While the New Zealanders argue over why we got the result we thought we would in the election — ranging from conspiracy theories to a lack of push polling and hard data, there are structural issues. From Zero Hedge.

The reason there is secular stagnation is because the economy crashed after the last, housing, bubble (which itself was a response to the dot com bubble preceding it) reached epic proportions and burst.

So what is going on now is merely the global central bank cartel reflating the next bubble, and final, bubble.

Central banks may be doing so with good intentions, “to get back to full employment”, but the bottom line is the entire world is now gripped in what is without doubt the biggest asset bubble in history.

The dairy price (milk payout) is dropping: there is a glut in China, Russia is closed to our exporters (thank you very much, whoever decided to set up Ukraine as a flashpoint between NATO and the new Russian Imperium). We have had good economic weather (unlike most other places) because we make things people have to buy even when times are difficult: namely food.

But the financial system in the US and Europe is yet to unwind. Be cashed up. Limit your debt (and all the parties in NZ, bar the Greens, want to decrease debt). Let the others implode.

For there is a risk to our egalitarian way of living, and it was formulated a few years ago by Alte. It shows some of her background as a military brat who spent two much time dealing with the federal civil service. But it implies the development of a class system, driven not as much by merit as by connections. And she argues, that we may call our societies republics, but they function as monarchies.

We always end up with precisely the government we deserve, and if we’ve become incompetent to rule ourselves, then it is logical that we will be ruled by other people. Most families are now headless, so the state is doing their duty by stepping up and taking that place.

You may like to think of yourself as a freeman, and not a serf or even an aspiring lesser-noble, but that is actually a role allowed under neofeudalism. You are, you see, an outlaw. You are outside of the bounds of the system. You’ve gone rogue. You have a bounty on your head and it’s really only a matter of time before they trump up charges and drag you in to be hanged.

Unless….

Unless, that is, you manage to create a society outside of the bounds of their creation. A town, perhaps, or a large independent farm. A vibrant community offering some vital service that they are loathe to disturb, and that they choose to negotiate and trade with, rather than simply overrun and subject. It happened then, it can happen now.

What I see happening is that the peasants are revolting. We prefer our rulers to be competent: we will (at least in NZ) tolerate some pretty weird personalities and ignore quite a few flaws it we have a stable government that manages through crises. This is why Nicky Hager’s attempt to smear Key (the PM) as some kind of manipulative troll failed. Firstly, John Key is personable and (a bit like Clinton) most people like him (I think Key is more moral than Clinton, both financially and sexually, but that is another issue). Secondly, he is competent.

The opposition were not. And they lost.

And those of us who want to live in a republic, a free city, loyal to the crown but not beholden to the feudal high Lords of the party? Well, then the model exists: it is the Mennonites, the Hutterites and the Monastics. Get out of Dodge live in community, and be at peace. If you provide asylum for the poor, the mad and the simple, society will not merely tolerate you but praise you.

But if you overtly challenge the authority, you better win. For if you lose, you will be damned, like the Diggers and levellers, as traitors: to be expunged from the body politic.