Mayor Ann Johnston told the city council which endorsed the move it was “the most difficult and heart-wrenching decision” they had ever faced.
As has become the Norm these days Stockton Officals attempt to pass the blame upon the ‘Global market collapse’ rather than their own gross overspending, Yet a quick search of the Net reveals the same old story of Grand scheming…Heavy handed Government. They got into debt building and running Parking buildings… which as usual was *a fail*… just like it was for the Hamilton City Council. The City of 300 000 carries a debt of $700 Million.
Which, by comparison ought to show Hamiltonians just how grievious is their own situation being a Population of 152641 and city debts of $400 million
When the population of Stockton and US exchange rate is factored, This ruffly equates to an equivelent debt of $450 million to Hamiltons $400 Million.
We will be there by the next Local Body elections!
Thus We can safely say Stockton was brought to it’s knees by the same Pig headed Political Folly as has plagued Western democracy in General… including Hamilton New Zealand. If only Hamiltonians had listened to me!If only The Waikato Times had been able to grasp the reality of what I was saying, and given me equal time with the other candidates in their paper to present my arguements to the Ratepayers of Hamilton!
We would not be facing such a finacial catastrophy as we do now!
Tim Wikiriwhi
Libertarian Independent.
Hamilton West.
Malum prohibitum (plural mala prohibita) is a Latin phrase used in law to refer to conduct that constitutes an unlawful act only by virtue of statute as opposed to conduct evil in and of itself, or malum in se (plural mala in se).
Conduct that is so clearly violative of society’s standards for allowable conduct that it is illegal under English common law is usually regarded as malum in se. An offense that is malum prohibitum may not appear on the face to directly violate moral standards. The distinction between these two cases is discussed in State of Washington v. Thaddius X. Anderson:
Criminal offenses can be broken down into two general categories malum in se and malum prohibitum. The distinction between malum in se and malum prohibitum offenses is best characterized as follows: a malum in se offense is “naturally evil as adjudged by the sense of a civilized community,” whereas a malum prohibitum offense is wrong only because a statute makes it so.
Check out Wikipedia’s list of mala prohibita offences and you’ll recognise many, perhaps most, as classic victimless crimes. Of course, all laws prohibiting victimless crimes now on our statute books should be repealed. As a libertarian, writing for a (mostly) libertarian audience, I take that as a given.
What concerns me in this post is not that victimless crimes are on our statute books, it’s the sheer number of mala prohibita offences on our statute books. It’s a number that keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Why is the number of such offences a concern? Because, as honest lawyer Scott DeSalvo points out
More and more things are being criminalized, so the number of otherwise law-abiding citizens who are technically guilty of a malum prohibitum crime rises.
This has the effect of causing everyone to be technically illegal, and thus in fear of a rightful imprisonment and seizure of property for what amounts to perfectly acceptable conduct. This shuts everyone up—no one wants to protest wrongdoing
We live in a society that I am sure all … can agree features too many malum prohibitum crimes (crimes that aren’t like murder, which are bad in themselves, but illegal because a politician said so). Witness the MASSIVE numbers of new such laws—seatbelts, helmets, cellphone use, smoking bans, foie gras bans, etc. that have been passed recently. And also consider innocuous use of marijuana at home—illegal, but not hurting anyone. Congratulations, we are all criminals in a society with too many laws that aren’t sensical or necessary. Now that we are all technically criminals, the government can snoop on us, right? Give me any person, let me snoop through their stuff—I promise, I’ll find some technical violation of some law.
So, you can see, we are on the way [to a totalitarian dictatorship.]
It’s time to call a moratorium on new legislation. Whoever’s driving the ban wagon, for pity’s sake, hit the brakes!
NZ Fighters puts up some very interesting posts on their facebook feed.
Today they posted this picture and Quote:
“When man learns to respect even the smallest being of creation, whether animal or vegetable, nobody has to teach him to love his fellow man. Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. “Albert Schweitzer”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is undeniably True.
Even when we must eat Animals …Even when we must exterminate them (destructive and dangerous Pests) we must never be cruel, but seek to dispatch them in as ‘humane’ a fashion as possible.
That these Pugilists put up such a post on their page is an excellent example of True Martial character.
It demonstrates the truth that Martial arts, and even Military Professionalism is not of necessity accompanied by a Brutish or Sadistic personality, but can and ought to be regulated by high morals…as opposed to the Love of violence for violence sake. The strong and powerful man ought also to be Meek, and a friend of the Lowly.
