Chris Trotter is blind. Or blinded by his love affair with Marxism.
Many New Zealanders hail in the first, second or third generation from people who left Europe to get away from class-based societies. They may not have consciously articulated this, instead talking about greater opportunity. One of my grandfathers was a miner and the other, an odd-jobs man who apparently worked his butt off at every opportunity. The sort of people Trotter puts on a pedestal.
They were oppressed by a class system where upward mobility was rare. New money was dirty money. No premium was put on education. My father and mother broke out. My father by educating himself at the library and my mother by going to teacher's training college. And finally by immigrating to NZ.
They are now part of the "owning class". Surely. As are the vast majority of New Zealanders. In one sense every New Zealander, even the poorest, because they have money in their pockets at some point every week. Money which allows them choices and opportunities.
Hasn't Trotter cottoned that the ruling class he loathes so vehemently has been replaced by the state? With this legislation the government plans to take money off every New Zealander to fund its re-election - both openly and covertly. That is money you have no choice about parting with. That process is coercive. And it's wrong.
But those who would ask you to part with your money willingly because you share a common cause - one of which may be trying to persuade people that the state is not benign - can now be effectively shut down for all of the year preceding the only chance you have to remove or elect representatives of your choice.
Trotter cannot grasp the essential prerequisites for freedom. Not only does he distort the concept of property rights but he ignores that force is perpetrated against people over and over by the state. He needs to move on. For all our sakes.
8 comments:
Excellent, wise post Lindsay. I hope Trotter gets to see it.
Mark Hubbard
Given his knowledge, his facile and deceptive portrayal of property rights indicates his usual unethical behaviour.
And I had to laugh at his manipulative language - EFB protesters "stroll" down Queen Street. Obviously didn't want to spill their Lattes did they Chris?
I wonder if he despises his employer, them being part of the "owning" class.
I see no-one is holding Mr. Trotter from trotting off to Cuba, Venuzuela or any Eastern European country yet to throw off the shackles of old school socialism. Then why isn't he departing?
Hmmmmm.
Also, he assumes the voter is a lemming, easily influenced by advertising. Well why did Labour choose to invest $800,000 more than was legal in the last election - some of which, no doubt, went towards pledge cards (a questionable advertisement in itself)?
(In retrospect, the average voter is a lemming, given that they voted this crooked bunch back in, in 2005.)
Dear Mr Trotter,
I do not need cash to undermine the public confidence in the present Labour Coalition. They are doing it themselves for free, or rather on the taxpayer's dollar.
What I would need cash for is if I agreed to pay the entitlement-addled who want casual work with me, tax free and under the table. I hear the same bleating about how they can't afford to jeopardise their Working For Families hand-out. They are unsuccessful. My advice to them is the same as to you. Get stuffed and join the real world.
I despise Trotter and his facile, pseudo-intellectual style, which is nothing short of meaningless utterances.
I cannot fathom why The Dom Post persists in pushing him down our throats every two weeks. I've written to Tim Pankhurst to no avail asking for Trotter to be replaced with a more incisive left-wing commentator.
Trotter is a fine writer of fiction...
But Trotter would be very happy that the "fifth" is having their wealth redistributed.
I don't even bother reading any thing written by him. I gave up reading fairytales when I was a kid.
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