Thursday, April 07, 2016

The Third Way triumphed

It's only 10 to 15  years since many of us were fighting the introduction of Paid Parental Leave, Working for Families, interest-free student loans AND Kiwibank - Jim Anderton's pet project and National's latest pragmatic point-of-sameness.

The principles behind that opposition have not changed. But our current government has abandoned them.

My son, who is no intellectual slouch, has taken to ridiculing the free market.

I point out that libertarianism cannot be blamed for the last recession. That no libertarian would support government bailing out private financial institutions. YES he says but you would support deregulation of them.

I counter that deregulation can only succeed when consequences are real; when they cannot be avoided through bail-outs.

So, he says, you would support allowing financial collapse just to teach people consequences?

You get the circular nature of these exchanges.

The up and coming voters have been taught to blame greed and exploitation on the free market (which has not actually been free)  as if the free market is just a beast that governments tolerate; that governments can and should control in the pursuit of utilitarian goals.

The collective memory of a society functioning without (or at least with a smaller) welfare state - mass compulsory wealth redistribution - is fading.

Mass redistribution brings with it commandeering control of each major aspect of life - education, health and welfare. Once government assumes  the responsibility for financing provision of these, it must then gradually assume control of each and every personal action which imposes an associated cost.

The idea remains abhorrent to me.

Earlier dissenters seem lulled or numbed into submission. NZ may have a so-called right-of-centre government but Labour's 'Third Way' has triumphed.






5 comments:

Don W said...

It seems that people today are willing to trade Liberty for the security of gov't welfare with all of the controls and interference into our lives that comes with it. Maybe in time people will come to appreciate and value Liberty and not take it for granted.
"You are greedy if you want live off your own earned money, You are needy if you want to live off other peoples earned money".

david said...

I had a similar experience with my daughter, I was trying to discuss things in what I thought was a rational way and I was subjected to invective that took me quite by surprise. It certainly upset me. But if we cant explain things to our children, how do we expect to convince anyone else?

Anonymous said...

The West is in serious decline, and we shall only value limited govt again when the present model is well and truly bankrupt.
JeffW

Redbaiter said...

Well what the hell should we expect when virtually nothing has been done to free our public education system from the grip of the left?

This is National's responsibility and they have been utterly ineffective cowards on the issue.

As they have on most issues.

And morons cluster over at Keywiblog telling you how great Key et al are and massively down voting anyone who dares to disagree.

The country is done and its John Key, the Nats, and the kind of idiot Nat supporters you find on Kiwiblog who are to blame.

Jigsaw said...

I certainly agree with your comment about 'collective memory'-the current young people seem to have no idea that although they haven't lived through a process it can still happen. I heard a person say the other day that a 'little' more inflation would be a good thing. I suppose if you haven't lived through runaway inflation you might think that but how depressing that we must repeat errors over and over again. Many of the people who began the welfare state would be appalled at the state of it at the moment. It takes I guess three of four generations for it to sap the strength of a nation.