshima. Leftists everywhere use it to demonstrate the horrors of war, and talk about how great world peace would be - one of the school notices today was entitled "Pray for World Peace".

Indeed, as Ayn Rand points out, war is a terrible thing. It has taken the lives of many millions of people just over the last century, and left countless more in mourning. But what the leftists refuse to recognize is that the root of war lies in something worse than war: in statism and tyranny. When a government has declared war upon its own citizens, it is never long until the surrounding nations are next. This is the way a tyranny works: it constantly needs victims.

And this is exactly what happened in World War II. The Third Reich and Japanese Empire brought war to an unprecedented new scale throughout the world. Trying to turn a blind eye to the devastation, it took until a direct attack on American soil itself for the US to enter the war. Even then, it took the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to show the Japanese the evil of the philosophy that had grasped their nation.

What this represents, as well as military appeasement, is a far greater philosophical appeasement of tyranny; after all, military force is no use without proper philosophical backing; without the forces acting for good knowing that they're acting for good. Chamberlain's pragmatism is what allowed Hitler's Germany to take over so much of Europe so quickly. Because the ideals of the Western enlightenment were thrown into jeopardy after the First World War, for several years Germany and Japan were able to spread their Empires almost without interference, whereas before the British Empire would've intervened.

One of mankind's greatest follies is the persistent belief that evil is omnipotent; that humans are born sinners and man's natural state is that of a barbarian; that evil will always be here to stay. But evil runs at the sight of good -at forces who know that they are fighting for what's right.* Unfortunately, on August 6 1945, it took an atomic bomb to instill that message in the Japanese.

If anything, the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren't a lesson about peace, they were a lesson about the evil of appeasement.
_________

*By this, I don't mean some fanatical suicide bomber. I mean a man who has genuine positive beliefs about his philosophy, not someone who kills out of fear from an eternal Hell or the frustration of emotions without a basis in reason.

The "Rights" of Beneficiaries

2009-07-30T21:54:00.004+12:00

Not surprisingly, the MSM has been all over the case recently of some (not-so) "private" information of some beneficiaries being released into the public sector by Paula Bennett. Although one lady has already realised that her little gesture actually did little to compromise her security at all, the other is still unrepentant.

What she, the public and the MSM are forgetting is that the lady in question is a beneficiary -she lives off public money that has been forcibly extracted from taxpayers. As thus, the taxpayer has the right to know about the people they're paying for!

I suggest something like this, to be available online free of charge, for every beneficiary:

name
sex
age
marital status
no. children
which benefit they're receiving
benefit income per month
other income per month (this could be family income for stay-home mothers)
how long they've been receiving government funds.

This would not apply to pensioners, or children under the age of 18. Once an individual has stopped receiving government benefits, their information is removed from public access. Although the information will allow taxpayers to see how their money is being spent, it will not compromise the security of the beneficiaries.

The database will not include money for tax rebates.

Any beneficiary complaining about the new system will be told that they're receiving public funds; the taxpayer has the right to know who they're paying for, and make decisions accordingly.

Videos on the Stimulus

2009-07-23T22:36:00.004+12:00

(Hat tip Not PC and Shane Pleasance for links)

Now that the TARP (Toxic Assets Relief Programme) in the US has cost over $27 trillion (according to the inspector-general for the programme), now seems a good time to post some videos on the subject -they often explain more than many essays.

Here's what 1 trillion (let alone 27 trillion) can buy (sorry for the size):

Here's how the thing started in the first place (although it probably doesn't stress the governmental role as much as it should:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Ben Bernanke's superb foresight:

And last but not least, Ron Paul in the US Senate, who's currently trying to pass a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.

Rating the World's Tourists

2009-07-17T21:57:00.004+12:00

Now for a bit of lighter news: according to a new study by the world's hotel industry, the French have been ranked the world's worst tourists. Meanwhile, the Japanese have been ranked tops, followed by British tourists (which may come as a bit of a surprise!)

40,000 hotels from around the world participated in the survey. Rounding out the top 10 were:

1) Japanese
2) British
3) Canadians
4) Germans
5) Swiss
6) Dutch
6) Australians
8) Swedish
8) Americans
10) Danes

Meanwhile, us Kiwis were in the middle of the pack, tied 14th with Austrians. The 5 worst were:

22) South Africans (tied with the Poles)
24) Turkish
24) Greeks
26) Spanish
27) French

Given the usual stereotypes, I was surprised to find the British, Americans and Australians up there. Nothing else really surprises me, although perhaps the hotels surveyed were a bit mean on the French -most French tourists in downtown Wellington, for instance, seem perfectly fine.

Discuss.

Skyscrapers: American International Building

2009-07-11T22:47:00.002+12:00

Few people know of the American International Building -one of New York's tallest skyscrapers. Yet as well as being one of the foremost Gothic skyscrapers in New York the American International Building (AIB, for short) underwent fierce competition in the early 1930s to gain the title of New York's tallest with the Chrysler Building (only for both to be outdone by the Empire State Building, which was completed in record time. The AIB was the last skyscraper in New York to be completed before the Second World War, and was the tallest in downtown Manhattan until the completion of the World Trade Center in the 1970s. Since 9/11, it has regained that title.

The AIB is 290 metres tall, or 952 feet, and contains 66 floors, with 36 elevators. It was one of the first buildings in the world that was built with double-decker elevators, but due to low popularity these were scraped by the building's owners. Although originally owned by the Cities Service Company, the building is now owned by AIG and is in the process of being sold again.

The Place of Principals

2009-07-06T21:39:00.000+12:00

As a consequence of the National Government’s policy to publicly display school performance data, hundreds of New Zealand Primary School Principals are threatening to boycott literacy and numeracy standards.

As a Libertarian and Objectivist, of course I do not support the governmental interference with matters that rightly belong to schools, teachers, students and parents. But as it stands we are stuck with government’s foot firmly in the door, and millions of taxpayer dollars go to fund primary schools.

As a result, those principals threatening to boycott the standards are public servants –the public has the right to know how good our schools are, as we are paying for them! The taxpayer is their benefactor, so principals have a duty to release information about school performance publicly. Of course, the information doesn't tell all details about every aspect of schooling -but the use of it is at the discretion of parents, not principals.

In a free market for education, principals would reserve the right to release information about their schools. But in a competitive marketplace, it would be a wise decision to release information, to be better able to compete for students and the business they bring. But as parents are forced, through no choice of their own, to fund schooling whether they like it or not, it is their right to choose the best school for their children.

Luckily, Education Minister Anne Tolley believes that parents do have a right to know how about school performance. But principals, in a taxpayer-funded education system, need to remember their place as servants of the public, not masters of their children.

Article:http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2564336/Principals-in-threat-to-boycott-standards

Happy B-Day America!

2009-07-06T21:00:00.002+12:00

On July 4, many millions of Americans, as well as many others around the world, gather in a spectacular display of solidarity to celebrate the world's first -and only- nation conceived and built on the idea of individual rights and freedoms.

The American Founding Fathers envisaged a nation where, following enlightenment philosophy, people were in control of their government which was solely dedicated to the protection of their rights -not the other way around, which is commonly accepted nowadays. In doing so, they laid the foundations for two centuries of unprecedented human development.

Of course, America (like all other nations) has its share of problems, and the out-of-control government that now resides there is certainly not what the founding fathers had in mind (except, maybe, for Alexander Hamilton). Yet, think of how much poorer the world would be without American minds in science, philosophy, arts, and literature.

So, without further adieu, a happy belated birthday to the nation that, not without reason, is indeed the greatest. The challenge now is keeping to the magnificent legacy that the founding fathers created.

One Year On

2009-07-03T22:24:00.002+12:00

Finally, something good comes out of Washington DC: just one year after District of Columbia vs. Heller, DC homicides are on track to reach their lowest levels since 1964 -before the ban came into effect.

The Washington Post reports that DC had 66 homicides during the first half of the year, down from over 80 this time last year. If the trend continues, DC should report about 130-135 homicides for the year - well down from 189 last year, as well as the 494 back in 1991.

Perhaps, critics may argue that it is too early to tell if Heller vs. District of Columbia has finally turned DC's murder rate on its head. Nevertheless, the early signs do look promising.

Michael Jackson's Death

2009-06-28T21:55:00.003+12:00

Although, of course, the world is shocked at Michael Jackson's death (and news of it spread like wildfire), judging by the state he was in it shouldn't come as a great surprise. If he hadn't died now, certainly the 50 concerts would've put him over the edge.

Nevertheless, all his personal problems aside, he was certainly one of the most important musical figures of the 20th Century. He was extremely influential for people born ever since the 1950s (!), and even though Thriller, for instance, came out over 10 years before the birth of most people at my school, it wasn't uncommon to hear it being sung, or played on phones and I-Pods.

It's easy to see why many people are upset over his death. However, life will always go on, even without our best and brightest.

Open University for Maori?

2009-06-19T21:36:00.002+12:00

From the same people talking about the horrid amount of racism that exists in New Zealand society, comes this: no need to have any qualifications to get into University! Unless, of course, you're anything other than Maori.

This is also the same group of people who talk about how they're better than everybody else in New Zealand, because they're "tangata whenua"; essentially, mysticism justifying racism. Somehow, being the first people to migrate here means you deserve more rights than everyone else.

Similarly, they support segregation of seats in Parliament, based on race. A policy that Nelson Mandela may have abhorred, but apparently it's okay because of... skin colour.

The fact of the matter is, you simply can not choose your race, ethnicity, or skin colour. This is a fact that the majority of New Zealanders seem to have grasped by now. Therefore, we should be calling the "tangata whenua" of the Maori Party what they really are:

racist.

Allowing access to University based on race: racist. Discussing how much better your race is over others, due to mysticism: racist. Supporting seats segregated on the basis of race in Parliament: racist.

Indeed, this group thinks based on lines of race. According to them, if an idea is in support of racial equality by not granting preference to people based on race, it's racist. There does not have to be any objective means of proving the racism; this is the absurdity of thinking in terms of race.

Therefore, I think the Maori Party needs to be branded for what it is, once and for all: racist. It can be denied, but the basic truth behind their rhetoric cannot be hidden.

Iranian Elections

2009-06-13T21:29:00.002+12:00

It looks like Ahmedinejad has won.

This election reminded me of a book I read recently -"The Future of Freedom", by Fareed Zakaria, which talks about how liberalism (the rule of law, free markets, free speech, etc) leads to democracy, but how democratic elections in countries without those institutions often leads to dictatorship and the complete abrogation of rights.

Ever since the Iranian election and the rise of Islamic theology, this has been the case in Iran. In times gone by, I've posted pictures here of Iranians accused of being homosexuals being hanged, not an uncommon practise in Iran. The West needs to learn that the rise of Islamic ideology in Iran has led to this, and the continuing descent into absolute dictatorship in that nation.

Zakaria talks about how liberal institutions can act as a deterrant to the rise of extreme Islamism. Although in the short term this can be true, the introduction -by some miracle, no doubt- of liberal institutions in Iran would simply be showing a practical side to Persia. But at the end of the day, Islamic extremism will rise again -no country can be based on a contradiction for too long, and as political institutions merely express an underlying philosophy, they will be the ones to lose out.

This is what I fear is happening in the West, and Western intellectuals need to take note: with the philosophy of altruism still present in every part of Western society (art, politics, and religion being just a few examples), the West is also based on a contradiction, which has nearly spelt its end, in World War II, for instance. Although we are lucky to have survived for so long, we need to be very cautious, especially with economic crisis on our hands, where we tread.

Labour Can't Talk

2009-06-08T21:50:00.002+12:00

With all the hoo-hah over a rather unknown politician (Richard Worth), it is unexpected that Labour should jump on the bandwagon, to discuss the "corruption" and "hypocrisy" of the National Government.

But while I am not a great fan of the eternally Labour-lite National Government, for a party that deliberately overspent nearly a million dollars on pledge cards during the 2005 election and decided to change the law to make it all legal, the Labour Party is hardly in the good book when it comes to political honesty.

After all, this situation involves the private situation of one MP; not only did the pledge cards use money from public coffers, it was an out-and-out political affair.

Perhaps Labour should keep its mouth shut, lest memories of the controversy surrounding their use of finances during that election come back to haunt them.

An Irony of Sorts

2009-05-31T22:28:00.004+12:00

The Green Party has elected Metiria Turei as their number two -the lesser of two evils, as her rival was Sue Bradford, of Anti-Smacking Bill fame. In response, Tariana Turia, the Maori Party leader, has called the election of a Maori women to the post "a political coup".

Meanwhile, in Porirua, a suburb close to where I live filled with state housing and mongrel mob members on what could've been the prime suburb of New Zealand, we have an arena named after local Maori murderer Te Rauparaha, and no one raises an eyebrow.

Perhaps the real coup would be deliberately naming a new town or infrastructure (an arena, maybe) after, say, William Gladstone. Maori chiefs can do no wrong, surely?

Boscawen's Lamington

2009-05-25T22:05:00.002+12:00

For the life of me I'm no ACT supporter, but most ACT members are still head and shoulders above other parliamentarians, one such example being John Boscawen, who led the anti EFA marches last year (which, thankfully, is history).

So, it really annoyed me when a rival candidate at the Mt Albert by-election from the "People Before Profit" Party (whatever in hell that means) went up to him and put a lamington on his head. Fortunately, some others threw food at the perpetrator.

