Needed: A Bridge over troubled waters

In a world which is increasingly polarised in its politics, economics and beliefs about religion, race and gender, we desperately need people who can build bridges between opposing forces. People who can help us understand the other side's point of view. Political leaders have the opportunity to be that voice of reason. Unfortunately, too many find it expedient to adopt the rhetoric of anger and division to inflame tensions for short term political gain.

On race relations there has been a growing climate of fear and intolerance. Chris Trotter made some good points in his 2022 column on colonisation. 

We need respectful dialogue at the flaxroots level if we are to make a nation together which respects cultural differences, democratic norms, and the Treaty. Just as the last government made a mess of clearly explaining co-governance, the current government needs to be careful not to fall victim to reactionary pressures which could setback race relations by decades. 

The assassination of Charlie Kirk

I disagreed with Charlie Kirk over many issues such as gun controls, Gaza and Trump. But I respected his right to express his opinions. That is the nature of free speech and tolerance of differing viewpoints in a democracy.  

Kirk made provocative and extreme statements. But he defended the rights of people, even those of his political adversaries, to express their opinions.  There is a major difference between provocative words and violent actions. I join with all others who support democratic freedoms in condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk. My condolences to his wife, family and friends.  

I think we need to be very wary of jumping into the culture wars of far left or extreme right. They are often oversimplifcations that do little but promote divisions, tear at the fabric of society and undermine the common good. As a society we need to relearn how to debate issues, with a respect for the human dignity of the other, without resorting to violence. 

Diangelo: profit of race

 

Raluca Bejan, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Dalhousie University takes issue with diversity training businesswoman and promoter of racial division - Robin DeAngelo.  

https://theconversation.com/amp/robin-diangelos-white-fragility-ignores-the-differences-within-whiteness-143728  

Distributism Explained

 

Distributism is being touted as the next best idea as an alternative way to do economics and politics in the 21st century. But what is Distributism? This video provides a simple and quick overview of Distributist principles.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M702i7rcUBo

The problem isn't liberalism, the problem is weakness

 

Kemi Badenoch's address to the ARC 2025 defended classical liberalism against Centralised Socialism and its control-centred philosophy. 

Caritas Justice Leadership Days - an inspiring experience

I've just returned from the 2017 Caritas Justice Leadership Day in Wellington.  This year the Wellington JLD was held in Avalon, Lower Hutt.

The JLDs are a once a year opportunity for student leaders to learn more about putting faith into practice and bring to life the principles of Catholic social teaching. Today's workshop again showed the energy and hope which characterize student leaders today. It was inspiring to be part of and I wish the students well with the various follow up actions they identified today.

The next generation will face more than its fair share of challenges including Climate Change, the impacts on culture of globalization and the erosion of community.  Justice Leadership days are an investment in the leaders of the future.

More about JLDs here.

Lib Dems Do God - Book Review

A book published in the UK and edited by Jo Latham and Clare Mathys sets out the case for Christians to be Liberal Democrats. 

LibDems are Britain's third party and were part of the Coalition government during David Cameron's time as Prime Minister.

Under new leader Tim Farron the party has rediscovered its anti-establishment, reformist, Liberal roots.  The book sets out some key themes that identify a strong overlap between Christian values and those liberals.  These include:

• A deep respect for human rights and the dignity of all people;
• Freedom of religion for all;
• Respect for individual freedom;
• Equality for all - through combating poverty;
• Appropriate regulatory frameworks to ensure that markets serve the common good.
• A humanitarian approach to global issues and an internationalist approach to issues such as Climate Change, Refugees and Migration.

For people of all faith traditions "Liberal Democrats Do God" (Latham & Mathys) is well worth a read and I recommend it to anyone that has an interest in politics or broader social issues related to liberty, equality and community.

A liberal democrat view of TPPA

Ministers need to allow full public participation in TPPA review.

