As may be apparent by some of the posting around here, there is an election on, and in the interests of disclosure I thought I better do my political compass again: this time it is using NZ questions, and non Kiwis will not have a clue about some of the things.
The results are as I expected. I’m reactionary, and I should be on the far right.
I better explain some things, which in all might stop people hacking this site, and also lose me a few followers. My core principle when it comes to government is that the civil authority should be quite limited in its role. Small government is best. My second principle is that all imperial powers are suspect. This leads to some applications, most of which are controversial.
- Parliament should make as few laws as possible. They should be as simple as possible. We have not got the capital in the worst climate in the country and the sessions are too long. Ideally, Parliament would meet at Scott Base, but since it costs a lot of money to fly parliamentarians there I’d move the capital to Waiouru, Palmerston North or Gore, depending on which area has the most deaths from exposure in the last decade, and only allow sitting during the depths of winter.
- Government should be small. Very small. Running defense, the courts, and very little else. The capital should be a ghost town when parliament is not around. A reverse decimation of the core government services (that is sack 90% of civil servants) would be a good place to start.
- We should be armed to the teeth and neutral.
- The government should not regulate substances: be it alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or methamphetamine. Let the market to that.
- Nor should the government regulate marriage and divorce. Church courts can do that: if you choose to marry for live in a Catholic ceremony that is exactly what it would mean. If you choose to make a contract with three other people in a polyamorous relationship, that is your business. Yes, this will mean muslims marrying young, but…
- The state should not be involved in education. Schools can regulate themselves.
- Nor should the state be involved in social welfare and social justice. This is the place for unions, mutual societies, insurance, pensions and charity.
In short, the rules the Victorians had would work quite well: you were assumed to be an adult at a fairly young age (16 will do) and you had to live with the consequences of your behaviour.
Within society, the rules of decent behaviour should mean that unless you are a thief, murderer or fraudster you would not have to deal with the courts and the (private) police forces. (Which run traffic: I’d privatize roads and make people pay tolls to travel at certain minimum speeds).
This should help you understand why I don’t belong to any political party that exists now: the last one that met my agenda was in the time of Wilberforce. I vote, but my vote will be used tactically.