Perhaps he should be lucky I wasn't there -I'm not sure I could resist spitting at him, or something to that degree.

Warning: Following Dreams "Irresponsible"

2009-05-18T22:31:00.003+12:00

With the full support of her parents, 15 year old Aussie Jessica Watson has a goal: to become the youngest person ever to individually circumnavigate the globe. However, her biggest challenge isn't lofty waves, strong winds and faulty equipment -it's Australian "family groups".

John Morrissey, of the Australian Family Association, has deemed the planned voyage too risky, saying:

"I've been teaching 15 year-old girls for 42 years and I'd be amazed if any of them could cope with something like that."

Similarly, from Bill Muehlenberg, of the Family Council of Victoria, says:

"...I think it sounds fairly irresponsible to allow this kind of thing to happen certainly at this young age."

Of course, a solo circumnavigation of the world presents certain dangers -of which I'm sure Jessica Watson is fully aware of, and prepared to deal with. Unlike most teenagers these days, here is a teenager who is motivated, has a purpose and a goal, and she intends to reach her goal. She represents the pinnacle of what being a teenager should be about: finding one's own wings and goals, and reaching for the stars -building up self esteem so critical at this point in life.

Instead, we have bureaucrats who don't know a single thing about Jessica telling her it's too dangerous. How dare she be motivated and willing to accomplish a goal! After all, in our politically correct world, we're always on about "letting the little people have a go". How's that supposed to help when people need to be assured of themselves and their goals, ideas and dreams?

I am fully behind her attempt to be the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe individually. Ultimately, her only true barrier to completing her voyage is if she doesn't have 100% confidence in her own ability to attain her goal.

A Culture of Fear

2009-05-12T20:30:00.004+12:00

Much to the annoyance of the many conservative bloggers on the Kiwi blogosphere, most libertarian commentators on the internet on this side of the ditch have been out in full force protesting the Drug War. Of course, it makes sense given how the murder of a policeman, shooting of three other people, and 50-hour siege in Napier started, after all, in a "routine drug bust". But one can rant forever on the drug war -it's much deeper than just who's selling what to whom.

Now, in true benefit-of-the-doubt fashion (something akin to "Who is John Galt?"), most people will shrug it off as an isolated incident; after all, this guy did try to shoot 21 people, and opened fire at a friend's house four years ago. The more politically motivated will talk about gun control -we already hear reports about the number of unlicensed guns in New Zealand, and guns being sold freely over the internet. But no one will address the truly pressing concern in New Zealand, and indeed all of Western Society, that led to this siege: the culture of fear -and the accompanying culture of hopelessness- that has penetrated New Zealand society, and how it all leads to tragedies like this. This fear isn't about foreign wars and natural disasters; this is fear of friends, fear of neighbours, fear of government.

The culture of fear has always been present in dictatorships, the Soviet Union being the greatest example. If a neighbour didn't like you, he could simply denounce you -you would be dead soon. If you were caught saying something totally insignificant that the Party didn't like, you would meet a similar fate, and you always had to watch your back.

However, it has always been a rarity throughout the fundamentally optimistic Western World, and New Zealand has never, until recently, had any symptoms of a culture of fear. Similarly, a culture of fear has developed in the United States -observe that a recent cop shooting was over a fear that Obama was going to take away people's guns- Britain and France (riots, and all). To trace the development of the culture of fear seeping through Western society, we need to look at recent political developments.

Let's take Britain, as an example. At the end of WWII and into the 50s and 60s, Britain was hailed as a model society -a society in which you knew your neighbours and would always be happy to help. Its crime rates were some of the world's lowest. At the end of WWII, Lee Kuan Yew, of Singapore went to Britain to find out how they managed to create such a polite society, to try to recreate that culture in Singapore. Nowadays the opposite is true: Britain's crime rates are some of the highest in the Western World, and broken families abound.

In the United States, much the same occurred. In the words of Walter Williams:

"During the 1940s and '50s, I grew up in North Philadelphia where many of today's murders occur. It was a time when blacks were much poorer, there was far more racial discrimination, and fewer employment opportunities and other opportunities for upward socioeconomic mobility were available. There was nowhere near the level of crime and wanton destruction that exists today. Behavior accepted today wasn't accepted then by either black adults or policemen." Indeed, according to a recent documentary,* among the victims of many violent crimes, they will not tell who is was that shot, stabbed or assaulted them!

The same is now occurring in New Zealand. With the exponential growth in government powers in all three countries, a culture of fear is taking flight. So what happened in these last fifty years?
___

In philosophy, we saw a much greater emphasis being placed on the "common good"* through the rise of political correctness, and a move away from an objective, independent reality to the primacy of consciousness -observe how art devolved from being based on human interpretations of an objective, proper reality (romanticism through to art deco), to negating such an idea, putting all emphasis on "feeling" (expressionism through to post-modernism). By therefore negating man's existence into inexplicable feelings, modern philosophy helped to destroy the idea of self esteem, and a moral existence.

This had profound implications on society. What would be the result if human actions were based, not out of value seeking rational individuals basing their actions on production, but out of people who believed that no such thing as a rational individual could exist, and that freedom meant freedom from reality, to be administered, by force, from the producers of the world? The idea of a human became one who survives only by short term actions against one another.

Indeed, modern liberalism bases its ideas on the principle that, as men have to be rational producers to survive, no such thing as total liberty (from force and fraud) exists, and that producers have a duty to feed the non-productive.

The outcome has been, and continues to be, the breakdown of human relations. Men can only live in harmony when they deal with each other as rational beings, through the paradigm of values. At this point, liberals will talk about how the welfare state** and "working together" is the antidote to the culture of fear; conservatives will discuss religion and community. Both will say that selfishness is the cause of the culture of fear, propose collectivist solutions, and call for the heads of the productive to roll.
___

Political developments have reflected this trend in attitude. In centuries past, it would have been completely unthinkable that government should have as much control over private affairs, citizen's money and business that it does today. According to the US Libertarian Party, in 1950 the total money collected by all forms of government was 2% of total income. Nowadays, it is often an entire year's salary for a working family. There are over four million security cameras in Britain (all of which seem hopeless in preventing Islamist attacks, somehow).

When a government subscribes to the culture of fear, it does not trust its citizens with their lives or money. People must be controlled.

These developments in turn isolate the citizenry from those assigned to protect their rights -that's where Jan Molenaar, the man behind the Napier siege, comes in. A culture of hopelessness, increases in crime, and a dramatic decrease in living standards, has always been the result of a culture of fear - often followed by dictatorship, either of the proletariat, the Aryan Race, or some form of supreme leader.

And that, I fear, is where we're heading.
___

Notes:

*Many people say that there was actually less emphasis on the individual in the old British Empire than now. However, times of war aside, subjects of the Empire were very astute as to their individual rights which were considered sacrosanct -in effect, going to War, as an example, was to safeguard these rights -not for some purely collectivist reason such as an arbitrary idea of "Britain is good". For a further discussion of this idea, refer to Ayn Rand's essay "Philosophy: Who Needs It".

**Many leftists claim that the reforms of the 1980s and 9os are the cause of the culture of fear. However, economic reforms come and are now going, and the culture of fear can be traced far back before the 1980s. Institutions and cultures are two different things, and capitalism works with a culture of entrepreneurship to accompany it -not a culture of fear.

References:

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4770
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5012
http://www.lp.org/issues/family-budget
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm“Killadelphia”; Narrator: Louis Theroux
The Economist
A further discussion of the ideas of art discussed here and their philosophical meaning can be found on Not PC, or other Objectivist websites and blogs.

Skyscrapers: International Finance Centre, Hong Kong

2009-05-05T22:03:00.003+12:00

Currently Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Finance Centre tops out at over 415 metres next to Hong Kong's waterfront. Properly called 2IFC (the original 1IFC was completed in 1998), the tower is the fourth tallest in the world.

Completed in 2003, the IFC consists of 88 floors, nearly 186,000 square metres of floor space, and is topped off by a structure deliberately built to resemble fingers pointing out to the sky, as though planning to grab it.

Along with office space, IFC also contains retail space in a mall sprawled out on the ground, and a five star hotel (the Four Seasons) is part of the complex. IFC is expected will be overtaken as Hong Kong's tallest by the International Commerce Centre, which will be completed next year.

Has Your Country Caught Chicago Fever?

2009-04-30T21:11:00.002+12:00

I'm getting so fed up with constant chatter, on all news channels, about the Swine Flu epidemic that has killed, according to the WHO's revised figures, seven people.

To highlight the absurdity, let's focus on something else: Last year, the city of Chicago recorded 510 murders, up from roughly 430-40 every year over the last half decade. So, it would seem that you're far more likely to get killed in Chicago than die from Swine Flu. Indeed, if the entire world were infected by Chicago Fever, once a year approximately 1,219,400 million people will die from it*. Yet, we do not hear the WHO issuing warnings travelers to keep away from Chicago, and certainly no country has temporarily banned all flights into Chicago.

And why should they? Chicago is a fine city -one of the best, in many respects. But the numbers involved in the Swine Flu hysteria are so minuscule, that although certain procedures may be warranted, the amount of time it gets on TV is utterly ridiculous. Yet over 800,000 attended tea parties all over the US two weeks ago, with virtually no coverage in comparison.

Journalism these days!

*To get the sums: Chicago has approximately 2.8 million residents, so dividing 510 by 2.8 gets you 182. The population of the world is approximately 6.7 billion, so dividing 6.7 billion by 1 million gets you 6700. Multiplying 182 by 6700 gets you 1,219,400.

Maori MP Swears at Student

2009-04-27T21:17:00.005+12:00

In a lecture given last week at Waikato University, Maori MP Hone Harawira has been accused of swearing at a student, using the 'f' word and phrases like (ironically), "my big black ass".

Not suprisingly, Harawira has been effectively banned from giving any more lectures at Waikato University. But in an interview with a local newspaper, he said "I shut him down because he's just a racist ... He just lumped Maori in with other minorities like homosexuals and Asians. I pointed out to him that we are not a minority, but tangata whenua."

Is it just me, or isn't it racist to think of one group (of a factor completely beyond human control) as intrinsically better than all others?

I think we all know who the real racist is here, Hone. I'm pointing in your direction.

Prince Charles

2009-04-21T20:08:00.003+12:00

He's finally gone off the edge.

According to Reuters, he's publishing a book called "Harmony", about how man's recent pursuit of wealth and prosperity (read: the pursuit of happiness) is, in his words, "dangerously disconnected" from the natural world.

What an utterly ridiculous statement from a man in line to become the next King of the nation that led the world in Industrial growth in the 19th Century- thus paving the way to the prosperity enjoyed today, and the nation that first implemented, on a national scale, the ideas of the rule of law, individual rights, and common law, that founded Western politics. A nation without the ideas of which America, and no other Western nation, could exist, let alone develop originally.

So, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, I propose:

-New Zealand immediately declares a Republic;
-The Prime Minister of the time becomes the President of the new Republic; and
-A constitution is drafted similar to the US Constitution, to keep the British ideas of Rule of Law and Individual Rights alive and well.

Luckily, given the recent results of a poll by the Republican Movement, it looks like that may -may- just happen.

In Tahiti

2009-04-09T20:55:00.002+12:00

Over the next week, I'll be enjoying my school holidays in beautiful tropical Tahiti, for a French trip with some fellow students at school.

Au revoir pour la semaine!

Thank God For Secularism

2009-04-09T20:05:00.002+12:00

Three recent items from the news/blogosphere tie in nicely today:

Lindsay Perigo's recent PR "Obama Gets One Right" two days before a Woman claiming she was the "anti-Christ" kills herself and her son, a week after a new survey revealed New Zealanders were more likely to believe fortune tellers than have no doubt God exists.

That isn't to say that religion is always a bad thing; indeed the development of Protestantism during and after the Reformation helped to build a base (along with, most importantly, the re-discovery of ancient Greek thought in the Renaissance) upon which the modern, post-Enlightenment world rests. I certainly don't think much of fortune tellers, either.

However, more often than not religion is used as an excuse, justified or not, to commit horrible acts (9/11, for instance). So, a redeeming feature about New Zealand is that, certainly in public affairs, religion takes a "back seat" to more pressing issues.

That doesn't mean we're all anti-religious people; knowing many religious people myself, the great majority of them are good people, and live good lives. What it means is that religion doesn't have to come first all the time, and doesn't dominate politics.

Which (and take note) is the full and final outcome of the Reformation: by stressing the personal relationship with God, Protestantism allowed for the development of classical liberalism, and the development of the true tolerance and freedom which allowed ideas and thoughts to thrive. So while America didn't develop as a direct result of Christianity, the predominant version of Christianity in the US did allow for the Enlightenment ideals on which America is founded.

A Foolish Mistake Repeats

2009-04-06T21:02:00.003+12:00

On his big tour of Europe Barack Obama has landed in Prague, touting much the same message as the anti-nuclear protests in the 1980s did. You know, the refusal to allow a nuclear submarine into port that got us kicked out of ANZUS.

Now, I'm all for disarmament -when Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea also disarm! The fact of the matter is that America (and the European nations with a-bombs) has the right to defend itself against foreign aggressors, and that does mean the possession of nuclear bombs, if necessary (which it is). The sorry state of Western powers means that defense of non-aggressive and non-totalitarian nations rests almost entirely on US action.

