Perigo’s Perspective On The Democracy NZ Ruckus – 22 Jun 2023

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one candidate may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose five seems like carelessness.

The fledgling Democracy NZ party seemed to be unraveling at the weekend, with a third of its candidates, including anti-mandate hero Dr Matt Shelton, dropping out.

It's clear from Paul's magnificent interview with Matt Shelton that defectors were frustrated about the way the party is being run. I'm also reliably informed that they were alarmed at a watering down of policy, particularly the party's commitment to entrenching our Bill of Rights. I note that leader Matt King assured Paul on Monday that there was no watering down of that. I also note, however, that the party website now says:

We will require as a condition of any coalition agreement that the Bill of Rights is upheld.

 This is non-negotiable. The exact legal route to amending the constitution of New Zealand to ensure subsequent governments don't trample our rights is not straightforward or amenable to a neat slogan. …

We can't simply say that we will “entrench” Bill of Rights legally, nor would that help anything with s.5 still in there, which can't be amended without affecting 30 years of legislation and case law. Our intent to ensure we protect the Bill of Rights has not changed, and we are taking the advice of legal experts in constitutional law to ensure that we follow the correct process and wording to enforce this in the long-term.

Actually, it's Section 4 that's the problem: It says:

No court shall, in relation to any enactment (whether passed or made before or after the commencement of this Bill of Rights),—
(a)
hold any provision of the enactment to be impliedly repealed or revoked, or to be in any way invalid or ineffective; or
(b)
decline to apply any provision of the enactment—
by reason only that the provision is inconsistent with any provision of this Bill of Rights.

Bollocks to that. It means the whole Bill is a sham. Section 4 has to go. And yes, then set about repealing all existing legislation inconsistent with it. Isn't that the point? Get your “legal experts in constitutional law” to sniff it all out so that it can be excreted from our statute books. All traces of the tyrannical Wuhan legislation would be a good place to start!

I took the opportunity to read more on the website. Democracy NZ says:

Politics is about people, and policy changes lives. Our Party values will drive our policy development.

Our policies will be integrated and interconnected. They will be developed with people – for people.

Ugh! That's just fluff. Cringey fluff that any charlatan could say and most do. Maybe there's watering down going on after all? Freedom-lovers want fight, not fluff.

Then we get:

Protect and preserve the New Zealand Bill of Rights – ensure our basic human rights are respected.

Again I say, I say, entrench!

We take race out of everything.

That's good. End Brown Supremacism and apartheid. No more anti-white racism in the health system, the New Zealand School of Music or anywhere else funded by the taxpayer!

We protect private property rights.

Good! So dump the RMA!

We believe in evidence over ideology.

If that means an end to climate hysteria and Wuhan lies from the Ministry of Truth, great! But say that!

We believe in less Government intrusion in our lives.

How about none, unless we're violating the rights of others?

We are a sovereign nation and won’t be controlled by overseas influence (e.g., the WEF, WHO, UN).

Hurrah!! So we'll be exiting those abominations?

We oppose co-governance (Five Waters, He Puapua, centralisation and over regulation).

So does everyone except Labour and the Greens currently. What else?

We believe in free speech – ensure a fair, balanced and democratic media.

Actually, just leave the media alone: neither subsidise them, as current Woke-Fascist media are subsidised, nor censor them. Free speech can then take care of itself.

And think about “democratic” and “Democracy,” Democracy NZ. Democracy is “counting heads regardless of their content,” as the late William Weddell used to say. Democracy permanently cancelled Socrates. Democracy elected Hitler … and Jacinda Jackboot, who wanted to extend the vote to 16-year-olds steeped in her Orwellian excrement. Democracy has delivered us pronoun pillocks and Woke-Fascism. 

Democracy is not merely “the worst possible system, apart from all the others,” as Churchill joked; it can be as bad as all the others. The United States Declaration of Independence doesn't mention democracy; it proclaims unalienable, God-given rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution doesn't mention democracy either; it goes to great lengths to guard against the tyranny of numbers.

Still, we have to get the numbers to promote liberty politically. Five per cent of voters, to be precise. If all these 1 per cent parties could stop their shenanigans, get together for liberty's sake, in an equivalent of Jim Anderton's old anti-liberty Alliance, I'd vote for that alliance.

That would probably take a miracle.

But … whether by misfortune, carelessness, or even (perish the thought) genuine courage and principle … miracles do happen!