Free Trade

As a liberal democrat I believe that people should have the freedom to trade with one another provided that one person is not exploiting another. Similarly freedom to trade between countries is generally a good thing. It has tended to reduce the cost of living for people over the last one hundred years. For poorer countries increased trade has often been the means by which they have increased export income and increased living standards, healthcare and education. Conversely protectionist measures and import licensing are systems which have been fraught with abuse resulting in high prices for the public and big profits for a few private investors. Most New Zealanders who lived through the 1970s or 1980s can recall the high price of electrical equipment and motor vehicles. So free trade is fine where agreements are openly arrived at and no one group in society, particularly the poor and vulnerable, is made worse off.  However that does not mean that all trade agreements are good ones or that liberals should blindly support a bad trade deal just because its a trade deal.  When it comes to the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) there are several things that concern me and which don't appear to line up with some key liberal democratic principles. 

Open government

Generally liberals support open government and transparent decision making. Secrecy and behind closed doors commercial deals are generally not a good thing. In fact we have laws to prevent private companies doing that kind of thing when it comes to setting prices.  The reason we have laws against such secret arrangements is that they tend to be at the expense of the public and to enrich private interests.  Why then, with the TPPA, is it OK for the public to be kept in the dark - but for commercial interests and government representatives to meet in secret to make deals?  Such behaviour engenders suspicion and undermines confidence in public institutions. 

Proponents of the TPPA claim that it's nothing to worry about because "all trade deals are arrived at this way". But such an argument does not stand up to scrutiny.  If our negotiating position is being shared behind closed doors with other countries representatives and with corporate interest groups then why not with the public? In a democracy citizens are entitled to be informed. It is the government's job to persuade an informed citizenry that a decision is in the public interest. Depriving the public of the information is not a satisfactory alternative. 

Serve the public interest

Liberals also believe that the government has an obligation to serve the public interest or the common good. The common good is about making all people better off. Reducing the welfare of one group so that other privileged groups gain is not acting in the common good. A trade deal that increases the price of medicines for the sick but allows large agribusiness interests to line their pockets does not serve the common good.  A trade agreement which limits the ability of a government to regulate in the public interest does not serve the common good. 

The government has developed a reputation for commercial pragmatism. One can debate whether that is well-founded or whether an unprincipled pragmatism is something to crow about. But even from such a standpoint - where ugly sacrifices are made in healthcare treatments and our regulators are handcuffed lest they upset private interests - the huge benefits for dairy that we were promised in return seem to have disappeared like a mirage in the desert. 

Labour Spokesperson, Annette King, said: "The deal falls well below expectations with only disappointing crumbs for our dairy industry and extended patents on new drugs which will cost the taxpayer millions and leave New Zealanders without life-saving drugs.... New Zealanders must be told whether the government has traded away our right to further restrict foreign ownership of housing or farm land and what agreements have been made to allow foreign corporations to sue New Zealand for regulating in the public interest.

Commentator Colin James points out that Minister Grocer's arguments about the alleged benefits also include a hefty amount of gains that would have happened anyway under existing trade arrangements. "Tim Groser attributes the greater-than-forecast gains in sales to China since 2008 to the free trade agreement (FTA) when most of them might well -- probably would -- have happened anyway, given the spike in China's demand for milk products. (If he is right, then would the fall in the past year also logically have to be attributed to the FTA?)"

Democratic decision-making

As Colin James highlights: (TPPA) "and similar regional agreements are about regulatory convergence every bit as much as, and arguably more than, about goods trade access. That is why patents and copyright were top of the United States' list and why opponents bother a lot about patents and copyright costs here and about investor-state dispute resolution issues, which do not yet have a global supervisory mechanism."  (www.colinjames.co.nz)

Since 1984 New Zealand's (and many other countries') national sovereignty has been severely eroded by global economic centralisation - or what Pope Francis has termed the "technocratic paradigm". Government Ministers now say that New Zealand's influence is so small that we should join the TPPA club because being in, with a very tiny amount of influence, is better than being out on our own. However, in a democracy governments are meant to govern in the public interest. If the current economic model does not allow them to do that then they need a new model. 

The full text of the TPPA should be published now and a lengthy and comprehensive public review of the Agreement needs to take place . Otherwise the public confidence in the Agreement will be undermined and so too will be the basis of trust between citizen and government that underpins democracy. Abolitionist and liberal activist Wendell Phillips was quoted in 1852 as saying: 

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. ... Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”

A brief history of Liberal politics

British Liberal Prime Minister - David Lloyd-George

A liberal is someone who believes in liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views, depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas and programs such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion,  civil rights, democratic societies, and international cooperation.
 
