Our neighbours in Australian had a slight change of PM last night. The Labor party there is facing a landslide against them, and two of the independent MPs that allowed them to govern have indicated they will not seek re-election. Kevin Rudd will lead the party into the election. It reminds me of a certain Geoffrey Palmer (who like Julia Gillard, was useless as a politician) who drove the NZ Labour party to the brink — and then resigned to let Mike Moore fight the election (which he was going to lose) in the hope that would minimise the losses they would face.

Julia is Gone. Kevin will take one for the team. Both will be gone soon. Result. #LaborSpill @CactusKate2 @Whaleoil

— Chris Gale (@pukeko60) June 26, 2013

Sometimes you just want to pass the popcorn. A woman who tried to say that there was a sexist conspiracy against her because politicians were sarcastic and rude?. The current Attorney General of NZ, Chris Findlayson, rejoices in the nickname of “Tinkerbell”. The fact that he is somewhat camp is less important than him being a very smart constitutional lawyer and a staunch Catholic. And that is one of the more printable names our politicians are known as. We consider the average politician requires less respect than a car salesman or a poor soul selling her hide in Hunter’s Corner.

New Zealand and Australia are two of the four old Dominions of the British Crown. We became self governing early in our history, but did nto have a separate military and pforiegn policy until the Dominion Act of 1936. And our current politicians overstep the taxes and oppression that Samuel described to the Israelites.

1 Samuel 8:1-22

¹When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. ²The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. ³Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, ⁵and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, ⁷and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. ⁹Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

¹⁰So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; ¹²and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. ¹⁵He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. ¹⁶He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, ²⁰so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. ²²The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”

When our leaders take us on a path to perdition there will be failure. For the average person is not stupid. You do not need to be that old to know that what was acceptable and reasonable and good is no longer permissible in polite society. Even if you are not yet able to vote, the costs of our societal structure is being made painfully clear to you and your friends. I see the results of this at work.

And those who tell us to shut up and follow along with their progressive agenda, or remain quiet because their funding depends on the whims of the king-in-parliament, are going to be ignored. A change is coming. and let us pray it is for the better. And in this process, sometimes we feel glee as the courtiers and power of the ancien regieme get what they richly deserve.