I'm sick of the claim that America is an Empire -if that were so, immediately after the fall of Iraq in 2005 the nation would've been annexed by the US, and any form of self-governance banned. Instead, we saw that the Americans had no strategy after the fall of Saddam, and left Iraq in a state of anarchy for two years before peace could be restored by the troop surge. Similarly, when countries like Lebanon, Syria and Iran display an interest in the complete annihilation of Israel -the Middle East's only western democracy- they are only victims, somehow, of Western Civilisation.

That is absurd. Obama, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

One Dead (So Far) in London Riots

2009-04-02T21:45:00.004+13:00

The riots in London over the G20 meeting have left one protester dead. Frankly, this doesn't surprise me.

The further left you go on the political spectrum, the more violent protests usually are; and in a protest as vehemently anti-capitalist as this one, events were bound to turn violent. Violent protests, far from being a form of free-speech, are in most cases just a lot of angry teenagers and twenty-somethings who:

- have never run a business, let alone the huge businesses they've been protesting against;
-have never had responsibility for their lives assumed by other people. Most protesters are not working-class people with a genuine interest in living independently -they're usually middle class.
-turn not to principles on reality, but the arbitrary to justify their assertions ("everything's relative", "you can't prove reason's relationship with reality", "one man's freedom is another man's chains" etc)
-think their ideas are "rebelling against the system". They think they're "cool" for the lack thereof.

If the protesters are really interested in the plight of the poor, they'll engage in the most noble and greatest of all human actions: the act of production- of which their reckless violence is the opposite.

Daniel Hannan

2009-03-31T21:52:00.003+13:00

If you have not already seen him, here is Daniel Hannan, MEP for South-East England, taking on Gordan Brown over his recent economic policies... a great speaker making excellent points.

Edison Hour

2009-03-28T20:26:00.002+13:00

In a few minutes Earth Hour will kick off in New Zealand -and, predictably, there's been heaps of hype over it on the TV, radio, and internet. So in retaliation, I will be celebrating Edison Hour -a celebration of industry, progress, and human happiness.

Yet More Stimulus News

2009-03-24T21:26:00.002+13:00

On the subject of the latest Obama stimulus (only a few days ago he injected US$1,000,000,000,000 into the US economy) fellow libertarian Paul van Dinther has produced a Google Earth image showing how much area would be taken up by US$100 bills if they were all laid out side by side to make US$1,000,000,000,000.

The result just boggles the mind. (N.B.: Google Earth needed for this to work)

Racial Progress in Europe?

2009-03-19T21:33:00.002+13:00

While the NAACP in the US is claiming that banks unfairly targeted black home-buyers with easy credit, a new study conducted in Germany and Eastern Europe has found that fully 5% of German 15 year olds is a neo-Nazi, with larger numbers in the far-right of German politics.

This is why I hate the detractors of America pointing to Europe as an example of racial equality: beneath the clean exterior of European statism, a huge amount of social tension still exists in the continent. In parts of Britain and France, huge numbers of Muslim immigrants live in huge ghettos that the police won't go into, where Islamic violence spreads -almost all Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe are carried out by Muslims who've lived there their whole lives in the countries they hate. In Germany and Eastern Europe, neo-Nazism is on the rise amongst teenagers and young adults, with the accompanying crimes*. In Russia, the situation in Chechnya is all the proof of racial tension in Putin's new USSR.

With racial tensions as bad as they are in Europe, perhaps race relations have in fact improved the most in that most racist of nations, the USA?

*from the article: "Government figures have shown anti-Semitic crimes rose at the end of last year."

A Tale of Two Stories

2009-03-12T21:30:00.002+13:00

Over the last 24 hours there have been two shooting sprees, one in Alabama in which ten people died and another in Germany, in which 16 school students died.

Both are horrific. But it's interesting to see how The Dominion Post, Wellington's daily newspaper (for foreigners) reports the stories.

For the shootings in Alabama: a good half of the front cover of the "World" section taken up by this story, including three photos of the crime scenes, eyewitness accounts and detail of the events and perpetrator.

For the shootings in Germany: 10cm of one column used for this story, some of which was used for discussing previous school shootings in Germany. Although 9 people had died when the shootings had occurred and the story was newer, the German shooting spree was far more brutal.

It would seem that this is just an attempt to make the US seem worse.

President Teleprompter

2009-03-08T22:08:00.002+13:00

Barack Obama has a new title: President Teleprompter.*

According to the New York Times, Barack Obama has been making clever use of teleprompters at his press conferences, with the teleprompters being placed behind the audience and the TV cameras, to make it look as though he's looking at the crowd.

A rather cheeky tactic, but to be expected in the age when it's all about appearances.

*Hat tip Not PC

Skyscrapers: Burj Al Arab

2009-03-04T22:03:00.002+13:00

The Burj Al Arab, Dubai's first mega-project stands 321 above the Persian Gulf -literally- on a small island 280 metres from the coast, linked by a bridge. It is the world's second-tallest hotel.

Construction of the Burj Al Arab began in 1994, and was completed five years later in 1999, at a cost of US$650 million. The atrium of the hotel is 180 metres tall (which may make you a bit dizzy if you're looking down!)

The Burj Al Arab is considered the world's only seven star hotel, with guests receiving complimentary butlers and chaffeur-driven Bentleys during their stays, as well as an underwater restaurant and complete views over the city and Gulf. Suites start at US$1,000 per night and the most expensive suite costs a whooping US$28,000 a night. Similarly, the largest suite is 780 square metres large -that's over three times the size of a four-bedroom, two-storey middle class home!

Helping Form NZ Education Policy :-)

2009-03-02T21:50:00.000+13:00

About a week and a half ago, I received this email:

Tena koe Callum

Reading your press release I'm interested in your perspective on education. What do you see as alternative to the current system or changes that could be made to improve what we have?

Regards
Kelvin Davis MP
Associate Spokesman Education
Labour
Kelvin Davis MP
------

My reply (in a formal, rather PC tone):

Hello Kelvin,

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for your interest in my press release. Do many of your colleagues read press releases from organisations such as SOLO?

Throughout most of human history, education has been a highly personal field, built fundamentally upon the relationship between student and teacher -that the educator would take a genuine interest in what goes on inside the student's brain, adjusting curriculum and teaching methods accordingly, and the student would take an interest in what they're taught, and its application. In effect, there existed a relationship of mutual respect and cooperation between the two, education being the common value. Thus, parents and other members of the community would take an active role in the education of schoolchildren.

When this connection between pupil and educator existed most strongly, the results have been good -regardless of external conditions. A good example of this comes from 19th Century Washington D.C -less than ten years after the civil when when institutionalised racism was rampant, at a school called Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School. The school was an entirely black school far less resourced than the area's white schools. However, most students, after graduating, went off to Ivy-League or other top American Universities, and soon overtook the white schools of Washington in test scores. Despite being a very working class school with less than adequate facilities, it outshone the other schools of the area.*

State-run education was first introduced by Bismarck in Prussia, during its wars with France, as a means of supplying the military with plenty of new recruits.

However, schools based on the relationship between student and teacher, and one-room community schoolhouses were the norm in the early 20th Century. But as the concept of universal education by the state became common in political thinking after World War II and the development of economies-of-scale in manufacturing, schools in New Zealand (as well as around the world) became far less personalised, with the goal being to get as many children through the education system as possible with the skills needed for the new era of technology. The relationship of mutual respect and cooperation between student and teacher based on the common value of education essentially broke down, and although students and teachers could still be friends with a mutual interest in one another, there were suddenly many other children that needed to be dealt with. The value of education was replaced by the necessity of education -having an inverse effect, as 2 of every 5 NZ adults today are in fact functionally illiterate**, thanks to state curriculum.

A key argument for state education today is that only state funding can provide resources for education in the "knowledge economy". However, looking back to the industrial age when new machines required new skills, we do not see faltering economic growth because of a lack of such education.
__________________________________________________________

Based on this brief summary, three changes need to be made in regards to education:

1) education is a value -not a commodity, and educational thinking needs to be based around this. As thus, educational involvement needs to be done at an individual and community level, where education is a genuine value to all parties.
2) education is not done on a societal level -children do not belong to any one country, but their immediate surroundings and people.
3) the recognition that, therefore, that education is not the state's responsibility -that state-run education is dangerous to a nation's free speech (by having reign of what gets into a child's brain) and is often compromised by political goals, in turn undermining democracy. There is little evidence to suggest that state involvement improves the quality or quantity of education, as the fact that levels of functional literacy in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries was higher than today and people had the necessary skills to keep the economy growing.

To reinforce, the goal of these changes is to make education a value with mutual respect and cooperation as its means, as opposed to a commodity.

Thanks,
Callum McPetrie

*http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5241, "Patterns of Black Excellence in Education" by Walter Williams
**"The Free Radical" issue 76 page 19, "The Look and Guess Lady" by Graham Crawshaw

Jeanette Steps Down, and...

2009-02-24T21:53:00.003+13:00

Jeanette Fitzsimons is stepping down from her role as Green Party co-leader. This means that it's all up for grabs now -there's only one catch:

"Ms Fitzsimons stands down, quietly; two MPs put their names in the ring - it must be a female; and the party votes for the best woman on the day. It is all very nice."

So typical of the Greens! Unfortunately, that means it's a toss-up between Bradford and Turei, so it's no surprise that on a Stuff poll asks voters to choose the best of the two, over 56% of respondents replied with "I don't care about the Greens".

Protests and Factory Schools

2009-02-19T21:39:00.002+13:00

At Fairfield College in Hamilton this morning, a student protest against the school's leadership made big news across the country. Concerned about the lack of any real power of decision making in the school, the students staged a protest at the school as 16 protesters swelled to 200.

It is not a surprise in the current educational environment. Over the last fifty years, every aspect of life, rather than the traditional straitjacket model, has become personalised to certain degrees. Schooling, however, sticks stubbornly to the one-size-fits all model.

Every day, thousands of students flood into the countries colleges and high schools, and go through much the same routine. Teachers have to juggle hundreds of students in a day, and class sizes are much larger in New Zealand than other countries, leaving little time to catering to student's needs. Indeed, teachers and students alike are, in their particular contexts, little more than the workers and products of factories, respectively.

The special link between student and educator which has been the heart of education for so much of human history has been replaced by economies of scale, in the interests of "universal education", ultimately serving the interests of bureaucracy.

Perhaps the students at Fairfield High should ponder that -is modern education truly about education, or political goals?

How Worse Will It Get?

2009-02-16T16:52:00.003+13:00

As expected Obama and Pelosi's 1000 page stimulus package has passed both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, to be signed into law by Obama ASAP.

Let's go over some aspects of it: the bill is some +700 billions dollars of spending in various areas. First off, where will this money come from? They can take it directly from taxes -which the populace will notice directly, and not be happy about. Better to print money instead, and only notice it over a long period of time -when over stimulus can be passed. Glenn Beck shows the increase in the US money supply:

Secondly, what will the money be spent on? Rebuilding American infrastructure, economically, sounds like a good idea. But what's the point of building infrastructure if no one's going to use it? Infrastructure is built to facilitate economic growth now, when it is cost-effective. The sorry state of US infrastructure now is the result of over-enthusiastic government infrastructure building in the 50s and 60s, which couldn't all be maintained at once. Government planning in those days also centred around the suburbs, leading to unnecessary infrastructure projects.

Thirdly, is it moral to take money from those who still have it to use for projects that won't be used? To distort market signals leading to another collapse? Is it wise to take money from the producers who, like Atlas, hold up the American -and World- economy and give it to people whose only business is consuming without producing?

The answer to all these questions is a resounding: NO!

EFA Repealed!

2009-02-12T22:01:00.002+13:00

Well, this crept up on everyone. Parliament has, just this afternoon, repealed the Electoral Finance Act.

Looks like Labour saw the light, too, calling the EFA a "mistake". All parties -except the Greens, whoopdie-doo- voted for the repeal.

An excellent day for free speech in New Zealand!

PC Gone Mad

2009-02-07T22:07:00.004+13:00

Truly appalling. Gordon Brown is called names! It's an offense to everything good and decent!

This is the Britain of today, in which political correctness permeates from every corner of society, especially politics. In the article, Lord Foulkes (god knows how he got that title) says about Clarkson's comment:

"He has insulted Gordon Brown three times over: accusing him of being a liar, having a go at him for having a physical handicap, and for his nationality.

"It is an absolute outrage of the worst kind.

"Disabled people will be up in arms about it, Scottish people will be angry and it should concern all of us that the prime minister has been accused of lying."

There is a common phrase for people espousing views like this: pull your head in. Or, more accurately: grow up.

Skyscrapers: Gateway Arch

2009-02-02T21:33:00.004+13:00

Although not technically a skyscraper, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is one of the most iconic American structures. Standing 192 metres above the Mississippi River, The Gateway Arch is one of the best examples of post-war architecture.

At the top of the Arch is a small viewing platform over St. Louis and the surrounding countryside, which can only be access through a "tram" (or more accurately, a small pod) running to the viewing platform from underground.

The arch was constructed between 1963 and 1965, and was designed in 1947. It is a designated National Historical Landmark.

Stimulus V.2

2009-01-29T22:03:00.003+13:00

Obama's new US$825b stimulus package passed through the House of Representatives today. Not good news.

