New Zealand is now ranked 2nd on the world democracy index, 2021. Up from 4th position in 2020.
Maybe they need to update their research, they obviously don't have a clue what's going on down here !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
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New Zealand is now ranked 2nd on the world democracy index, 2021. Up from 4th position in 2020.
Maybe they need to update their research, they obviously don't have a clue what's going on down here !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
When the facts fail to confirm
The beliefs you hold so firm
It is tempting to discard them as untrue
But you might consider whether
Despite all your biased blether
That it isn’t them that lacks a clue – but you
(Doggerel -and not my best effort - but I haven't had breakfast yet)
The facts speak for themselves.
2020 we were 4th. Our leadership grows more undemocratic by the day, now 12 months later we are second and what do we have to show for our democratic gain ?
Government creating extreme debt, the likes of which we have never previously seen.
State controlled media.
Govt instigated racial division.
Govt instigated vaccine status division.
Communities to lose control of water to the state.
Like the racist Willie Jackson said recently:
Quote:
Democracy isn't what it used to be.
You call this democracy.
https://www.chrislynchmedia.com/news...qkzDD28e5AFI9I
You might be be interested to hear wider voting powers for some people rather than others, already exist.
If you own properties in several different areas, e.g. say like Luxon's 7 houses & many of our MP's, you get to vote multiple times in local government elections & vote for Board members not once but in each of the local body areas.
There's a problem with this in as much as out of community property owners can influence the local govt election outcomes & vote multiple times.
The Ratepayer roll or Property Vote was abolished by Labour in the late 1980's but reinstated by National in 1991.
Rightly so - NZ has always been a nation of property owners, and property owners should rightly have a say about the local political issues affecting them.
What is at stake in NZ is the introduction of apartheid into our democracy - there are some more equal than others like it was in South Africa because of their race.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/472178/new-law-gives-ngai-tahu-right-to-appoint-two-environment-canterbury-councillors
Who killed off the moa?
Hopefully they return the land to the animals, to whom it once belonged before we all ruined the place.
Indeed Property owners do have a say in local govt & issues affecting them.
But the question was, should Property owners of multiple properties have wider voting powers than other NZ'ers, which creates an inequality, & if an exception is made for this group, other groups will strongly argue exceptions can be made for them as well.
You have to ask yourself, is local govt there to represent the interests of property owners, or the welfare of the whole community & all residents ?
Because if say I live in Auckland but own rental properties in Tauranga, Wellington & the South Island, although I get to vote in all those places, I might have completely different priorities to the people who actually live there.
While the permanent residents may want libraries, parks & pot holes in the road fixed, I may want the rates to be as low as possible, vote for councillors who promise drastic cuts & bugger the amenities.
Im not advocating a position on this, but just pointing out its a bit more complicated than first appearances.
I think its important to give things a bit of a stir, question our assumptions & set beliefs.
Sometimes that leads to a more nuanced & thoughtful position on issues.
esp important as we head deeper & deeper into a more polarised society characterised by misinformation & via advanced algorithms reinforcement of existing held opinions.
On the use of the word Apartheid. It's an Afrikaans word far too loosely & casually thrown around, it refers specifically to a system of institutionalised brutal racial oppression of a black majority, by a white minority in the Republic of Sth Africa from 1948-1994.
Completely irrelevant to NZ & to apply it to current issues around Co-governance, apart from being incorrect, disrespectful & offensive to those who suffered under that brutal regime.