The Politically Incorrect Show - 14/12/2000

[Music - Die Fledermaus]

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Thursday December 14, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd., the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

For all my disdain for the main political parties, I have always said that when ANY politician from ANY party says something worthwhile, I will applaud him. I have always tried to live up to that commitment on the few occasions when the opportunity has presented itself. Today is one such occasion. ACT MP Muriel Newman's latest weekly newsletter, entitled Socialism by Stealth, is a wake-up call about what is happening around us, & it is couched, for once, in terms of the relentless erosion of our liberties that such events represent, rather than the impact they might have on GDP growth. Here is part of it:

"The shock closure of the Trentham Rifle Range to live firing signals another step in New Zealand's inexorable march towards a socialist-driven vision of utopia, where regulations dominate our every action. For over 100 years, Trentham has been used as a firing range not only by the army but also by a variety of local, national and international sporting groups. However, as a result of spurious British research which indicates that bullets may be able to ricochet over mountains, the Army, without consultation and without warning, has decided to close Trentham to live fire.

"It does not appear to matter that there has never been an accident. Nor does the lack of concern expressed by the handful of families who live on the other side of the mountain - who are supposedly being protected by the closure - appear to be relevant. The Army, in its wisdom, has apparently decided it's better to be safe than sorry and close the range.

"But questions are now being asked as to whether safety is the real motive, since there is a view that it has been used as a front to progress the present government's anti-gun agenda. New Zealand's half a million shooters, already concerned about the threats to their sport by the government's proposed increases in regulations, will undoubtedly be watching developments with interest.

"Regardless of whether the Trentham closure is really the result of an anti-gun plot - rather than a matter of safety - there is no doubt at all that our increasing obsession with safety is responsible for a steady erosion of individual liberty. The growing number of regulations being introduced to protect us in the name of safety, health and other lofty ideals, are eroding our freedom, choice and personal responsibility. The whole process appears very insidious in that each small regulation, taken on its own, seems trivial. Taken together, however, they amount to a wholesale attack on our independence: what is deemed to be unhealthy or dangerous is banned, and what is considered healthy or beneficial is made compulsory...

"We appear to be heading towards a society where dangerous sports will no longer be permitted, where risk taking will be illegal, and where it is almost not worth getting out of bed in a morning...

"When we compare the raft of regulations that control our lives today with the freedoms that we once enjoyed, we realise the fight against regulation by stealth is an important one, one which is fundamental to our liberty.

"A friend of mine who has recently returned from Italy remarked on how envious she was of the freedom of the Italians - they can smoke where and when they want to, they can walk their dogs in town, cafés do not need local council consent to put their tables on sidewalks, and the list goes on. She reminded me of comments by the Italian economist Antonio Martino: 'Regulation is for today's socialists what public ownership of the means of production and central planning were for them half a century ago. No-one has to nationalise industries anymore, because the extraordinary growth of regulation has given effective control to the government without its having to assume the hassle of ownership. Socialism has effectively re-invented itself.'"

I can't commend Muriel highly enough for these words - the wisest she has ever uttered. I hope she continues in this vein. She might like to turn her attention to the proposal for police to administer DNA mouth-swabs to everyone they stop at their random check-points. She might like to revoke her previous endorsement of the viciously liberty-trampling Resource Management Act. She might like to try to educate her dumb colleagues, though I don't fancy her chances. She might even like to swap parties!

In any event, let me salute her words here with a Free Radical award.

(FREERAD AWARD)

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