Election '08: Reflections

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.

The State Doing Its Job...

...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.

Winston Peters' "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy"

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

Te Aro Meeting

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)!

Elijah Throws in the Towel?

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?
______________

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.

New Libz Video

The latest Libertarianz Policy Video is on NZ's dysfunctional welfare system, and can be found at YouTube.

Other videos can be found at Libz.tv.

Libertarianz Paper Ads

The Libertarianz have started putting ads in the Sunday Star Times and Sunday News newspapers to kick start our election campaign this year. The first ad was put in the two papers Sunday before last.

The Libertarianz have also started up Libz.tv, for all the videos produced for the election campaign, put on YouTube.

The Real Issue Here

Recently, a big feeding frenzy has occurred around the New Zealand blogosphere and especially on SOLO and Not PC over Elijah Lineberry's take on the Ministry of Education's $54,000 "Maori Potential" badges, with bloggers of all political leanings either calling him a racist or telling the complainers to grow up. Elijah's badges have been put into pictures by Whaleoil.

But before we go on yelling about Elijah, what could be more demeaning to a Maori person than a phrase such as "Realising Maori Potential -Wassup!", which appeared on one of the actual badges. It's also interesting that none of the badges have one Maori word on them (except "Maori", believe it or not.) The badges are simply worn to make students feel better about themselves, and to make teachers feel that they're actually teaching their students properly.

Elijah, meanwhile, is simply telling it as it is. Crime rates, unemployment, child abuse, etc are appallingly high amongst Maori and in predominantly Maori communities. Yes, Elijah's way of putting it was blunt -and probably not something the Libertarianz Party should officially endorse. But the actions of those who scream "racist!" whenever the badges are mentioned are even more immature- because, in effect, they are denying the problems that Maori are facing today (thanks, primarily to their own actions, which are what Elijah's badges are all about), on the grounds of "racism". How dare you point out that more Maori are in jail, per capita, than Europeans!

Not that the Left would want the problems to go away -it's areas like South Auckland and Porirua that provide most of their support. And if you look at any of Labour's recent economic moves and policy, they hate productivity -because productivity is contrary to Labour's socialist philosophy, and unproductive slobs always looking for an extra buck out of the government are a major source of Labour votes.

Good on you Elijah -you're actually telling it as it is. And accepting the problem is the first part of solving the problem. No, not all Maori are child abusers and unemployed -far from it. But the statistics speak for themselves.

Libertarianz on Eye to Eye

As you may know, Peter Linton, who is the firearms spokesman for the Libertarianz, appeared in the most recent episode of Eye to Eye, where he was debating the right to own firearms, and in what situations they are necessary. Peter can be viewed on the Eye to Eye website here.

Luckily for Hone Harawira and Marie Dyhrberg, the episode was screened one day before the fatal shooting of Navtej Singh in South Auckland. Navtej Singh, a good, hardworking, honest man, was cooperating with theives at his South-Auckland liquor store when he was shot by a retard by means of a rifle. Did Navtej have any means of self-defence at his disposal?

A Tale of Two Budgets

Two budgets were released on Wednesday this week. One was the typical tax-and-spend budget promulgated by Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, promising a "tax cut" of $16 a week that will be eaten up shortly by inflation and the rising cost of living; the other was the Libertarianz Alternative Budget, that was put out by Libertarianz Leader Bernard Darnton. (A full spreadsheet outlining the budget in detail can also be downloaded from that page.)

Libertarianz will cut government spending and give back public money in the form of a true tax cut, $220 dollars per week. Libertarianz will slash the regulations and taxes on our economy, allowing New Zealand to truly surpass Australia in living standards and a growing economy; and help the poor and disadvantaged in society -by giving them back the money that was took from them, and regurgitated out in the form of "benefits."

Libertarianz will also enable New Zealand to defend itself properly, by buying new military equipment, such as brand new fighter jets. Libertarianz believes that a free nation should be able to defend itself, and works towards that end.

Libertarianz will paying no-hopers on the welfare state to breed, allowing voluntary charity and a work ethic to take its place. By legalizing victimless crimes, Libertarianz will put more resources into fighting real crime, and getting New Zealand away from the #1 spot in sexual assault, property crime and child abuse, in the world.

As well as the things mentioned above, Libertarianz will create, within a few years, one of the most dynamic, diverse and flexible economies in the world being able to adapt to changing market conditions rather than stumbling behind the rest of the developed world in GDP.

It's enough to make you vote Libertarianz!

Libz Conference '08

I had the pleasure of attending the Libertarianz Annual Conference for 2008 on Saturday in Auckland. And although it wasn't in as nice a venue as last time's Wellington conference, it went very well, and I got to meet the lovely Sus, Annie Fox, Tim Wikiriwhi, *the* Elijah Lineberry, plus a whole lot of members old and new from the Libertarianz. We unrolled part of our election campaign, such as Libz TV (to keep all our YouTube campaign videos) and our newspaper campaign, which will be in the Sunday Star Times and the Sunday News later on in the year. We received speeches from several new members.