Liberalism rejected the notions of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, and the Divine Right of Kings. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition. Locke argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property, while adding that governments must not violate these rights based on the social contract. 

Liberals opposed reactionary conservatism and sought to replace monarchist absolutism in government with representative democracy and the rule of law.

Although British classical liberals aspired to a minimum of state activity, the passage of the Factory Acts in the early 19th century which involved government interference in the economy met with their approval. In this period, the dominant ideological opponent of classical liberalism was conservatism, but liberalism later survived major ideological challenges from new opponents, such as fascism and communism. 

By the end of the nineteenth century, the principles of classical liberalism were being increasingly challenged by downturns in economic growth, a growing perception of the evils of poverty, unemployment and relative deprivation present within modern industrial cities, and the agitation of organised labour. The ideal of the self-made individual, who through hard work and talent could make his or her place in the world, seemed increasingly implausible.

During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further as liberal democracies found themselves on the winning side in both world wars. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state. 

Lloyd George and Churchill passed the 1909 People's Budget, aimed at the redistribution of wealth.

Another early liberal convert to greater government intervention was Thomas Hill Green. Seeing the effects of alcohol, he believed that the state should foster and protect the social, political and economic environments in which individuals will have the best chance of acting according to their consciences. The state should intervene only where there is a clear, proven and strong tendency of a liberty to enslave the individual. Green regarded the national state as legitimate only to the extent that it upholds a system of rights and obligations that is most likely to foster individual self-realisation.

This strand began to coalesce into the social liberalism movement at the turn of the twentieth century in Britain. The New Liberals, which included intellectuals like L.T. Hobhouse, and John A. Hobson, saw individual liberty as something achievable only under favorable social and economic circumstances. In their view, the poverty, squalor, and ignorance in which many people lived made it impossible for freedom and individuality to flourish. New Liberals believed that these conditions could be ameliorated only through collective action coordinated by a strong, welfare-oriented, and interventionist state. The People's Budget of 1909, championed by David Lloyd George and fellow liberal Winston Churchill, introduced unprecedented taxes on the wealthy in Britain and radical social welfare programmes to the country's policies. It was the first budget with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the public.

 In New Zealand the Liberal Party was the first real political party.   It governed from 1891 until 1912. The Liberal strategy was to create a large class of small land-owning farmers who supported Liberal ideals, by buying land and selling it to small farmers on credit. The First Liberal government also established the basis of the later welfare state, with old age pensions, developed a system for settling industrial disputes, which was accepted by both employers and trade unions. In 1893 it extended voting rights to women, making New Zealand the first country in the world to enact universal female suffrage.

New Zealand gained international attention for the Liberal reforms, especially how the state regulated labour relations.^[1] Of special note were innovations in the areas of maximum hour regulations, minimum wage laws, and compulsory arbitration procedures. The goal was to encourage unions but discourage strikes and class conflict.^[2] The impact was especially strong on the reform movement in the United States.^[3]

In New Zealand the Liberals enjoyed a brief resurgence as the United Party under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ward between 1928-30.However, during the 1930s Liberal parties began to be squeezed between left wing socialist parties and right wing conservative parties.  During the Great Depression and World War Two Liberal parties tended to join in Coalition governments in the interests of national unity.

Something wrong with unjust financial system

The Caritas social justice week dvd. was shown in north Wellington tonight. The guys attending reflected on the growing gap between the rich and poor in New Zealand; the urbanisation and decline of provincial towns and the need for rebuilding linkages in communities which build trusting relationships (social capital).

One of the case studies dealt with a vulnerable woman who borrowed money from a loan shark for a washing machine. There is something very wrong with a financial system that allows loan sharks to exploit the poor and vulnerable, which allows bank interest rates of more than 20% when the OCR is less than 3% and which uses taxpayers to bailout owners of large financial companies who made bad business decisions.