He obviously hasn't learnt anything from the Bush US$700b (and now uncounable trillions) bailout, then!

Entry into the IPA Kennard Freedom Prize

2009-01-25T21:12:00.003+13:00

This is my entrance into the 2009 Kennard Freedom Prize.

Or: How to repackage Objectivism.

What responsibility, if any, do governments have for the liberty, prosperity and security of individuals?

By Callum McPetrie

NB: in this essay, “Capitalism” (with an upper-case “C”) refers to laissez-faire capitalism, not the mixed economy. “capitalism” is used in the general meaning of the word. The same rule applies for other ideologies and their respective definitions.

Ever since at least World War I and the development of the modern social democratic state, many people in the Western World believe that the primary responsibility of government, along with protecting citizens from force and fraud, is protecting them economically with a “safety net” and economic intervention to “fine tune” the economy, and regulate with the public interest in mind.

These ideas of government are built on the premise of the “common good” (meaning, to act in a way that benefits the majority of the citizenry, even if at the expense of other citizens), and the philosophy of Collectivism (which Socialism builds upon). Similarly, the idea of a government restricted to protecting citizens from force and fraud derives from the idea of individualism, which attributes to the individual inalienable rights to his life and the fruits of his labour (which Capitalism builds upon). Even so, most defence of Individualism today is based on the fact that it provides the best outcome for the greatest number –not on the premise of the morality of individual rights.

Although a majority of people, through the economics of Milton Friedman, believe that the free market and governmental restraint provides the best outcomes most of the time, the guiding principle of morality throughout most of history has been Collectivism, creating the moral-practical dichotomy and paving the way for statism and intrusive government. This essay will set out how Individualism and the libertarian idea of government restricted to protecting citizens from force is the only responsibility of government, why it works, and why it’s moral.

Crucial to understanding the development of these ideas, however, is the history behind them.

The History of Individual Rights

From Plato to the Enlightenment

The idea of the common good can be traced back to Plato. In his book The Republic, Plato discusses a communitarian society in which every citizen has responsibilities they must fulfill. This idea is still common around the world, such as, for instance, with military conscription. Aristotle, another famous philosopher, founded the idea of morality being based in reality, an idea crucial to later Enlightenment thinking, and is known as the “father of logic” –another important development.

Throughout most of the history of Christianity, European governments were theocratic monarchies in which citizens placed duty to God as the highest purpose in their Earthly lives. All European societies had some idea of class, with serfs (or later, slaves) as the lowest class, and the King or Queen as the highest person in society. The rights of citizens, if they had any, were determined by the Monarchy.

The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th Centuries, with its renewed emphasis on Aristotelian Realism and Reason inherited from the rediscovery of Greek thinking in the Renaissance, was when the idea of individual rights was first developed by John Locke. Britain became the first power to fully integrate individual rights into its system of law, a tradition it exported throughout the world (note that most of the world’s richest countries outside Europe were colonies of Britain).

At the same time, Adam Smith developed his economic theories in The Wealth of Nations, and governments ended the mercantilism of previous centuries. The outcome was a massive increase in the standard of living in the 19th century.

Industrial Revolution

In 1830, an English writer called Thomas Macaulay stated:

“If any person had told the Parliament … after the crash in 1720 that in 1830 the wealth of England would surpass all their wildest dreams … that London would be twice as large … the rate of mortality would have been diminished to one half of what it was then … that men would be in the habit of sailing without wind and would be beginning to ride without horses … the prediction would have come true.”

The facts back him up. In 1830, as infant mortality declined, England’s average age lowered to 15 (families were still big, an inheritance from feudal culture). New technology in clothes production allowed entire populations to be clothed. Countless diseases that had infected and killed countless Britons were wiped out, and travel by land and sea became a lot quicker. During the nineteenth century, the European population increased by 300 million –one hundred fold on any previous century. Life expectancy in Britain increased from approx. 25-30 to 45-50, and Britain became the most prosperous society the world had seen. The idea of a limited government based on individual rights was working, and until WWI few doubted its success. The Industrial Revolution produced a wealthy, stable middle class, able to moderate the institutions of society.

The American Experience

The United States was the first nation ever to have a government entirely built on the idea of individual rights, and the libertarian idea of government, as laid out in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

As a result, America became the wealthiest nation in the world in the late nineteenth century, overtaking Britain, and became a refuge for peoples from around the world. During the late nineteenth century, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, providing a safe way to light homes, and railways provided cheap transportation across the continent, allowing for social mobility. In 1903, the Model T Ford was first produced, and the Wright Brothers demonstrated powered flight. Despite the prevalent racism and slavery inherited from Europe, minorities also had a chance to succeed, as the story of George Washington Carver, a great innovator in the field of agriculture, shows.

The developments of 19th Century capitalism, by providing a strong, wealthy middle class, brought about social reform such as rights for women and later, blacks and minorities. Capitalism paved the way for equality before the law.

The Twentieth Century

What Happened?

The first half of the twentieth century, however, did not go down well. Old European rivalries, mostly put aside during the nineteenth century, spilled over in WWI. The Soviet Union was formed in 1917 out of an ancient, inefficient tyranny. The Great Depression, a result of government-controlled money and an intrusive Herbert Hoover, soured the public opinion of capitalism, and Hitler was brought to power in Germany, starting WWII. Except in the United States, the general viewpoint swung toward collectivism (and its corollary, socialism) as the best political ideology. The economics of John Maynard Keynes became popular, as did the welfare state.

Government socialism did not work well. Governments racked up huge debt, and citizens had to bear the brunt of it with high taxes. Strikes organised by powerful unions were regular, and often turned into riots. Cities were ugly and crime-ridden. People became very dissatisfied as a feeling of hopelessness spread when recession hit in the 1970s, with high inflation and unemployment throughout the West.

The Return of Capitalism (Almost)

The turnaround toward capitalism started in the late 1970s. Populaces distraught with poor economic planning and corruption brought Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to power. The roaring Asian Tigers demonstrated the new zeal for capitalism, and economic reforms became commonplace. The theories of Milton Friedman led to a rediscovery of the economics of self-interest underpinning human progress, through economic incentives such as the law of supply and demand. The libertarian idea of governmental restraint grew in popularity.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Communism as an ideology had been refuted, and the horrors of communism under Stalin and Mao were revealed. Capitalism was back, and one commentator even called it “the end of history”. Capitalism’s critics went from claiming that it produced too little wealth for too few people (the unions) to claiming that it produced too much wealth for too many people (the environmentalists).

Despite progress in the forms of privatisation and looser business regulation, government kept Keynesian controls on monetary supply and introduced strict environmental regulations in the 1990s and 2000s, such as the Resource Management Act in New Zealand.

Moral Defence of Individualism

Utilitarianism

Individualism, through capitalism, proved itself to be the best socio-political system over the last two centuries, creating unprecedented wealth for great numbers of people. Although most laymen support capitalism on these grounds, the majority of capitalism’s supporters still believe that government must be active in providing support for the poor and regulating the market. Despite many economic arguments against the welfare state and regulations such as the minimum wage and affirmative action, these ideas still remain strong.

This is because the idea of a regulatory “mixed” economy is based on Utilitarianism, which accepts Collectivist ethics. Such Utilitarians support capitalism on the grounds that it provides the best outcome for the most people. However, as well as having an economic side, most societal issues –the welfare state being the best example- are more fundamentally moral issues, concerning justice and morality. Although most utilitarian supporters of capitalism disagree about the means of the welfare state to achieve equality, they accept the goal of the socialists who do believe in governmental force to achieve that goal. In most cases, there is no moral difference between capitalism’s supporters (unless on an arbitrary premise, such as “greed works”) and its critics. It is on those collectivist moral grounds that the welfare state gets support.

In turn, the combination of capitalism as a means of achieving a collectivist goal leads to the moral-practical dichotomy. Individualism (to certain degrees), most laymen believe, is essential to progress, but collectivism and the ethics of sacrifice are morally superior.

Individualism and Capitalism as Morally Superior

Contrary to these beliefs, Individualism is morally superior to Collectivism and Collectivist ideologies, the reason being that Individualism is the only socio-political ideology based on the idea of individual rights. Individual rights come from the idea that man is the sole beneficiary of his own production, which derives from the idea that the use of reason to reach human ends as good.

As philosophers know, man is a being with a volitional, conceptuall consciousness (the one presupposing the other). Other forms of life have consciousness to varying degrees; only humans have the ability to think conceptually. Thinking conceptually requires a process of identification, integration and understanding, known as reason. As man cannot obtain the values needed for life from the few instincts he has, he needs to use his reason, and apply it to the outside world to obtain values.

Life is a continual process of obtaining values, and all beings need a goal; this goal is self-preservation (in order to reproduce, for plants and animals). In perceptual or unconscious beings, this goal is pursued automatically; humans, having volition, need a purpose. For humans, this purpose is happiness - “happiness” being a state not of spur-of-the-moment whim, but of understanding that a conscious, joyous life is the ultimate reward of human action. Reason, his only tool of survival, is the only means by which he can obtain happiness, both on a physical and psychological level (as it is from reason that emotions, as opposed to impulses or sensations, derive).

To obtain happiness, and to live life on earth, man needs a code of morality, a guide to behaviour. The hallmark of a morality based on proper human happiness is a devotion to rationality, and the social conditions that allow it to thrive –individual rights, by verifying the morality of obtaining values through the use of reason.

In the Oxford English Dictionary, rights are “a moral or legal entitlement to have or do something”. Individual rights, however, are more commonly known as “negative rights”; i.e., the right to do what you wish providing it doesn’t harm others. These rights are the moral basis on which to build a society.

To establish the link between reason and rights, the idea of “force” needs to be examined. “Force” is involuntary action between two individuals, such as theft, and necessarily involves the negation of reality, and the impotence of reason. Take for example, bank robbery. Not only does the robber continually need to deny and change his stories, he has to rely on the blindness of others (such as the police) to remain legitimate, meaning that truth gets replaced by the arbitrary, and reason by wishful thinking. There is also a psychological aspect to the use of force –self-hate, by declaring oneself useless in the creation of values. Men (and societies) who consider force the only way to survive end up destroying themselves (witness any dictatorship or anarchy throughout history). Reason is the only tool of creating values; force destroys them, and renders use of the mind impossible (witness the destruction of all tyrannies throughout history).

Individual, inalienable Rights are the means of keeping the institutions of society under the law; the word “inalienable” means that, if government commits an act of force, that government is wrong –rights are separate from government action. Individual Rights protect man from men, and are not subject to a majority vote. Rights are the legal manifestations of the fact that the use of man’s mind is good, and that men who use their mind to produce objects of value to human life are morally superior to those who live, by force, off the minds of others –as they have chosen life and happiness, and the virtues necessary to go about obtaining values in order to reach that goals, as the proper way to live life.

This is why individualism works –because it teaches man that the use of the mind is good, and therefore a government based on non-initiation of force is good.

Conclusion

The libertarian idea of government, based on Individualism, is morally superior to government force in the name of the “common good”, as it is the only idea of government that recognizes that man has a right to his own life, liberty and property, and only through holding up the use of man’s mind as good can a prosperous and human civilisation become a reality.

In history as in economics, the facts back this up. Individualism has brought about an unprecedented increase in human welfare, which was unthinkable beforehand.

Unfortunately, the morality of the modern age, based on self-sacrifice and its socio-political manifestation, Collectivism, are proving a threat to Individualism and Capitalism, and most supporters of Individualism and Individual Rights (including philosophers and economists) have been unable to defend those ideas on moral grounds, which has allowed socialism to creep into modern society. If Individualism is to have a future, it needs to be defended on moral grounds.

On both practical and moral grounds, the libertarian idea of government is the only proper political philosophy –as it is built on the idea of man’s life as good.

In answer to the question: government has no responsibility for the prosperity and security of individuals; its only responsibility to protect their liberty, from force and fraud.

References:

The Bourgeois Virtues, Deirdre McCloskey, pg 9, Apology, 2006
America Alone, Mark Steyn, pg 6, Chapter 1, 2006
Black Innovators and Entrepreneurs Under Capitalism, Andrew Bernstein
The Capitalist Manifesto, Andrew Bernstein, Part One, Chapters Three, Four, Five, 2005
Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff, Chapters 7, 8, 10, Epilogue
Philosophy: Who Needs It, Ayn Rand, Chapter 7, pg 91, 1984
A fuller discussion of the philosophy underlying Individualism can be found in the works of Ayn Rand such as Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and The Virtue of Selfishness, and the works of Leonard Peikoff.
The ideas of John Locke can be found in his books An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government. The ideas of Adam Smith can be found is his book The Wealth of Nations.

Four More Years of Statism

2009-01-22T21:06:00.003+13:00

The hype around Barack Obama reached new highs yesterday during the inauguration, when hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Washington to see their new President. Now, after the glamourous celebrations, reality is going to start to bite.

During his campaign, instead of outlining policies backed by evidence to tackle the current economic crisis, Barack Obama raved on about "change we can believe in", that we need to get through it "together", etc. Instead of appealling to reason, he simply used a good speaking voice to great effect, appealling to emotion.

Unfortunately for him, he's now the person people look to for leadership and guidance, and expectations are incredibly high. What happens when a man with no clue of how to lead, no rational policies and principles based on "feeling", has his finger on the button?

