Mooning the Voter, Poo on the way?

For those that remember years ago when Zimbabwe started it’s slide, there was a specific point when the rot really set in.

Mugabe, despite being increasingly unpopular, won the parliamentary elections through massive manipulation and intimidation of his opponents. After that “success”, it was only a matter of time before he won enough seats to change the constitution, and from there it was all downhill.

Yesterday, the day began with Helen Clark telling us that everything would be fine.

Miss Clark said the definition of election advertising had clearly been too broad.

“I think people will find a vastly improved bill,” she said.

“But there are people out there who don’t care what it looks like because basically their motivation is political.”

(I guess she was talking about the Greens, who were gloating on the news tonight that the changes they forced through would cut the main opposition party’s funds by 90%.)

But it’s not fine, it’s worse. Now, even talking about political issues is illegal. I would like to say that that sort of law belongs in China and North Korea, but we’ve just sent Winston there to tell them to change it. (Apparently it’s the people on the bottom who are best to judge the human rights of a country. Who know?)

if I shouted out a supporting statement and it just so happened that only one person walking by heard me, that would be enough (Securities law has for years held that an investment is offered to the public even if it is made available to just one person who can be characterised as a member of the public).

Now, let’s put this in context. On Saturday there was a protest down Queen St. As WhaleOil points out, I was there. Even the most liberal of media (i.e. National Radio) admitted that this was middle New Zealand with not a “professional protester” in sight. (That’s actually an interesting point, because I walked around and through the protest, and I didn’t spot Bomber in the crowd. I guess he would qualify, but it goes to show just how big the protest was that I missed him and many other familiar faces.)

But what was Helen’s response?

Protesters who marched in Auckland in opposition to the government’s Electoral Finance Bill on Saturday say they are stunned Helen Clark has written them all off as right wing voters.

The Prime Minister says she is not too bothered by the crowd because most of them are opposition supporters and activists, and a turnout of 2,000 is not indicative of a groundswell.

Bomber is not a National Party supporter, but he is an activist.

All this shows one thing. The left in this country are not interested in democracy. They have cast aside any pretence at all of that. Banning speech itself is their boldest move yet, one that shook me to the core when I read it.

Helen’s response here is quite simple. She is mooning the voters – that’s the level of respect she now has for them in her comments and actions. She’s lying, and she is completely and utterly devoid of any shame in it.

Quote:

The bill is a response to the Exclusive Brethren’s well-funded campaign in 2005 against Labour and the Greens.

…

Miss Clark said National opposed the bill because it “got away with it” during the last election when the Brethren ran an initially covert campaign against the Government.

There was only one response to the Exclusive Brethren’s campaign: laughter. It was a joke, badly executed and quickly unmasked. It not only failed to meet it’s objective, but it backfired in multiple ways. National lost out, big time.

Labour on the other hand, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars and got away with it scot-free. She’s been quite open about doing it again too.

If Helen implements this law and wins the next election, we will have crossed that line that Mugabe crossed all those years ago. We will have murdered our democracy in the name of stamping out a private campaign that was a laughing stock and tripped up it’s own objectives, while ignoring actual crimes committed in the name of buying power.

So what is the next step for a government that has crossed line after line, stealing money, assaulting opposition members, creating a nation wide climate of fear in parents, and generally destroying systematically our hard won checks and balances?

What will a government do that is prepared to shut down the right of voters to talk through a megaphone?

The voters who remain Labour supporters throughout all this have a stark choice in the next election: democracy or power?

I’m not holding my breath, I’m too busy packing my bags.