The enormous power granted to global banking corporates means such organisations wield more financial power than some governments. The huge and growing tsunami of debt owed to banking and financial companies now threatens the stability of economies worldwide.

We need a financial system that upholds human dignity and promotes participation by all. 

Vodafone Foundation Making A World of Difference

Vodafone Foundation is a charitable trust determined to make a real difference in the lives of young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here's one of the examples of how we do that.

NZ's debt to rest of world grows

Net foreign liabilities - a measure of what New Zealand owes the rest of the

 world - rose to $150 billion or 71.7% of GDP in the year according to a Radio NZ report

For a small economy, distant from world markets and reliant so heavily on one export sector this news should be cause for concern.  We need a coherent strategy to develop at least two other major export sectors.  ICT looks as if it could grow into one of those.  Either way an economy owing so much to offshore financiers will remain vulnerable to external shocks until it has a plan to diminish that vulnerability and then executes against that plan.

One element towards a comprehensive solution is that the government must get back to surplus at the earliest opportunity.  But wouldn't it also be smart to look to the private sector savings levels and reduction of household debt to contribute to this overseas-debt reduction cause?

Businesses opposed to new tax on mobile technology

Inland Revenue's latest tax tightening proposals will hit smaller businesses the hardest with extra compliance costs, the Employers and Manufacturers Association says in a recent EMA media statement

"The impact of the new taxes on car parks along with the proposal to tax the personal use of mobile phones and laptops will aggravate compliance costs for all businesses but especially SMEs," said Kim Campbell, EMA's chief executive.

"It's absolutely not worth IRD proceeding with this.  A recent national survey of ours found 47 per cent of employers allow the personal use of smart phones, and 35 per cent allow personal use of tablets and laptops provided for business purposes."

Certainly if you accept the principle that governments should tax those things they want less of then taxing mobile technologies seems like a backward step in the move towards more efficient 21st century business practice. 

The IRD should not be trying to determine the extent to which households or businesses should use new technology. That is the practical effect of this tax proposal.  Like the carpark tax the costs and unintended distortions of this new tax proposal outweigh any meagre benefits.  

Disclaimer: the author is employed by a telecommunications provider.

Minister welcomes investment in New Zealand

Minister of Communications, Hon Amy Adams, today welcomed the news that another hi-tech company was opening up new jobs in Wellington. Centrist Comment says this is precisely the sort of new hi-tech investment Wellington requires. 

beehive.govt.nz - Minister welcomes investment in New Zealand

Govt operating deficit smaller than forecast | The National Business Review

According to a recent media report Govt operating deficit smaller than forecast | The National Business Review the government's books are in better shape than expected.  However, the main reason is that budgeted expenses did not arise when they were expected.  They will however arise later on so there is no room for complacency in terms of the government's goal of achieveing a budget surplus in 2014-15.  Given the high level of private debt its important that the government finances are brought back into shape sooner rather than later.  The challenge is how to balance a tight fiscal policy against keeping the emerging economic growth rates going.

2012 climate events - a cause for concern

This article appeared listing all the events linked to climate change.  There is no doubt that the world's weather seems to be changing or that the polar ice cap is melting.  There also seems to be little doubt that sea levels are rising. In the face of the evidence it seems reasonable to be taking measures to do what we can to reduce CO2 emissions and to re-orient our economy towards renewable energy.

Nations around the world are considering ways to reduce CO2 emissions that are aligned with economic development and full employment.  New Zealand is well placed with its bountiful use of hydro-energy.  But we should be moving towards further reduction in our reliance on imported oil and look more towards tidal, wind and solar energy.  Progress in these areas can both reduce the impact on the environment and help improve our poor Current Account deficit.  http://hot-topic.co.nz/the-year-the-earth-bit-back-top-climate-stories-of-2012/

Yes - the guns are the problem

"Seven years ago an elderly Los Angeles woman who had agreed to move out of her daughter's apartment bought a handgun. She cleared the background check, passed the safety test and practiced on targets at the local shooting range. Then she shot and killed her daughter and her daughter's fiance -- my brother David."

