What is the solution to this gradual but relentless Leftist creep? And do we want to live in a society half as wealthy as it should be, and where the government infantilises the people by dictating nearly everything?
The mainstream media (including Google, Facebook and Twitter) has been long overrun by Leftists. For some reason the media world attracts these kind of people. If we appreciate that those who can give and deny mass-public platforms basically rule the world, as they govern what we will and will not come to know about, we can then appreciate the dominance of the Left. An impenetrable dominance that is slowly yet incessantly breaking our society down.
There isn't much that the more conservative minds on the Right can do about this. How do you challenge people who can and will strategically edit everything you say, and to the end of promoting their own ideological bias? Creating a new Right-leaning political party that can challenge the status quo is today almost impossible. One false (or misconstrued) move and the Leftist media will proudly destroy you. It happens all the time.
But I suggest there is one last card in the deck, and a grand one at that. The possibility of secession.
Why do local districts hand 50% of their income over to Wellington, and only for the privilege of asking for some of it back - with conditions attached? And conditions that have so often been grossly distorted through special and political interests. There is no need for this. Prosperity is a not a function of bureaucratic union - it's a function of social stability and free-flowing trade. You don't have to unify with others, where it's practical, at the expensive of abandoning your Independence.
The idea is to push for a most ideal and promising locality to go on its own, though of course still linked and trading with greater New Zealand (and the world).
A seceded micro-state can make their own regulations, set their own minimum wages, deal with their own criminals, build their own welfare system, structure their own tax systems, and choose their own immigrants, etc.
Wouldn't localities prefer this was their own decision anyway? Why should it be Wellington's decisions? I doubt the people in Wellington are more wise - though certainly more corruptible.
What would the effect actually be, of a small district going alone in our modern era?
Government:
You would think that massive government gives economies of scale. Not so. Big government just means another 1, 2 or 3 layers of bureaucracy and administrative bloat that should not exist. Cutting all this loose is one of the best arguments for secession.
Business:
Small government is always more responsive to the people. But the effect of having a micro-state will be that it induces much greater political interest from the local populace, who are naturally more connected to their micro-state's concerns and opportunities.
They will, most likely, quickly understand the simple truth that economic development is a function of capital investment (replacing handsaws with chainsaws, etc) and that achieving positive capital investment is as straightforward as making your economy inviting to business. Making your economy inviting to business requires a good tax structure, minimal tax, minimal (and responsive) regulations, political stability, and the security of property rights, etc. Hence the micro-state could become the equivalent to a special economic zone, which attracts business investment aggressively. Achieving this is as simple as making that choice.
Education:
Most education for youth can be provided by parents in homeschooling clubs. Virtually any educational material today can be streamed online, for free. The only reason why education even exists in its current form is because unions have long dominated the government and forced a monopoly on us. A small micro-state would not need to tolerate this once the Leftist machine has been undermined.
An important note. Identical twin studies suggest clearly that the only two things that really matter for final educational child development, are genes and child abuse. Educational needs are nearly always mastered in good time, with or without the use of institutions.
Welfare:
No society with essential prosperity leaves their people to starve on the streets. Welfare that is not institutionalised through government would be taken care of by charity. Also, by allowing for housing affordability (and other) which is easily done, the cost of living can drop greatly making the very need for welfare more redundant.
The truth is, in our advancing age the need for big government has never been smaller. This growing abomination of high-tax big government is mostly a function of special interests and institutional bloat - not public need.
Health:
Any physical operation requiring special services unobtainable in the micro-state, can be outsourced to greater New Zealand or overseas. Indeed, many people already exploit low-cost medical tourism today.
Ends:
My point is secession can be sold to a target area, if we concentrate our resources to an ideal location that might be interested. And when a secession does hopefully happen, and proves successful (it will unless the populace does something daft), it can stand as an example for the rest of New Zealand to follow. Needless to say, marketing to 50,000 or so is infinitely easier than marketing to 4.5 million. You can almost do it on foot.
I have made a video on this possibility, as follows. From the reactions I have thus far received I have found the idea has a curiously broad and instinctive appeal to people.