He cashed on the failure of Bush to extremes -he made himself look like a new hope, a new way forward by simply using the word "change". What he's been advocating is more government regulation, based on collectivism. Bush was one of the biggest spenders in US history, so where's the "change" in advocating big government?

Then of course, there's the race issue. Leftists intellectuals have been raving on about how Obama's election victory is proof of "post-racial America". They're forgeting something -a "post-racial America" would not care about race!

Barack Obama won the Presidency through appeals to emotion, not reason. Given expectations, I expect the next four years to be... hilarious, if not outright scary.

Israel

2009-01-19T20:53:00.002+13:00

Israel has decided to remove its troops from Gaza. Wimps -there will be no peace in Gaza until Hamas is completely gone. All we can do is guess how long it takes for the conflict to fire up again.

In the meantime, here is an illustration that sums up the situation -what the world's media doesn't want you to see:

Instead, we keep getting stories of how civilians are dying, yet no one on the world stage raises a finger to point out that Hamas hides among its civilians, and then uses their deaths as propaganda!

Hawkes Bay

2009-01-19T20:29:00.002+13:00

I've been in the Hawkes Bay for the last several days without a computer, which explains my absence from the internet.

Although I don't have any photos of the area, it is a very nice province of New Zealand, known for its vineyards and top-quality wine. The biggest city is Napier, with its world-renown art deco centre built after an earthquake decimated the city, and uplifted most of the land that the city's built on. The Hawkes Bay has a hot, dry Mediterranean climate, with lots of sunshine, and dry hills to the South of the populated area. Most of the Hawkes Bay is flat, but the hills in the area provide excellent vistas.

That's about all I have to say for now.

Skyscrapers: Comcast Center

2009-01-13T21:15:00.003+13:00

The Comcast Center is the tallest building in Philadelphia. Completed in early 2008, the Comcast Center rises 297 meters over the skyscrapers of Center City, 10 meters taller than 1 Liberty Place, the second tallest building in the city. It contains 57 floors, and 118,000 square metres of floor space.

In an effort to improve Philadelphia's sporting record, a statue of William Penn was constructed at the top of the tower; the "curse of William Penn" states that unless a statue of William Penn is the highest object in the city (as was the case until 1987 with the Philadelphia City Hall), Philadelphia will not win any sporting championship. The statue was built, and the World Series a few months afterwards was won by Philadelphia. Perhaps it's not a curse, so much as a dampner on morale.

Two Articles on Atlas Shrugged

2009-01-13T21:00:00.002+13:00

A year after having read Atlas Shrugged, two good articles comparing the events in the book to real life events in this current financial crisis:

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fact to Fiction in 52 Years

Britain, by Ayn Rand

Too sad.

US$5b for Breast Transplants

2009-01-08T21:41:00.006+13:00

With the entire economy of America lined up in Washington to get handed free money from the Feds, few stories can be as downright bizarre as this: the US porn industry is seeking a US$5 billion bailout.

Larry Flynt, a spokesman for the industry, said

"The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine."

Actually Larry, no American should be forced to pay for breast implants and AO videos. He went on to say:

"It's time for congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly."

Umm, why, to both? Last time I checked, only a bed was required!

If all these bailouts are not showing Americans that their economy has been wrecked by the popular fiscal policy and quiet Keynesianism of the past half-century, I don't know what will.

The Gaza Conflict

2009-01-08T21:04:00.005+13:00

Predictably, thousands of people around the world have, in recent weeks, been out marching against Israel, condemning every aspect of Israel's existence whilst ignoring the role of Hamas; TV news has been abound with stories about the "destruction" of Gaza, taking for granted statistics given to them by Hamas (such as the death toll); and once again the conflict is presented as an "us vs. them" battle, with Israel having to defend every action and supporters being shouted down.

Yet, all the while nothing is heard of the constant threat that Israelis have lived under for the last several years. In response, the Israelis have built fortifications in their urban areas to protect against rockets fired from Gaza, and are constantly on the move to bomb shelters, and living in fear of the rockets. 15 people have died from these rocket attacks in southern Israel. That may not seem like many, but what it shows is that the Israelis do not want citizens of Israel to be harmed by these rockets.

Hamas, however, does not care -in fact, Gazans dying is good for their publicity. They are more than willing to hide among civilians, which makes them harder to target. Israel targets Hamas bases and vehicles with, usually, immaculate precision -yet people get killed when there's a ton of civilians around, which Hamas uses to their advantage. Not only does it make fighting the war so much harder, it draws sympathy from the Western media.

Which leads us to another fact about Gaza: the median age there is 15. The media makes it look as if Israel is unfairly targeting children. Instead, the toll on the children is a result of the young breeding of the Muslim population.
___________________________________

The World's leaders are calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They're forgetting who first broke the last ceasefire, with Israel doing nothing about it until now. No one raised a finger then. Israel should've starting fighting Hamas from the first rocket.

But a ceasefire is never a real option for this conflict -it only allows for Hamas, and the other organisations that won't stop until Israel is wiped off the map, to regroup and re-arm. Instead, Israel should make it its mission to properly subvert Hamas, once and for all, and neutralise Gaza. In fact, if the experience of Arabs living in Israel shows us anything, it's that the people there will be significantly better off under Israeli rule!

*America Alone, Mark Steyn, page XVI

Last Post of '08

2008-12-22T21:18:00.002+13:00

As things start to wind down for the year, this will be my last post of the year, and reflect on a very successful year. As my ClusterMap down the right shows, this blog has received more visitors from all different parts of the globe this year than last. I have had more people talk, email, and post on or about the Libertarian Front, and my SOLO-Youth Press Releases (all of which were posted originally here) have appeared widely throughout the internet.

So, to all the people who have posted, read, and discussed this blog from all corners from the globe: merry Christmas to you all, and a happy 2009!

"Deep Throat" Dies

2008-12-19T21:39:00.003+13:00

Mark Felt, otherwise known as "Deep Throat", has passed away today at the grand old age of 95. Felt was integral in revealing the Watergate scandal in 1974, which led to the resignation of President Nixon.

Felt kept his secret until 2005. At the time of Watergate, he was working in a high position in the FBI.

For the uninformed, Watergate was the name given to the scandal that developed when men acting on orders direct from President Nixon broke into the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC, stealing a tape from the office of the Democratic National Committee. Over time, more scandals were revealed, which led up to Nixon's 1974 resignation. More detail can be found at Wikipedia.

Full Story

Oh Yeah, They're the Government

2008-12-16T21:56:00.002+13:00

I'm pleased I'm not the only one who needs reminding of the new National Government:

"Even Speaker Lockwood Smith stumbled when he referred to Opposition leader Phil Goff as "prime minister".

Perhaps it's because I was six years old when they attained power, but whenever I hear the word "government" I automatically think of Helen Clark and her cronies, and their associated ideology. It's rather surreal to see her as a backbencher, after having her on TV for most nights during the last nine years.

Looks like I'm not the only one, either!

School's Out

2008-12-12T21:28:00.003+13:00

As of today, the school year has ended for High Schools and Colleges all over the country, with Primaries and Intermediates finishing now or next week. Some kids will be out around the towns and cities, but most of them will be at home.

Just today, an article appeared in the Dominion Post warning that New Zealand's "She'll be right" attitude (what attitude? it died out years ago when, mysteriously, crime was on the rise) is to blame for fatal accidents where youths are the victims. However, would it be better to condemn those kids to a life of fear of the outside world?

While it is true that parents can take a worthy role in the education of their children about the outside world, a child must learn about it for himself. Children, more so than the rest of us, have an intrinsic desire to explore and learn about the world around them, and to have fun doing so. Education through experience best helps a child to learn about the world around them. How does preventing them from experiencing the outside world help their development?

Once again, the politically-correct cotton-wool culture of modern day New Zealand is at work, trying to protect their child -and intervening in the lives of other people's children- from the culture of self-loathing and hopelessness that they created, by changing New Zealand culture from one of self-reliance to complete reliance on others.

Perhaps removing politically correct cotton-wool culture from every facet of a child's life may help us rebuild that culture and allow our children to discover the world around them, and to build their own ideas of right and wrong, rather than having those ideas forced down their throats by a politically-correct clique.

Should We Get Our Hopes Up?

2008-12-09T21:35:00.003+13:00

At his Speech From the Throne today, John Key said :

"In pursuing this goal of economic growth my Government will be guided by the principle of individual freedom and a belief in the capacity and right of individuals to shape and improve their own lives."

There are things that John Key wants to do, that will be applauded by Libertarians. However, as Lindsay Perigo notes, is it all rational to get our hopes up? There are still many anti-freedom elements to the new regime.

Nevertheless, it's still much better having a government that will actually listen to its citizenry (RE: electoral finance act, anti-smacking*) and will at least hold self-responsibility as its ideal, than the all-arrogant and all-pervasive Labour Government of 1999-2008.

*Admittedly, Key had a role to play in this as well.

Skyscrapers: Columbia Center

2008-12-05T21:54:00.003+13:00

With an imposing presence in the city, the Columbia Center rises 285 metres (937ft) above the streets of downtown Seattle, in Washington State. The Columbia Center encompasses 76 floors, the 73rd of which contains an observation deck, and over 140,000 square metres of floor space.

When opened in 1984, the building was originally called the Columbia Center. It then changed to Columbia Seafirst Center, then Bank of America Tower in 1999. It changed again in 2005 back to its original name. Until the completion of LA's US Bank Tower (or Library Tower) in 1993, it was the tallest American building west of the Mississippi.

Two Years Old!

2008-12-05T21:38:00.002+13:00

As of today, the Libertarian Front is officially two years old -started on December 5, 2006.

Since then, well over 20,000 visits have been paid to this blog. Those visits have come from obvious places such as New Zealand and the United States, and also from countries such as Georgia, Suriname, and even Greenland and Palestine. The top 20 countries go as follows:

United States	2,664
New Zealand	2,620
United Kingdom	597
Canada	304
Australia	244
India	90
Germany	86
Netherlands	81
Italy	58
France	55
Brazil	54
Malaysia	44
Spain	40
Philippines	32
United Arab Emirates	32
Poland	31
Sweden	30
Indonesia	30
Mexico	29
Japan	27

Thanks to everybody who has visited, read, and posted on this blog -and good luck for the upcoming year!

~Callum

The Best Thing About a National Government...

2008-12-03T21:50:00.003+13:00

...is that, in Government, the Greens are ignored. From the article:

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said New Zealand should be showing leadership and focus on targets not on the rules around farming and forests.

"Our actions to exclude our largest pollution sources, can only lead to other countries seeking to do the same," Dr Norman said.

"If this happens we will undermine the talks and we will be targeted as a global climate criminal. Tourism Minister John Key will oversee a great leap backwards in our tourism industry."

So, according to Russel Norman, it's perfectly alright to try and cripple New Zealand's greatest money-making industry in the name of a completely arbitrary environmental goal, which is out of our control anyway, and whose only purpose anyway is to destroy human industry and capitalism?

And it's all kind of ironic: New Zealand's emission's are 26% above 1990 levels, compared to the great satan's (US) emissions of 14%. NZ has been, over the nine years of the Clark government, emitting more than the US above 1990 levels. The Clark Government has been one of the greatest proponents of the climate change regime, yet we've done less to get our emissions down than that all-evil US.

Which tells you how much of a farce Kyoto really is.

Terror in Mumbai

2008-11-29T21:41:00.003+13:00

Over the past three days, terrorist scum in Mumbai have killed 150 people, injured hundreds more, and caused irreversible damage to India's largest city.

This latest attack is not the first of its kind; there have been many such terrorist attacks, committed in the name of Islam, over this century and the last. Terror has been committed in the name of Islam ever since its founding over 1400 years ago, when Muslims took over much of Europe and Arabia. The terrorists weren't poor and desperate; they didn't make demands. They were there to commit an atrocity in the name of Islam.

Yet, the West continues to ignore this. They ignored it during the later half of the twentieth century when America was targeted for allying with Israel, a country who takes the most blows of Islamic violence. They ignored it during 9/11, and in the London, Madrid and Bali bombings. They've ignored it again.

The usual suspects from the left will be crying out about how George Bush's war on terror has caused all the recent attacks in the Middle East. Take note: the Bush Administration always uses phrases like "Militant Islam", "Islamic Extremism", etc. To appease "moderate" Muslims, they make it seem that they're only fighting a small, out-of-the-ordinary group of Muslims. They always avoid using the word "Islam" to describe the ideology -ideology- that these attacks have been committed in the name of.

What we're seeing isn't a random group of people against another group of people, we are seeing a fundamentally ideological fight. The terrorists know that. The West is trying its utmost to evade it -and is paying the price.

The Truth About Recessions

2008-11-26T22:06:00.003+13:00

The numerous bailouts of financial institutions and "financial stimulus" packages promised by both George Bush and Barack Obama have not stopped the financial crisis from plunging to ever-lower depths. As more and more money is pumped into the economy, the crisis grows worse.

What officials from governments in the US and around the world don't realise is that attempts to increase consumer spending are exactly what you don't want in a recession. Prices need to fall for the economy to start up again. Recessions are caused by overvaluation of products and services, by using a claim on future production to buy those products and services at current levels. Normally, this would be alright, as money would be diverted from other areas of spending to paying off debt. However, government inflation and expansion of the credit supply have led to artifically increased demand for products, and as thus, price hikes.

