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1
July 2007
The
Corruption of Power
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 It was Dr
Thomas Sowell, author and senior
fellow at the Hoover Institute who said about
government, “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more
dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those
decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being
wrong”.
All of us,
of course, like to hope that our “government” is working
in our best interests - after all we pay for the government
with our taxes. While we accept that the ruling political
party has some influence on what goes on inside the machinery
of the government, common sense tells us that the vast public
service bureaucracy has a mind of its own.
That of
course was the theme of Roger Hall’s highly acclaimed
“Gliding On” TV series and the much-loved British
programme “Yes Minister”. In real life, however, we know
that governments are not necessarily benevolent, but are
sometimes responsible for grotesque consequences.
The
persecution by OSH (the Department of Occupational Safety and
Health) of Margaret and Keith Berryman for the death of a
beekeeper as the result of the collapse of a bridge built by
the Army on Crown land is a case in point. The fact that he
was not an employee and that the bridge did not belong to the
Berrymans did not seem to matter. OSH was determined to
prosecute and with their unlimited taxpayer-funded resources,
the Berrymans hardly stood a chance.
Their case
highlighted the power of the bureaucracy and the consequences
for those who get offside.
This was
the theme of the book by MP Rodney Hide “The Power to
Destroy” in which he detailed cases of persecution by the
Inland Revenue Department. Included is the tragic case of Ian
Mutton, a small businessman who broke his ankle in a
work-related accident - which ACC originally refused to cover
– getting behind in the payment of tax. Instead of working
with Ian and his wife Bronwyn, the IRD applied harsh penalty
rates and the couple faced ruin. Unable to cope, Ian took his
life and tragically, seven months later, his 13 year old son
Trevor also did so.
Christchurch
businessman Dave Henderson, in his book “Be Very Afraid: One
Man’s Stand Against the IRD” outlines his nightmare battle
with the IRD, which fabricated a $1million debt against him.
Dave’s four-year-long campaign eventually resulted in the
false assessment being reversed in favour of a $65,000 refund.
The book is now being turned into a film which Dave hopes will
encourage more people to stand up against state stupidity and
aggression.
Inhuman
government regimes have been the cause of many deaths. The IRD
is not the only government department that drives people to
suicide. Parents, crushed through the loss of their children
as a result of the grossly unfair family law system, have
taken their lives on a regular basis, and sometimes the lives
of their children as well. Every week patients die on hospital
waiting lists as they hope against hope for the medical
treatment they believe the government promised it would
provide.
This
week’s NZCPR guest is Trevor Grice, the founder of Life
Education. Established in 1988, Life Education takes a
preventative approach to children’s health, warning about
the dangers of drug use. This is in sharp contrast to the
official government’s “harm minimisation” approach (to
read Pauline Gardiner’s NZCPR article “Harm
Minimisation”, describing the dangers of this approach, click
here>>>).
In his article, Trevor questions the wisdom of faceless
government bureaucrats who produce official pamphlets for
children telling them how to use illegal drugs and he calls
for more accountability:
“The
pamphlet produced by a DHB (Health Ministry) describes how to
safely use NOS (nitrous oxide) if you want to get high.
Evidently the main problem for young NOS abusers is that they
are prone to fall over and injure themselves - so the pamphlet
advises only inhaling it if you are lying down in a well
ventilated area! What
kind of message to our younger generation is that?
Whatever happened to the idea that self-destructive
children can be rehabilitated?
What kind of society produces advice for teenagers on
how to self-destruct safely?
And why produce information like that when according to
this country’s law it is illegal to use NOS outside of a
medically supervised situation (i.e. in a hospital)”. To
read Trevor's article, click
>>>
These days
New Zealand’s drug epidemic is never far from the headlines.
It is at the core of our gang problem and it is a major
contributor to this country’s estimated $9 billion crime
problem. As a
result, it has been suggested that we should consider putting
the same effort into preventing drug use that we have put into
preventing smoking.
Countries
take very different approaches to drug use from Singapore
which has imposed the death penalty for drug trafficking, to
Holland which is extremely tolerant of soft drug use. In the
State of Montana, a high density television advertising
campaign uses shock tactics to discourage young people from
using the drug methamphetamine. If you visit the NZCPR
Debating Chamber Forum you can view some of the ads in the
series – but be warned, they are pretty disturbing! Click
to view>>>.
For the last two weeks, Frank and I have been travelling in
Europe. We spend a few days in Poland and visited the
concentration camp at Auschwitz. There we were reminded of how
evil government can become.
Auschwitz
was chosen for the death camps because it was a deserted
military barracks that was located on a railway junction some
distance from the nearest town. Jews from all over Europe,
political prisoners, Gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, criminals,
homosexuals, prisoners of war, and those regarded as
“antisocial” were among the groups sent there. Some were
used for slave labour, others for medical experimentation, but
most - millions - were exterminated.
We stood
inside the gas chambers, saw the furnaces where the bodies
were burnt, the death wall where prisoners were shot and the
gallows where they were hung. There were bales of human hair
that had been destined for the German textile trade on
display, mountains of shoes, clothes, glasses, suitcases and
piles of empty Cyclon B canisters – the poison used in the
gas chambers. On the walls were endless, endless haunting
photos of the innocent people who died.
All of this
happened only 60 years ago. Since that time, nothing much has
changed. Dictators are still committing atrocities using the
vast powers of their state machinery, and people who should
speak out against such wrongdoing still remain silent. As George Washington once said,
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent
we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter”.
In
reflecting on the vast power held by government - and its
ability to do great evil as well as good – probably the most
important safeguard that citizens have is the freedom of
expression. A courageous free press and a well informed public
who are not afraid to speak out, are vital parts of the system
of checks and balances that help to ensure that a government
serves the people and does not overstep the mark.
Inviting
guest commentators to speak out - as forcefully as they like -
and encouraging readers of the NZCPR weekly newsletter to
express their views are key objectives of the New Zealand
Centre for Political Research. Helping to keep readers
informed – about Parliament (What’s
on in Parliament), government departments (Consultation),
in leading Think Tanks (Coffee
Break), and in world-wide media (Media)
- are important services provided by the NZCPR. While all of
these services are free, thankfully some readers are happy to
subscribe to help keep the NZCPR going. My heartfelt thanks
goes out to those supporters. If you would also like to help,
please click here>>>
The poll
this week asks: Do you believe more needs to be done to
discourage drug use in New Zealand? Take part in poll
>>>
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