Seven years ago Jenny Price penned this column following the shooting of her brother by someone who had passed a gun safety check and was registered to use a gun.  The Washington Post published the story back in 2005.  Only 3 percent of such deaths are accidents, since most murders are committed with legally purchased firearms. 

The problem is with guns being too easily available in the USA.  As Jenny Price wrote on Christmas Day 2005:

"The problem is that 65 million people in the United States own handguns. The gun used to kill my brother was a Glock 19, a light and portable semi-automatic. These guns are designed to kill people: That's their sole purpose. Nearly 12,000 Americans annually use guns to do just that, and the majority use handguns. Twelve thousand: that's comparable to the number of AIDS deaths each year in the United States. (Great Britain has about 100 gun deaths each year.) ".

The organisations that benefit from lax gun laws are primarily the arms manufacturers.  Certainly the tens of thousands of Americans who are killed by gunfire each year do not.  Nor their families or communities.  Most civilised societies have a full time police force to maintain order.  They choose to do this instead of letting citizens arm themselves in a "law of the jungle" mentality which was more suited to the 18th and 19th century wild west.

President Obama has done much to restore America's tarnished image in the international community.  But Americans need to take back their nation and tell the gun lobby that enough is enough. One of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the constitution is "life" - the freedom to live.   The biggest threat to that freedom right now is not the US government .  It is the Gun Lobby.

 

What do Centrists stand for?

Someone asked me the other day what centrists stand for?  The assertion they made was that centrists just make themselves equidistant from the left wing and the right wing and become a kind of bland unprincipled lot.  The truth of course is very different.  

Most centrists have their own, often strongly-held, principles.  However, they do share a common distrust of both extreme State Socialism where government agencies are expected to solve all of a country's problems.  The Soviet Union showed that such a system becomes dysfunctional and will eventually collapse under the weight of its own inefficiencies - as well as its abuse of human rights.  At the same time most centrists abhor the injustices perpetuated by unregulated monopolies and the large gaps between rich and poor that deny many people equal opportunities on the basis of race, class or gender. A healthy and stable society will have a high degree of social cohesion where all citizens can participate.  The institutions of civil society - such as families and religious, sports or cultural organisations help build such belonging and cohesion. 

History has shown that allowing people to trade goods and services freely usually results in innovation, prosperity and improved relations between cultures and nations. But governments have a legitimate role to play in developing effective laws and regulations that protect the environment, help the disadvantaged, protect the security of all citizens and ensure that everyone has access to good quality health, education and welfare. In general centrists believe in a property-owning society under the benign guidance of a fair and just government.  

In many ways centrists act as the glue that holds political processes together.  They can see the effectiveness of the policies they seek to implement and are prepared to work with legislators to improve policy settings. 

In the US context, for example, the need for principled centrist legislators has never been greater.  Whether they be in the Democratic Party -or the Republican Party - centrists need to find common cause and ensure there is progress - particularly on the control of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.  Dwight Eisenhower, a moderate Republican, showed during the 1950s that Congress and the White House can work effectively for change. President Kennedy showed the same thing during the 1960s. It's time for ideology to be put to one side and the safety of children to be put first. 

Best Chance Yet For Effective Gun Control

WASHINGTON (AP) -US Vice President, Joe Biden, who is overseeing the administration's response to Friday's killing of 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, said he and President Barack Obama are "absolutely committed" to curbing gun violence in the United States.

"Even if we can only save one life, we have to take action," he said.

A longtime gun-control advocate, Biden met Thursday with Cabinet members and law enforcement officials from around the country. He said he wanted to meet with the group, which included representatives of at least a dozen law enforcement organizations, because they "know better than anyone else what's needed out there."

It's encouraging to see that the administration is seeking out expert advice on how best to reduce gun violence in America.  President Obama has indicated he is prepared to take measures which will be effective even if they are unpopular.  In addition, some prominent gun-rights advocates on Capitol Hill - Democrats and Republicans alike - have expressed willingness to consider new measures.  wtop

   

Obama takes action on Gun Laws

WASHINGTON — President Obama declared on Wednesday that he would make gun control a “central issue” as he opens his second term, promising to submit broad new firearm proposals to Congress no later than January and to employ the full power of his office to overcome deep-seated political resistance. New York Times