A recession is a large market correction, putting the prices of goods and services back at their true levels of demand. Therefore, the last thing government should do is to try to keep prices at their overvalued levels, in the interests of preserving an unsustainale economy.

Instead, with falling prices, businesses have the opportunity to rejuvenate themselves, as not only does demand for consumer goods falls, but also capital, natural and human resources. It also means that failed business and economic models can be replaced with better ideas -this is seen in the fact that many great corporations were formed during a recession. If anything, it means that people can start working from the ground, up.

Over the long term, a recession is a boon to the world economy. There is always short-term suffering (caused by the shortfalls of the inflation-induced boon-and-bust cycle), but it is far better than holding off for an even greater doomsday in the future.

Seven Random or Weird Things About Myself

2008-11-22T22:04:00.002+13:00

I've been tagged for this twice, by Elijah Lineberry and Peter Cresswell. Here goes:

I once lived in a suburb of Tauranga called Bethlehem. Nice place, but not quite as ancient as its namesake (understandably).
I have two middle names, as I am named after a great uncle who was killed in the first world war.
I once received an email with an invitation attached to attend a UN Woman's Conference in Manila. The topic was "Gender and Climate Change."
My dad has spoken to former US President Jimmy Carter. He said "hello, Mr President" when Jimmy Carter was visiting Rotorua, and received a reply of "hello".
I was a big believer in man-made global warming back in primary school -I even declared to my dad once that "I don't like industry" back when I was about seven. Luckily, I know better now! I also used to believe in God, even though my parents have always been Atheists.
I have spoken personally to the Auditor-General about Bernard Darnton's court case over Helen Clark's pledge cards, in 2006.
I have an uncle who likes Immanuel Kant.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Share seven random or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of the post with their links.
I tag:

Phil
Luke
Lindsay Mitchell
Marcus Bachler
Mark Thiele
Gman
Trevor Loudon

Nia Glassie: My Verdict

2008-11-20T22:00:00.004+13:00

Libertarian Sus outlines the three main reasons for the continuing murders and abuse of children, such as Nia Glassie, in New Zealand:

"1. loser dads to bugger off and leave Mum with the kids, knowing that the poor old taxpayer - again - picks the tab, and

2. loser blokes to move in with single-Mum-with-kids-on-DPB, to be fed and screwed on demand, and

3. young women to screw anything with no personal regard for future consequences, ending up with children they really don't want, who are treated accordingly."

It's interesting how this coincides with Chris Trotter's new goals for social democracy, outlined on Friday:

"Labour has to understand that its state houses, and the welfare state that built them, was just the first, not the last, stage and crowning achievement of the socialist journey. Social democracy must never be about maintaining vast swaths of the population in perpetual electoral peonage.

State houses, along with our public health and education services, must be regarded as launching-pads for heroes, not stables for Labour's donkey-vote."

In effect, social democracy ought to be so bad that it's good, by getting people who once relied on the state for every whim to try to escape as far away as possible from the state houses in which they grew up!

Also of note, is the typical leftist groups who go around say that "it is our problem", without first addressing the root causes of the problem in the culture of complete and total dependency, and then expecting us to be spies on our neighbours to solve the prolem. Any culture which resorts to the expectation that people spying on their neighbours keeps those neighbours from doing terrible things is well over the edge.

The Last Tragedy Of Shakespeare

2008-11-16T21:05:00.005+13:00

It could read like a Shakespearean tragedy: using the excuse of their students' personal weaknesses, bureaucrats at the Ministry of Education are trying to remove Shakespeare, arguably the finest mind ever in literature, entirely from the national curriculum. Amidst fears that his works are too removed from the mind of the average High School student to understand, Shakespeare could be scrapped.

Perhaps these bureaucrats should consider the reasons why students in New Zealand are so out-performed in other countries. After years of politically-correct, post modern "teaching" strategies implemented by both Labour and National Governments, students, parents and teachers in this country have been left with the short end of the stick. What we are seeing today is a population so dumbed down that many lack basic skills and knowledge, with many ending up on the welfare state. Indeed, the reason why many students "don't get" Shakespeare has been through the curriculum introduced by the same "education officials" now proposing this measure.

This latest proposal to remove Shakespeare, and letting a student who studies a blog as a piece of English literature obtain the same marks as a student who studies Shakespeare's incredible works, is simply the next piece in the puzzle. Shakespeare's works are the best pieces of literature around, and are still very relevant in today's world.

Teachers in schools are smart enough to know this. Said one, "I am genuinely upset that the amount of literature students are required to study is being reduced and replaced with ambiguous standards which seem to water down the work students are required to do."

Said another, "All the challenge and in-depth analysis and skills required at each level are being modified, and in my opinion, made easier. "Is the implication that we should not dare to challenge students, or heaven forbid, ask them to engage with texts that really speak to the human condition in a superbly crafted form? Dumbing down again."

Yet "education officials" who have no idea of how a child's mind works dictate what gets learnt.

Politically-correct, big government dictatorial thinking at work again. Appealing to the lowest common denominator, and not challenging students to think beyond the box of government mandated thinking -the concepts of "sustainability", "equality", or in my English class, "altruism". It is taught much the same in countries such as Britain and the United States -with similar results. The most intelligent students come from countries where they are required to know the facts, instead of writing essays with criteria such as "describe an important scene in [whatever's being studied] and explain why it's important."

In a freer world, schools would be entirely free to teach whatever they want, with the choices of parents and teacher deciding what ought to be taught. As an interim measure, save us from yet more entrenchment of political correctness at school -save Shakespeare.

Quite Something!

2008-11-15T22:06:00.004+13:00

It's not too often you come across something quite like this, from friday's Dominion Post:

"Wrenched away from their homelands; required to learn a whole new language; subjected to grotesque racial stereotyping and often outright verbal and physical abuse; these children, backed by their families, have never wavered in their quest for academic, sporting and cultural excellence.

Who is served by belittling, or condemning, the distinctions conferred upon these children? Who is served by an ideology that refuses to recognise that crucial aspect of the human spirit which refuses to accept the brute statistical reality that many are called but few are chosen?"

So, who said that? Milton Friedman? Ronald Reagan? Ayn Rand? No; those were the words of Chris Trotter -yes, that's right, Chris Trotter- on Friday.

A rather remarkable change of heart for a man who said that "All my life I have given thought only to those with no hope of receiving the glittering prizes. Even when (very occasionally) I received one myself, I could not help feeling that tug of guilt; that blush of embarrassment at being distinguished from my peers." His upcoming columns may be rather interesting!

Full revelation at the Dominion Post.

Phil Goff: John Key

2008-11-12T21:14:00.003+13:00

Helen Clark resigned on election night, and promised that "a new leader will be chosen before Christmas". Looks like it was already pre-chosen -Phil Goff is Labour's new leader, with Annette King taking Michael Cullen's place.

Phil Goff is on the right of the party (despite still being leftist nonetheless). After seeing John Key's win on Saturday, Labour was out looking for pragmatism, so Phil Goff was the ideal candidate (and was from the start). After all, he is not too different from John Key. Fundamentally, there is no difference between the two. Labour was merely looking for a candidate who hadn't fallen out of favour with the middle class (as the election result shows).

And where's Don Brash when you need him?

Election '08: Reflections

2008-11-09T20:40:00.003+13:00

Finally, the effort of campaigning for the 2008 election is finally over. We have a new Prime Minister and new ruling parties. Helen Clark has resigned from her position in the Labour Party, as has Michael Cullen. Winston Peters is finally out of politics. The good thing about the large gap in the party vote (which did actually reflect the polls!) is that, even with Maori, Progressives, and the Greens, Labour could not get to the magic 62 seats needed to rule. National, however, needs only ACT to get that number.

Libertarianz got 1,070 party votes. However, as traditional supporters of Libertarian ideals wanted to vote the Labour Government out of power, we got more votes for single electorate candidates, including Richard McGrath in Wairarapa who got 419 votes -we're planning to get even more next time!

I'm pleased to see that Simon Bridges in National got such a large number of votes over Winston Peters -Bridges got twice the votes of Peters, which shows us that Tauranga is now firmly behind National. Not that anyone who turns up to his functions are under 80, anyway.

It's also good to see that ACT got a good result, to place Sir Roger Douglas and John Boscawen in Parliament -so hopefully, we can see the end of the Electoral Finance Act in the next three years, hopefully sooner rather than later.

And although he'll provide some support for the new government, I'm not particularly happy to see Peter Dunne back again -those votes should've gone to Katrina Shanks.

Also, I wasn't happy to see Central Wellington go to Grant Robertson, when it should've gone to Stephan Franks -a much better choice.

So, apart from those two gripes, I'm happy to say that this election has delivered a pleasing result. Finally, Aunty Helen is out of power -lets see if Uncle John does a better job of delivering freedom and capitalism to NZ.

Obama: New Frontiers for the Republicans?

2008-11-06T20:52:00.003+13:00

With Obama's election result as the new President of the United States, America's taken a big leap to the Left.

However, this election result isn't about the new found sense of "hope" in American politics; it's a reaction to the smack of conservatism and a lack of willing to make proper free market reforms that have destroyed the Republican Party. It's Bush's budget deficits and Greenspan's policies of inflation, disguised as capitalism, which have triggered a reaction against the Republican Party in this election; and despite distancing himself from Bush rather well, McCain suffered for the same reasons that the NZ Labour Party is doing so.

And it's for precisely that same reason that Ronald Reagan did so much to help his party in the 1980s. America was hurting from the Oil Woes of the 1970s, and could not afford to look weak in front of the Soviet Union. Instead of following the detente policies of Jimmy Carter, he was a charismatic leader who made many substantial reforms, and in doing so made the Republican Party the party of reform.

Now, America is facing another economic crisis, high oil prices, a huge national debt, and a war on terror which has not delivered the results it promised (not that the terrorists shouldn't be hunted down and punished, but the general lack of doing so isn't helping). The Republicans have completely gone back on their principles, crying out about the "greed" on Wall Street* and how we'd all be better if we weren't unselfish. Philosophically, they are no different to the Democrats.

And that's where the problem lies.

So, hopefully, the overall outcome of this election will be good for America, as not only will Obama, providing he does try to keep his promises, prove socialism a disaster, but the Republicans will actually get back to their original principles of small government, and laissez-faire, with recent evidence and anecdotes to base the claims upon. The only question to ask now is, which politician is willing to promote the free market anymore? Best to promote socialism and the "all things to all men" policy under the guise of the free market, and do the same when socialism proves a disaster!

*Where do you not find "greed"?

The State Doing Its Job...

2008-11-02T21:04:00.003+13:00

...Or not. Instead, the Political Editor of Radio New Zealand, (an institution that prides itself on non-partisanship) the state-owned radio station that uses stolen taxpayer money to fund its existence, is busy spouting stupid political views about Libertarianz.

Skyscrapers: Jin Mao Tower

2008-10-30T20:38:00.004+13:00

The Jin Mao Tower (excuse the word "Mao") is one of China's tallest buildings. Located in the Pudong district of Shanghai along with the very recently completed Shanghai World Financial Centre, the tower rises 421 metres above the city, making for an amazing spectacle.

The Jin Mao Tower is 93 storeys high, containing 278,707 sq metres of floor space, much of which is occupied by the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, which is famous for its 115 metre high atrium. The tower is also used as an office building and a shopping mall.

The Jin Mao Tower, keeping with Chinese belief that the number "8" brings good luck, was officially opened on August 28, 1998, and celebrated its tenth birthday a few months ago.

Winston Peters' "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy"

2008-10-30T20:31:00.003+13:00

Libertarianz is now part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy", according to Winston Peters. It's true!

Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics

2008-10-27T21:22:00.003+13:00

Some sense on the US election and politics in general today comes from John Stossel, who does hit show "20/20" in America, from his Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Hope you enjoy 'em! (first three from Not PC)

Don't tell me ...!

2008-10-23T21:58:00.003+13:00

According to the latest 3 News poll, yet another term for the corrupt, socialist Labour government currently ruling the country is looking ever-more likely.

National hadn't changed its place since the last poll, polling at 45%, and Labour went down to 37.5% -however, the real problem is the rise of the Greens, who polled at above 8%. So, given that National has a coalition with ACT and United Future (providing both parties stay in parliament), Labour and the Greens have between them only one less seat, but given the extra three "overhang" seats, neither coalition will be able to rule.

Therefore, the Maori Party chooses who will be the next Prime Minister. And although they've said that they could work with National and form the next government, they could more or less goes anywhere.

Which, in effect, means that New Zealand government for the next few years will go to whoever promises the most handouts to Maori, and all the PC stupidity that comes with modern policy surrounding race, regardless of who wins the next election.

Which, in effect, really peeves me off. MMP for you -the most power goes to the small third parties who make up for numbers with, perhaps, only one or two MPs!

Stop Mollycoddling Our Children!

2008-10-19T21:20:00.003+13:00

So says one British Early Childhood expert, Tim Gill, who's in the country at the moment, and he's becoming increasingly worried about the state of NZ children. He says:

"If we're constantly telling kids you can't do that, it's too dangerous or you can't talk to strangers or everybody out there is trying to get you, well then it's no surprise that kids are increasingly growing up anxious and afraid", he said.

