OVER THE LIMIT: WHY I AM LEAVING THE SHIRE
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[The following post is by TDV Contributor Pete Gorman]
https://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/12/18/over-the-limit-why-i-am-leaving-the-shire.html
I love New Zealand, the breathtaking natural beauty, the mostly open and friendly people and my own history here create a real bond with the place, but all my adult life I have felt oppressed by an ever increasing multitude of laws, regulation and bureaucracy, and it is increasing all the time. I have witnessed the slow erosion of freedom, of the old New Zealand of my Grandfathers day. I have seen the nanny state welfare and 'education' systems turn a large portion of our young adults into helpless unskilled and unmotivated state dependants.
There is a marked antipathy against entrepreneurship, at least among the poor, as if profit is morally reprehensible. Free enterprise barely rates a mention, all you hear about is jobs jobs jobs... the country is rife with woolly headed socialism. Issues of personal freedoms barely make it into the public discourse, if at all.. The regulatory burden slowly increases over time, we are like the proverbial frogs in the saucepan of water.
I ran into an old friend now running an orchard in the countryside. While showing me around we come across an excavation no more than 5 meters across. He explained, "I have a stainless steel pool to go in there, I got it for $1,500 but its going to cost $18,000 in resource consents and engineering reports so I'm just going to leave it". You can tell with a glance there would be no structural issue with the pool.
In a neighbouring village another friend had a solar hot water unit up and running for the last seven years. She told me that the council have just come along and forced her to take it down because it does not have 'resource consent'. Yes in NZ you have to get permission to make even relatively small changes to your own house.
My Aunty had an idea to start a roadside coffee stall, she would have been required to spend $10,000 on fees. A resource consent, a ministry of transport application and even a consultation with the local Maori Iwi. Needless to say she did not go ahead with the idea.
And then there is this bizarre obsession with safety here. I have seen this obsession with safety grow until it is quite pathological. Small children now have to wear hi-visibility gear to leave the school grounds, also a wide brimmed hat, sunscreen, buddy system and extra supervision. Children are routinely dropped off and picked up rather than 'risk' the walk. This pathology is well illustrated by an anecdote from my Aunty. While at a school football game she noted that all the mothers would call their child in every 10 minutes for water or a snack as if they are going to perish of dehydration in half an hour. Some years back a law was introduced regulating the temperatures food must be served at in retail outlets, since then the pies have been too hot and the sandwiches too cold.
The guy who washes windows at the university is encumbered with two signs that say 'warning tripping hazard'. He has to move and set these up again every five minutes as he moves along the side of the building.
My brother is going back to running a small fishing day-boat. He is required to furnish an enormous 'safety plan', something he finds rather burdensome and pointless.
My 250cc scooter costs $477 a year in motor registration, its compulsory to wear a helmet, and if you dare to even ride to the shop and back without one you will hear how you are setting a bad example. This is common here, for people to police themselves (or rather their neighbours!) Also in NZ the price of fuel is doubled because of tax on it. Also the price of alcohol and tobacco is hugely expensive because of taxes. Another thing, in a bar here a serving of spirits is 30ml (almost nothing!) and it will probably cost $10.
To become a property owner in NZ most people now will be in debt to the bank all their lives. The high price of property spills out into prices for everything making NZ one of the most expensive countries in the world. My house is illegal, strict building codes regulate even to the type of wood permitted to be used. D.I.Y shacks have been bulldozed by the council. Even worse, legislation looks likely to be introduced perpetrating a 'warrant of fitness' for rental housing. This should mop up the last of the cheaper housing options.
When the National Party recently got re-elected it was inevitable what would happen. Massive government debt, increased surveillance and joining in with Americas 'War of Terror'. The government recently introduced the 'foreign fighters' bill. No one predicted they would also spend $80 million on new paper currency and reduce the legal blood alcohol driving limit to 1 beer. But the icing on the cake was when the police came out with a 1km/hr speed tolerance for the summer holiday period. 1km!! For American readers, that is about 0.6 miles per hour... if you go more than 0.6 miles per hour over the speed limit you get extorted!
It is likely that we can expect a false flag terror event like Australia and Canada, to further give excuse for increased state power. There is a strong possibility that this could turn most of the west into an authoritarian state. This probably means that it is going to get worse before it gets better.
New Zealand is often listed as one of the 'most free' countries in the world to live and do business. Perhaps this is the case for medium to large business but is not the case for individual free enterprise. Most people here have never experienced freedom and so seem unaware of the oppression we live under. Perhaps others do not experience this stuff as oppression, but I do.
This is why I am going to Anarchapulco, and why I am going on a one way ticket.
New Zealand born Pete Gorman spent his early life as an underground rock musician and then EDM producer before entering film school in 2003. He worked in regional television before working as a media producer for the University of Otago. Lifelong Anarchist beliefs eventually led to the discovery of the Anarchast channel and a growing passion for the Anarchist message of freedom and non-violence, and to his current position as Director of Media for TDV Media.
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