It was also good catching up with the other members of the Libz from around the country, such as Peter Cresswell, Richard McGrath and Robert Palmer.

Just afterwards, Elijah sent me an email on his thoughts of the conference, which was his first. An excerpt reads as follows:

"I thought it went splendidly with a great deal of talent on display, and feel we are well placed for an excellent result in October."

I couldn't agree more, Elijah.

Pictures to come!

My Speech at the Libz Conference '07

For those of you unable to have made it to the Libertarianz Conference in Wellington a few days, ago, the following is the speech I made to the party on Saturday:

Speech for Libz Conference

Winston Churchill, the great WWII leader, once said “a man who isn’t a liberal under 30 has no heart and a man who isn’t a conservative over 30 has no brains”. Lets just leave it as a good thing he didn’t say anything about Libertarianism. Ladies and Gentlemen, in case you don't know me already, I am Callum McPetrie, New Zealand’s Youngest Libertarian.

My introduction to Libertarianism is a wee bit of a story; I’d been interested in politics for a long time, since about the 2002 election. Much of that was lost on me afterwards, but went through a renaissance in 2004. Absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary until one event in 2005 that changed my outlook on the world permanently: I was introduced to the Libertarianz.

I read the opening on the Libertarianz website, and it was okay; the ideas were some of the better ones I’d heard. Then, I took the ever-popular World’s Smallest Political Quiz, which announced my Libertarian leanings to me. So I got more and more into Libertarianism. I explored the concepts and philosophy. I learnt about Objectivism, Ayn Rand, Capitalism, the works. The rest is history.

Chairman Mao, the worst of the worst in dictators of the 20^th Century, said the political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. While in semi-free New Zealand we have been able to avoid that, I am concerned that we are heading towards the statism which has proven so fatal in other parts of the world and treats human beings as mere scum, instead of giving them the freedoms that have improved quality of life everywhere.

A main attraction of Libertarianism to young people, and certainly to me, is that the movement presents itself as a viable and rational alternative to current politics. It’s not like the “ban everything but marijuana, dude” Greens or the “holier than thou” United Future. Libertarians present a perspective on issues that is unique, and not usually displayed in the media for fears of offending the Left (despite the unsurprising fact that this is done everything else). Youths are also attracted to Libertarianism by the fact that it encourages free thinking and free exchange of ideas, while of course not going overboard, and treats people as responsible.

Anyway, back onto the events that eventually got me onto this stage. I contacted the Libertarianz, first with questions, as Susan Ryder and Julian Pistorius would remember. A few months went, and I got more and more involved. I started to go to Wellington Libertarianz meetings, and in December of last year I started up my “Libertarian Front” blog. Although it hasn’t been having the viewership numbers I’d like, hopefully the winds will soon change.

A more intellectual attraction of Libertarian, more so here in New Zealand than elsewhere, is the “rational revolution” philosophy that can be seen throughout Ayn Rand’s books. As Lindsay Perigo said, “if there is to be a revolution, it has to be inside people’s heads”. Indeed, the “Libertarian Revolution will not be as much a real revolution as it will be a revolution in thinking and philosophy in general towards rational individualist ideals as opposed to irrational collectivist ones.

The last few months have been going well for me in the Libertarian world. I recently joined SOLO, I am the new SOLO Youth Coordinator, and am working on a Podcast with Rick Giles in Canada (or America Junior, as Homer Simpson knows it). I submitted an essay on taxes to the ACT on Campus High School Essay Competition, and won a copy of Richard Prebble’s book, “I’ve Been Thinking”. It doesn’t compare to the great Libertarian and Objectivist literature, but at least it’s better than winning the Communist Manifesto. I plan to enter the Essay Competition next year.

I’ve also read increasingly more about history and other philosophies. I’ve known a good deal of history for a long time, but most of that was 20^th Century history, and now I know a lot more about a much wider range of history.

In the future, I plan to continue my work on SOLO and with the Libertarianz and expand into new areas, like perhaps writing for the Free Radical. [PC was shaking his head when I said that].

The future of Libertarianism depends on how well it is marketed towards the next generation and the “movers and shakers” of tomorrow, and that’s why it is important to appeal to people now, before their minds are permanently made up. As I’ve stressed here, the best way to go about this is to present the philosophy as a proper, rational alternative to the status quo. As history shows, philosophies that do do this can be incredibly successful, especially in the statist hellhole New Zealand is heading towards. Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks for listening to my speech today, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Speaking at Libz Conference '07

In 1 and 1/2 weeks, I'm going to make a speech at the Libertarianz Conference and AGM 2007. The speech is going to be about my introduction to Libertarianism, the Libz, and the philosophy in general from a youth's prespective.

Hope to see you there, Kiwi Libs!

~Callum