And he's right. Like their counterparts in Britain, Kiwi kids are growing up being told what they can and can not do, which is damages their self-esteem and causes them to be reckless, and not think about what they're doing. This can be seen in the rising rates of youth crime and teenage suicide around the country, and indeed, around the world.

Back before political correctness got a stranglehold on public opinion, most children were left free at a young age to discover the world. They knew the risks involved, and developed out of their own experiences, not at the discretion of their parents.

Similarly, we did not have the problems facing young people back then as we have today. Many proponents of the welfare state would put this down to increased government welfare spending then (although that's hardly the case; in 1960, government spending as a percentage of GDP was at 27.7%, and 50% in 1990. It would be even more now.*) After all, welfare isn't a great concern if you spend almost the entire day playing games in the back yard!
Also, welfare wasn't something you were "entitled" to. If you could work, you worked, and it was as simple as that.

Instead, as Tim Gill says, it is the mollycoddling of today's society which is preventing them from enjoying life to the full, and political correctness, with its talk of "rights" and "entitlements" is behind that mollycoddling.

*Free Radical #73, page 3.

Corruption of Democracy

2008-10-16T21:30:00.002+13:00

A lot has been said recently of Labour's universal student allowances scheme, and it has been thoroughly debunked. The economics behind it is stupid, and so is the justification of "equality", "fairness", etc. So, I have nothing more to add to the general debates -apart from the fact that government hand-me-outs always work to destroy democracy and the political process.

Under a libertarian government which doesn't redistribute wealth, there is little incentive for different special interests and lobby groups (such as unions, businesses, organisations representing different groups of people) to heckle the government for cash -as the government recognises that it is not its job to hand out wealth. "Getting into bed" with government is a waste of resources. Similarly, in elections, the votes of a vast number of people don't go to whoever is promising the most benefits, as is the case today.

However, we have a government which is active in the redistribution of wealth -and when the government has money to give away, there's always going to be fighting about who should get it. Suddenly, it becomes worthy to try and get government to swing your way. The only problem is, that money could've gone to any other group, so different politically -minded groups start competing for money, and the end result is that whoever promises the biggest payouts gets the vote.

This is exactly what we're seeing today in New Zealand, and this "universal student allowance" is simply the latest bribe. And until government gets its hand out of our pockets, we'll continue having different lobby groups fighting and bribing politicians for resources.

Ayn Rand Quote

2008-10-16T20:57:00.002+13:00

Although written in 1960, this quote of Ayn Rand's rings as true today as it was back then, especially in light of the current financial crisis. It's been circling around the blogosphere, so it's here if you haven't seen it.

"People seem to insist on talking - and on carefully saying nothing. The evasiveness, the dullness, the gray conformity of today's intellectual expressions sound like the voices of men under censorship - where no censorship exists. ... The truth about the intellectual state of the modern world, the characteristic peculiar to the twentieth century, which distinguishes it from other periods of cultural crises, is the fact that what people are seeking is not the answers to problems, but the reassurance that no answers are possible."

Go into a book shop, wander over to the politics section, and you'll see what she means.

Te Aro Meeting

2008-10-16T20:27:00.003+13:00

The Te Aro Valley Meeting is usually one of the most entertaining political meetings in New Zealand, with good justification. Luckily, I was there on Tuesday to support Bernard Darnton, the Libz candidate running in Wellington Central, and there was a good Libertarianz turn out to the meeting.

The Highlights:

1) Michael Appleby, the candidate for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannibis Party -he was really funny, and said afterwards that he's "a libertarian at heart".

2) The Worker's Party candidate looked like he'd walked straight out of the 1930s.

3) Meeting up with the other Libz (normally, Tuesday's our meeting night, and we did pop around to a local bar for a few minutes) and seeing Peter McCaffrey from ACT on Campus again -he's a great guy.

4) Bernard's answer to the question about which party he'd vote for, if not his own. His answer: Labour -for comedic value! (and to show the NZ public the evils of big government)

Lowlights:

1) Sue Kedgley -there aren't strong enough words that I could use to desribe her! She was (/is) very maternalistic in her demeanor and politics, and someone who wouldn't think twice about controlling every aspect of your life.

2) The United Future Candidate -he was younger than all the other candidates and obviously had no idea about what he was promoting, and performed a highly irritationg song/rap at the end of the meeting.

3) All the other leftist candidates proposing the same "all things to all men" policy.

All in all, it was a much more interesting political meeting than the last one I attended (in middle-class Eastbourne)!

Skyscrapers: Trump Tower Chicago

2008-10-12T20:55:00.003+13:00

The Trump Tower is Donald Trump's latest residential project, located on the north side of the Chicago River, in the heart of Chicago. The skyscraper rises to 415 metres above the streets of the city, making it the second tallest tower in Chicago when completed later this year.

The Trump Tower contains 96 floors, and when it opens will break the world record for highest apartments above the ground, on the 89th floor. The tower will contain 242,000 square metres of floor space, mostly taken up by condominiums, a luxury hotel, retail space, and a parking garage on the lower floors well hidden by the glass.

The Trump Tower was originally touted by Donald Trump as the future world's tallest building in 2001, but the heightened terrorist threat after 9/11 meant that the building was scaled down several hundred feet (and the plans were, like those of every other skyscraper in North America, put on hold). The building's construction has been managed by Bill Rancic, the first winner of Trump's popular TV show "The Apprentice".

Elijah Throws in the Towel?

2008-10-12T20:45:00.005+13:00

I've noticed that Elijah Lineberry, long time rival of the Wellington Libz (especially Richard Goode), has mysteriously disappeared from the Libertarianz Candidates page.

Now, most Wellington Libz have been rearing for something to be done about him, and that's why he was at the bottom of the list. However, no new information to this regard has been put on the Liberty Loop or Elijah's blog. So currently, we're all more or less in the dark. What's happened, Elijah?
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Onto another topic, eight candidates still haven't got their profiles or pictures up there. Where are they?

Edit: Never mind, I've received word that Elijah resigned after learning about his position on the list.

What's Keeping Them Behind?

2008-10-09T21:31:00.003+13:00

Auckland Mayor John Banks is pledging, that for the 2011 World Cup, $20,000 will be put into "a development plan to manage homelessness", and $197,000 will be spent on cleaning up graffiti around the city.

First off, the $197,000 to be spent on cleaning up graffiti. How do you need $197,000 for the relatively simple job of cleaning up graffiti? The last time I checked, it only takes some cleaning materials, buckets and a few volunteers willing to put their time into cleaning the graffiti up to make a city clean again. Preferably, however, the hooligans who actually do the graffiti should, at any possible chance, be made to clean it up themselves. But rather than cleaning up only the graffiti they've drawn, make it a several day task, at multiple locations in pink overalls. Don't just let them get away with only a light warning.

Secondly, the homeless issue. $20,000 to simply keep them off the city streets during the weeks occupied by the Rugby World Cup will do NOTHING to alleviate the problem. Instead, the labour regulations keeping them from working in a productive job, even if it is for little, should be scrapped.

And even though regulation like that is a national issue, the City (and Regional) Council can do its part as well, by moving restrictive regulations such as "Urban Boundaries", which merely serve to keep house prices artificially high. Don't require buildings to need permits, scrap the RMA, and any other such legislation that makes the idea of owning a home close to work an impossibility, even for the middle class.

More government spending never helps in the long run.

One More Thing

2008-10-05T22:54:00.002+13:00

In regards to my post below, the Ayn Rand Centre for Individual Rights has some good reading about the current financial crisis.

That damn bailout...

2008-10-05T22:00:00.003+13:00

The Bush-Paulson bailout, even after being rejected on Monday, successfully went through the House of Representatives on Friday, meaning that American taxpayers will now be an extra US$700,000,000,000 out of pocket (and now have over $10,000,000,000,000 of debt to pay off). The money will be going to try to prop up a flawed financial system, and to delay and magnify further economic collapse.

Over the past few weeks, you undoubtedly would have been hearing, from all political groups and figures, from Sarah Palin to Winston Peters that this collapse has been caused by "greed", capitalism and spectators. Similarly, no one actually tackles the proper root of the problem (artificial credit expansion) and instead advertise great new systems of regulation and government interference. In other words, more power to politicians.

However, in a free market, banks only have so much money to lend out (and if bank prints their own money such as in America pre-civil war, it can quickly become worthless), and are accountable to the people who deposit their money in the bank. Low interest rates signal that people are more willing to take risks for business expansion and economic growth, and that the bank has a lot of money to lend out. High interest rates mean that people want to be more conservative with their money.

Under a free market, interest rates set by banks go up with inflation (as the money gets devalued with time). However, in today's mixed economy, governments set official interest rates. And as thus, they also set inflation at a steady pace, to ensure there's always money on hand to lend out, to ensure economic growth (which is what we've seen during these two decades, with the dot-com bust as an interval).

Unfortunately, this artificial economic growth does not encourage proper, responsible investment, and this can be seen in middle-class America -and New Zealand- with the rise of the McMansion (although many regulatory policies are involved there). The building and buying of McMansions is generally hard work, but, from hearing stories about loans worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with 0% deposits, it's happening alright.

The inevitable result of stupid business decisions is business failures, job losses, and share market crashes, such as we've seen with Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and many New Zealand finance companies. What this current collapse signals is a market correction, caused by governmental inflation. Also to consider, is the fact that money gets devalued by inflation, which is a double-whammy for everybody.

Catholic Stupidity

2008-10-01T22:25:00.002+13:00

The residents of the Vatican City have said many stupid things in the past, but few of them can get much stupider than this:

"Politics needs religion," Cardinal Bertone said in a speech published by the Vatican mouthpiece L'Osservatore Romano. "When instead God is ignored, the ability to respect rights and recognise the common good begins to disappear."

Are we talking about the same religion that started the Great Crusades? The God who sanctioned witchhunts? The Church that persecuted Galileo when he proved wrong Catholic scientific beliefs?

One of the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment was the seperation of Church and State, that the church (or any religious institution) played no role in the political development of nations and governments. It was done with good reason, too. Perhaps the Cardinal should look to the places where religion does play a big role in politics. Places like Nigeria, the US South, and, of course, the Middle East -all of whom are backwards in comparison to the rest of the world.

However, maybe he does have a point -so we can be shown again how bad religion is in politics.

The Price We Pay

2008-09-27T21:48:00.002+12:00

Every day, we hear socialists expounding the benefits of the welfare state, and paternalistic governmental policies. When asked about the expanding social problems within modern New Zealand society, the answer is something along the lines of "more welfare ... more spending ... more intervention in people's lives. Of course, Roger Douglas is always to blame.

The price we pay for letting socialists get away with expanding the government to a size in which it is so concerned with what's happening in the lives of productive, good people that it largely ignores the true problems of the welfare state, is, in the case of one Aucklander, murder.

However, it is not merely big government which is to blame here -the underlying cause of big government is, and why it intervenes in the lives of productive people in order to give money to criminals (this isn't the first case).

The underlying factor, behind the government's size and the sanction of criminals, is political correctness, fueled by the moral equivalency of modern philosophical and political thought. It's the idea that the murderer is the true victim of an "oppressive society", and that the man who was murdered deserved it (considering, after all, that he's a businessman; one of the most hated professions by socialists). If he gets stabbed or shot, moral equivalency says: "so what?"

And it's precisely because of political correctness (and its predecessors) that we have a big, intrusive government in the first place, and that the government considers wealth an object of restribution -on the basis of need- which:

a) destroys the self-esteem of welfare recipients;
b) provides no economic incentive to produce wealth; and
c) sends out the impression that the "need" of welfare recipients must come before the production of wealth, and as thus the people who produce wealth are viewed with suspicion.

The entire premise of the welfare state is based on the irrational thought that wealth isn't created; it just simply lands in the hands of certain people through luck, or "greed". It pays no attention to the fact that material resources, in the ground, by themselves, mean nothing.

Only man, through the use of his mind, can determine the proper use of resources -through the market's laws of supply and demand. Only man can put a value on a certain resource; and apply his mind in order to make the largest number of uses a resource can have, a reality.

Socialism and political correctness ignores this. The moral standard, according to both, is "need" -not man's life and happiness. Until we finally wake up to this, and realise what a philosophical scam socialism is, the victim count will rise.

Skyscrapers: Freedom Tower

2008-09-24T21:05:00.003+12:00

To take the place of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Freedom Tower will soar 541 metres (that's 1776 feet; which is no coincidence) above New York's Lower Manhattan skyline.

After much faltering and bureaucratic inefficiency, the Freedom Tower (or 1 World Trade Center) broke ground in 2006 -five years after 9/11- and is expected to be completed in 2012 or 2013. Designed by world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind, the Freedom Tower will contain 241,000 square metres of office space, spread out over 114 floors. At the top floor of the tower, an observation deck will be put in place to allow visitors to the city to look out over Manhattan and the surrounding area (which may be useful if you plan to go to New York next decade!)

Hypocrite du Jour

2008-09-20T22:04:00.002+12:00

Something sounds rather hypocritical from Winston Peters in this statement, to Auckland's Korean community this afternoon:

“Here in New Zealand it's the right to be a free and equal citizen, which is what I’ll be talking about. And that's about a smart immigration policy.”

Unless a "smart immigration policy" involves kicking immigrants out, he needs to redefine his terms.