This is what distinguishes the likes of David Tua from thugs like Mike Tyson.
In war it distinguishes the honorable and truly heroic soldiers like Rommel, from the depraved and barbaric monsters like Chemical Ali. (Hey; I hope Tyson figures this out…maybe he has? The great truth is People can change for the better if they so wish!)
Getting back to the subject of having compassion for the lower creatures…
As a Christian I believe the value system of the Bible, whereby God gives Man Dominion over the Earth, and all the things therein. Ie They exist for our use, sustenance and enjoyment.
Thus the Bible places Mankind above the animals…but below the Almighty.
This being so does not mean we can abuse these blessings or make use of them to satisfy perverse lusts… like sadism.
The Bible teaches us to be dillegent gardners and to practice righteous Husbandry… these being examples of good character… Christ even being described as ‘The Good sheppard whom giveth his life for his sheep’.
This is the Christian ethic and heirachy of values.
It is important to understand that while we must never be cruel to animals, or reckless with the environment, we must take care never fall into the snare of de-valuing Humanity by valuing other creatures above Mankind.
Eg we ought to be prepared to sacrifice our most treasured animal companion should that be necessary to save a human life.
I post that warning because there is a very real Danger today due to the prevalence of ‘Earth worshipping’ ‘Anti-humanity’ philosophies… propagated by Atheists whom despise the ethics of Christianity and work like Transylvanian Gypsies for Dracula lobbying Governments around the globe to pass laws and prohibitions which sacrifice the wellbeing of Mankind to ‘the Goddess Earth Mother’… and this involves a perverse hierarchy of values the exact opposite to Christianity.
Radical Environmentalists consider Mankind a disease.
I have witnessed this hatred for mankind from Environmentalists whom think it is a virtue to go to war against humanity for the sake of some ‘endangered species’.
Take care never to be sucked into supporting such wicked Anti-freedom anti-humanity politics.
You don’t have to be a member of the Green party to care about the environment or to work for the preservation of species.
As a Libertarian I care a great deal about these things, yet I promote the pursuit of these noble goals via non-coercive means which do not involve oppressive Laws which violate the rights and liberties of Humanity.
Libertarianism is about instilling High values and personal ethics in the hope of raising the level of civilization via voluntarily action.
The Christian ought to realise this Libertarian modus opperandi is the perfect fit for the dissemination and practice of our faith which functions via voluntarily embraced and self-imposed duties and moral obligations.
The Christians whom support the Left/Right Green lobbyist organizations whom function via Political force are supporting an antichrist/ definitively Unchristian ideology… a ‘pseudo morality’ that is in direct competition with Christianity… A Cult Of Wolves in sheep’s clothing.
They are the Chumps of Christ hating atheists.
They walk in Darkness with the Lost.
They need to experience a Libertarian ‘intervention.’
Tim Wikiriwhi.
This is great News.
Yet still I hang my head in shame.
I meant to send Dak some $$$ when he was inside, but never did.
Please Forgive me Dak.
Your an Inspiration. A Legend.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
The Treaty settlement process of recent years has been nothing short of systematic Treachery.
Not only have the People of New Zealand been forced to accept an apartheid system of Racial preference, they have also be deceived and robbed of Millions upon millions of Dollars.
The scale of this theft is monumental.
And this crime has been perpetrated by a malignant minority of Low lives.
Any notion that the settlement process has been what the Government claims it to be ie ‘redressing legitimate grievances’ can only be maintained by the most gullible and deluded Moron!
I ask why successions of Labor and National party governments have allowed this business to be orchestrated by blatant racists?
Countless times, the process, and the people involved in this ‘grievance industry’ have been exposed as outright dishonest and even Criminal!
Both National and Labour (and their minor party minions) have committed the highest form of treason against us by aiding and abetting a Mega Million dollar Extortion racket.
The latest revelations regarding the dishonesty of the Radical Separatist and Treaty Lawyer, Atareta Ponanga ought to send shock waves throughout the country!
You can read about her crimes and extreme bigotry in today’s NZ Herald article ‘Face of militancy debarred for forgery’.
Former activist turned Lawyer showed no remorse after falsifying Treaty signatures. Lawyer struck off…
Now here is a Racist Bigot of the highest caliber.
She Hates Pakeha.
