Society

"Where the flags wave in bulk. The people suffer in bulk."    Broughton

The developed world is not as functional as the "experts" (drips under pressure) would have us believe. The largely white developed countries would appear to have all the trappings of modern societies; eg, a high standard of housing, roads, water and sewerage. The standard of living is adequate and generally speaking, if you want a job, there's one available. Taxation tends to be crippling but somebody has to pay for the experts to live comfortably. But don't turn your back on the obvious. All the hard work building our societies has already been done and the only function left for the experts, is upgrading the infrastructure to match the progress of their individual societies. More roads, hospitals etc., and at great expense to all concerned.

In reality, politicians have time on their hands to sit back and say we intend to improve the
living standards of our people because we have their interests at heart. How many times have we heard this excuse justifying repressive legislation? Terrorism is the latest scare tactic to be utilised in the name of political oppression. True or false?

Sit back and take an objective look at today's politicians, whether they be national or local.
They get elected by lying through their teeth, and once in power become instant geniuses and instinctively know what's good for the rest of us. Egos rule and brains take the back seat. Self justification is paramount and the wishes of the people are ignored in the name of national security and building a just society. Ho Hum. Yawn?

My local council is a typical example. A couple of million in debt few years back and now
it's suddenly desirable to borrow more than thirty million. But wait, it's not to upgrade the
infrastructure. It's to build council owned and controlled luxuries such as an overindulgent
swimming pool with a huge water slide. The idea being to attract out of town people (who
have their own pool) to spend their money in the revamped CBD, thus justifying council's
massive rate increases. Naturally council blame inflated property prices. But NZ inflation is
caused solely by high interest rates, government and local council charges. Obviously,
nothing is ever council's fault. But wait, there's more. A half million-dollar statue is
proposed to encourage visitors to turn off the motorway and spent their loot in council's
overpriced paradise. No doubt the local politicians are arguing among themselves that the
statue should be of "me." Haven't I put the welfare of the little people before my own selfish
intentions? Yeah right.

On a national basis New Zealand has joined other fatuous societies by banning smoking in
bars and restaurants etc. Hitler's Goebbels would be proud of the one-sided propaganda.
Dubious data that suit their argument is promoted and reality ignored. For example, in the
last hundred years alone, politics and religion have killed more people than a million years of smoking ever will. Inheriting faulty genes is the real cause of premature death, not tobacco. Although too much of anything is bad for you (except sex and wine). The experts
conveniently forget that man has being dying of cancer since he swung out of the trees, yet
tobacco has only been around for about three hundred years. Unfortunately a large proportion of the population (the Jackass Mentality) are donkey enough to believe such propaganda. It must be right if the government says so? Sadly, bitter vindictiveness by a small number of society's do-gooders, would have smokers hung, drawn and quartered. Those who must be obeyed know everything? Need I say more?

The huge increase in anti social behaviour was inevitable. But it should be remembered that the more repressive laws enacted, the more people will protest. Note the riots in France and Sydney's beer fuelled street brawls. These protests are happening in the so called civilised countries because the politicians are trying to control every aspect of human behaviour. A minor street punch-up and another bunch of repressive laws are enacted overnight.

Be warned. You cannot challenge authority. There's a law against it. The justice system is
politically motivated and you will be prosecuted and fined regardless of truth. Human nature dictates that people object to losing their long established freedoms. As a panacea, dangerous drugs are now so common that the politicised police are unable to cope. They're too busy dishing out fund raising speeding tickets as another method of controlling the people.

Every now and again somebody is attacked by a dog defending its territory. That's what dogs are supposed to do. It's the nature of canines. But whoopee! The experts have solved the problem. Every dog must now have a microchip under its skin at great expense to the owner. Are we expected to believe that this will stop dogs attacking little children? The dog licence fee has been massively increased to cover the resulting administration cost of a canine data base. More opportunity for unmindful civil servants to live at public expense? What about the rights of the owners? What about man's best friend?

Education and job content have been dumbed down. The experts don't want people with
ability to think for themselves, and the political system demands non thinking compliancy as
of right. Work for a "competitive salary" or go without. Do and think as instructed or suffer
political ostracization?

If you consult history, you will note that rulers that ignore the wishes of the people wind up
dead. Physical and mental oppression always brings retaliation. The French, American and Russian Revolutions are obvious examples. Worldwide, politicians never seem to
comprehend commonsense, honesty and decency.

One must ponder the future of the so called developed nations.

My next column will discuss how to get around repressive smoking laws.

"The disbelieving mind is the magic that makes us human."         Broughton