Wall Street "Crisis"

2008-09-17T21:53:00.002+12:00

No one doubts that Wall Street has been going through some tough times in the last few days, with some major collapses, bail-outs, and bankruptcy claims. Therefore, it is important to re-affirm that, in a free market, people and companies (especially the latter) need to be flexible.

The truth of the matter is, in recent times, both consumers and business owners have been protected, to some degree or another, by a safety net (for instance, the welfare state, or the recent bail-outs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the US). The safety net, by "guaranteeing" economic security, has destroyed the basic need to be flexible; which is one of the most important traits a person or a business could have in a free market. It has also removed much of the need to make intelligent investment decisions (hence, the sub-prime mortgage crisis).

In a time such as ours, when events that happen half way around the world can be known here within seconds, and economic circumstances are constantly changing, more rapidly now than ever. Companies have to continually adapt to the changing circumstances to survive.

This is what we're seeing on Wall Street at the moment. Instead of proper, if drastic, market correction taking place, more and more financial institutions are being bailed out. However, financial assistance only helps to delay the eventual collapse-and magnifies it, as it now impacts the government and its expenditure. Having taxpayers money go to inefficient banks and financial institutions is a waste of money.

There's also interest rates. For a number of years, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates artificially low, which artificially bolstered the home loans market and, as thus, magnified the recent collapses.

The solution to all this madness, is, of course, to get the government out of the way of business, allowing them to succeed and fail based on their merits. By doing that, businesses will be forced to:

a) make smarter investment choices;
b) look for solutions in other areas for their problems, rather than making decisions under the pretense that the Government will bail us out;
c) force consumers to make smarter decisions in which companies to deal with;
d) stop irresponsible lending to people who can't pay it off.

All in all despite the stress that many people will have to endure during the market corrections going on at the moment, government intervention can only magnify the problem.

And the Difference Between the Candidates is...?

2008-09-14T18:14:00.003+12:00

Paul McKeever, a Canadian SOLOist, has an outstanding article about the two US Presidential Candidates. I particularly like this snippet:

"McCain condemned the “me-first, country-second crowd”. He said he intends to honour the Stanley family for their sacrifice of their son. He told a touching tale of how he used to to do things “for [his] own pleasure; [his] own pride”, and how he “…didn’t think there was a cause more important than” himself. He explained that, thereafter, he discovered “the limits of [his] selfish independence”, learned that “no man can always stand alone”, and found that “nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself”. In short: it is right to sacrifice others, it is right to sacrifice oneself, and sacrifice will make you happy. Shorter still: dying makes one happiest of all.
Obama carved a path in the opposite direction, not referring to “sacrifice” at all. Instead, he explained, the “promise of America” is “the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.” Obama explained that that promise “…has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west…”.

The difference is astounding. Whereas McCain says it’s right to sacrifice of oneself, Obama says it is right to move where you will be kept by others."

Truly revealing.

However, I'm going for McCain in this one. Although, like his Democrat counterpart, he pays lip service to altruism, he:

a) wants to lower taxes in general; whereas Obama is all for raising taxes across the board (disgustingly, to the applause of many of his supporters), and the redistribution of wealth.

b) wants to continue fighting the War on Terror, which is, at best, something Obama is trying to avoid (even though McCain and Palin seem to be justifying the War on Terror as "God's plan" -sounds similar to jihad?)

With candidates like these two, I can see why most Americans don't vote.

Winston Peters: Finally Gone

2008-09-10T22:18:00.003+12:00

Winston Peters has finally been in front of a Select Committee tonight. Tomorrow, we will know whether Winston Peters still has his job, or if he's out forever.

But even, if by some supreme miracle, he survived this hearing, that will be the end of him. The election is only eight weeks away, and the accusations of Owen Glenn, Sir Bob Jones and the Vala Family have been enough to tear him to shreds with the New Zealand public. The recent events have been enough to make anyone, including Winston Peters, resign from politics. He has nothing more to offer.

And so, we say goodbye. But what to? A career of flip-flopping, and going with whichever party wins the election?

Is Winston Peters really a great loss to New Zealand?

Glenn Jameson, National SOLOist

2008-09-07T21:54:00.002+12:00

So, Glenn Jameson over at SOLO, is a "key creative talent" behind National's latest billboard campaign. Many people, such as Peter Cresswell, are up in arms over it.

However, I digress. Frankly, so what?

The fact is, he has the right to go and work for whoever he wants to work for. He has no "duty" to go and work anywhere. Isn't that what Objectivism is about? Glenn was acting in his rational self-interest. Given the choices, benefits and consequences involved, he decided to go and work on the National Party's advertising team. This does not necessarily say, however, that he agrees with the National Party and what it stands for. Indeed, he has a rather pragmatic justification for his work with the National Party.

All things considered, I too would rather have him work for, say, the Libertarianz, just like most SOLOists and Libertarianz. But it should not be held against him. He chose to do what he considered to be the best thing to do out of all his choices. He looked at the National Party's views and compared them with his. And he took the job.

Besides, when this is all over, he's pretty much free to do whatever he likes again. It's merely for this election campaign that he has decided to work for the Nats. He has not done anything wrong, on any level. Yes, we may question why he did go and work there, but we should not:

a) feel morally superior; and

b) go on a Medieval witchhunt, just because he made a decision in his rational self-interest that we may disagree with.

Skyscrapers: Chicago Spire

2008-09-03T21:33:00.002+12:00

Designed like a giant screw by architect Santiago Calatrava (who also did Sweden's Turning Torso), the Chicago Spire is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world currently under construction. To be 609 metres (or exactly 2000ft) high, the Chicago Spire is being built next to the Chicago River, near the edge of Lake Michigan. It is a residential project, with 1,193 self-contained units, spread out over its 150 floors.

The Chicago Spire started construction in 2007 and is expected to be completed in 2012. The tower will be over 150 metres taller than Chicago's next tallest, the Sears Tower, and will have a total of 81,470 sq metres of floor area.

Although primarily residential, there will also be some office space and room for a hotel in the tower. Each of the floors rotates about 2 degrees out from the one below it, resulting in a graceful screw shape. When built it will be easily the tallest residential tower in the world, overtaking Q1 and the Eureka Tower, both in Australia.

McCain's Running Mate

2008-08-30T21:15:00.003+12:00

So, in an effort to take the spotlight off Barack Obama, (which I'm in dire need of, looking at what's available on the international news channels) John McCain announced his Vice-President earlier today: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, a woman he only met this February.

It's not hard to see why McCain picked her. She's young (three years younger than Obama, 44 years old), she's a fresh face in Republican circles, and yes -she is a woman; obviously designed to steal Hilary Clinton voters away from the Democrats. On the downside, however, she has even less political experience than Obama, being Governor of Alaska for less than two years; this means McCain can no longer play the experience card against Obama, which might be increasingly important as the election draws closer.

As for her policies, she is good in some areas, and not so good in others. She's pro-drilling, both in the Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska. She also gave Alaskans a tax rebate worth several thousand dollars each, but was at the expense of raising taxes on oil companies, which could've been disastrous for Alaska, had it been large enough. She's also pro-life (although not a complete nutter, like many in the US).

But, all in all, I'd much rather have her as Vice-President than Biden (Obama's running-mate from Delaware).

"Political Correctness is Destroying New Zealand"

2008-08-27T21:38:00.002+12:00

Political Correctness is destroying New Zealand. So says Sir Brian Lochore, former Kiwi Rugby Legend and Coach of the 1987 All Blacks team who won the Rugby World Cup -so far the only time New Zealand has won the Cup.

"Our society is trying to turn fathers into male mothers. You ain't," he said to an audience of over 1000 fathers at a breakfast hosted by the group 'Parents Inc'. "We are living in a PC world which is destroying us, where you actually can't put the hard word on people when they have digressed and committed bad blunders."

He went to say, "the one thing I believe is important in life is respect. They respected authority, they respected teachers, I respected the teachers. We lack a great deal of respect for authority nowadays, there's always someone protesting.

"Respect and role models are very important in life. You as a father, with the aid of your partner - I can't say 'wife' these days, PC. You are the one who sets the ground rules. And don't ever tell me that the kids don't want to know where the line is. They do."

Graham Henry and the New Zealand Left, take heed: this was the man who coached the AB's to rugby glory. How? By doing the hard yards, having proper rules, and by everybody taking responsibility for their actions. Not blaming them on someone else, such as in today's world.

Beijing Olympics: Bring on London 2012!

2008-08-27T21:16:00.002+12:00

The Beijing Olympics ended with a hiss and a roar on Sunday - a satisfying end to one of New Zealand's most successful Olympic Games ever, with three gold medals -won by Tom Ashley, Valerie Vili, and the Evers-Swindell twins. On top of that, we won one silver medal and five bronze medals.

However, it didn't come cheaply. New Zealand's government spent nearly NZ$10,000,000 for every medal we won! No matter how well we did, the government had no right to exert any money off taxpayers for the Olympics (or any other sports event).

Instead, the New Zealand Olympic effort should be privately funded, by donations and sponsorship from businesses and private individuals.

Other than that quibble, I am pleased with the Beijing Games, which were enjoyable to watch. So, bring on London 2012!
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Another interesting thing happened on August 24: I turned 15 -which means I'm now old enough to drive!

"Too Good" to Play Baseball?

2008-08-27T21:04:00.002+12:00

This article on SOLO says it all.

Also, a mighty fine piece by Lindsay Perigo about what the possible Presidency of Barack Obama is doing to the American Sense of Life. It ain't good.

Yet More Green Fascism

2008-08-24T17:57:00.002+12:00

It's rather fitting that in accordance with the Libertarianz' latest video, 'Ban It', that the Greens are pushing for ever more activities to be banned; the latest one is a ban on foreigners from buying property.

Greens co-leader Russel (with one 'l') Norman asks, "why should we allow Singaporean, Australian or American speculators to buy investment properties in our country, shutting first-time home buyers from the market?"

Why? Because their investment in New Zealand:

A) creates jobs in the local building industry, and in turns creates jobs in other areas such as forestry, mining etc, with the added competition driving up wage rates -meaning that buying homes becomes easier for people in those industries. And wouldn't it be more environmentally sustainable to use the resources in house construction here in New Zealand than shipping them overseas?

B) helps to make New Zealand a cleaner country. Wealthy foreigners buy into New Zealand based on its "clean, green" image, and unspoiled rural environment. Property rights give an incentive to keep it that way. If foreigners weren't allowed to buy property in New Zealand the demand for pristine areas would fall, and areas otherwise owned by foreigners would either not be owned at all, or by some not-so-wealthy New Zealander who probably wouldn't have the time or money to keep his property sparkling clean (and who wouldn't be as appreciative of the land as well). Either way, the incentive to keep land in a pristine condition grows smaller.

C) makes New Zealand more well known on the world stage. Without millions of taxpayer dollars going to some rich advertising agency to market the country as a tourist destination overseas, New Zealand will become known as a good holiday destination, with scenery not found anywhere else. This gives a boost to the tourist industry, which in turns provides more jobs for NZ citizens.

There you go, Norman. Three good reasons why, like all bans on voluntary human activity, a ban on foreigners buying property in New Zealand is not a good idea.

Not that the Greens understand the idea of "voluntary human activity".

ACT: The Party of Unionists?

2008-08-22T21:47:00.003+12:00

The top 10 on the ACT Party List for the 2008 election goes as follows:

1) Rodney Hide
2) Heather Roy
3) Roger Douglas
4) John Boscawen
5) Undecided
6) Hilary Calvert
7) Peter Tashcoff
8) John Ormond
9) Colin du Plessis
10) Shawn Tan

Recognize #10? Probably not. (In fact, you should be congratulated if you recognize anyone from the entire second half of that list.) However, if you're in the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union, you'll definitely know him: he's Shawn Tan, and he's made big news in the Union recently.

As well as working for, as the ACT website says, three different Unions, he's also been involved in organizations such as the "Students for Justice in Palestine", a group that is, officially, "organized on democratic principles to promote justice, human rights, liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people, with goals that include "the full decolonisation of all illegally held Palestinian lands, the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; the implementation of the right of return and repatriation of all Palestinian refugees to their original homes and properties, as well as an end to the apartheid system of discrimination against the Palestinian population". In other words, another anti-Israel group that is, because of its support of Israel, anti-United States.

Don't forget that he's also just come over from the Green Party.
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So, what about the other candidates on that list? Obviously, Rodney Hide and Heather Roy are at the top. Then, there's Roger Douglas and John Boscawen -not bad choices. As for numbers 6-9: well, there's a guy who's written a Maori novel. Another candidate's biggest political challenge is opposing the Trans-Tasman Therapeutics Bill. There isn't a lot to say about the others.

Also, consider who you don't see on the list. The people you see above you have replaced outstanding candidates such as Lindsay Mitchell, who is one of New Zealand's leading crusaders against Nanny State. Which is a damn shame -if ACT does get into Parliament, it would be nice to see her there.
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Some debate has also been occuring over the EPMU's course of action regarding it's new ACT Candidate; Whaleoil calls it "disgusting". However, I beg to differ; the Union, as a private entity, has the right to hire and fire whoever it wants -which is part of Libertarianism. However, it is very hypocritical that a Union should be doing so -considering that Unions originally pushed for the banning of such practices.