As a ‘Maori Nationalist’ She absolutely Rejects The Treaty of Waitangi, calling Non-Maori New Zealanders Riff Raff, and says they ought to either Leave the country or accept Maori Sovereignty.
How, I ask, was it possible that such a Lawyer whom rejects British sovereignty …though it was accepted by the Maori Chiefs whom signed the treaty… how has she been allowed to handle 35+ Treaty claims, involving *‘Much of the North Island’*???!!!!
Pause and contemplate the travesty that fact represents!
Knowing that these grievances and Treaty claims which affect ‘much of the North Island’ have been fabricated by such a Demonic personality, possessed of militant racist hatred, Now a convicted Fraudster, whom is Hell bent on alienating an entire country, and disenfranchising Millions of Kiwi Citizens ought to provoke a National outrage!
How can the govenment maintain it’s claim that the treaty settlement process is bona fide?
We, the people of New Zealand of all races have allowed ourselves to be taken as fools, reduced to second class subjects, and ripped off on a gigantic scale, via a massive fraud that does nothing less than falsify the history of our country!
Satan Himself must be impressed!
The whole business stinks to High Heaven!
It was because of the falsification of New Zealand history for the political ambitions of extorting loot via the settlement process that Dr John Robinson wrote his book ‘The Corruption of New Zealand Democracy’
The exploits of this vile racist are exactly the sort of fraud I was talking about when asked by TV 1 presenter Shane Taurima my opinion of the treaty settlement process as a participant in ‘The Great Waitangi debate ‘Is The treaty holding Back New Zealand?’ TV1 Feb 2010. I said it was a complete Farce!
This is exactly the sort of lies and deception which provoked the late Stuart Scott to write his two books ‘The Travesty of Waitangi’, and ‘Travesty after travesty’
The travesty of the whole process provoked the formation of The lobby group The One New Zealand Foundation, with Ross Baker writing his Books ‘From Treaty to Conspiracy’, and his latest publication ‘New Zealand in Crisis’.
And now these same shysters are setting about to write a New Constitution for New Zealand. One which will entrench the Waitangi Appartheid system they have created.
We must stop them!
I must ask you this.
Will you merely shrug your shoulders in apathy… pretending everything is ok?
Are you going to allow yourselves to be so utterly robbed and deceived without protest?
If so I call you Cowards!
If so I say you have a Slave mentality… you are unfit to call yourselves a free and enlightened people!
Rise Up!
Stir up a whirlwind of Protest!
Contact your Local Political Party representatives and MPs, and express your indignation! Tell them you know they have defrauded you.
Tell them they will never get another vote from you unless they act to put an end to Waitangi apartheid!
Tell them you demand the fraudulent and immoral Waitangi grievance industry to be halted forthwith.
Tell them you will tolerate No more lies… no more Extortion!
Demand Racial equality before the Law!
Demand an end to the Separate electoral rolls and Racist seats!
We Need a Constitution of Equality before the Law and Limited Government.
It is time to get up off the couch and stand with those of us whom have had a guts full of this Racist scam and are fighting to put an end to it.
Contact me.
twikiriwhi@yahoo.co.nz
Tim Wikiriwhi
Libertarian Independent.
Hamilton West.
This is why We must have an Ironclad Constitution which Keeps the Government in check, and an Enlightened, Armed and Vigilant Population.
Presently things are not looking good.
While most Kiwis concern themselves with the state of the Economy, there is another issue of even greater magnitude being foisted up us… the preparations for a New Republican Constitution for New Zealand.
This process is being carried out in stealth, ie there is no public debate going on, but rather a collection of ‘Hui’ which are dominated by Socialists, Greens, and Racial separatists who have hijacked this project and are setting about to manipulate public opinion into accepting a corrupt constitution which enshrines Racial separatism and pseudo-legitimises totalitarian powers to Parliament.
I am currently attempting to rally a lobby group to oppose this skulduggery and to propose an alternative Constitution based upon Equality before the Law and Limited Government, which includes a Bill of Rights which must be respected by Parliament.
I have so far had no success.
One of my associates, One New Zealand Foundation’s Ross Baker shares my alarm that the separatists have Hijacked the process for establishing a New Constitution, and is concerned that the fact that John Key’s National Government has accepted the UN Declaration on Indigenous rights means it will be used as leverage by the Separatists to enshrine a separatist Constitution. He is also concerned about the lack of any organised opposition.
We intend to put up a fight!
Yet currently we are so few in number that we fear we have little hope of getting our side of the Debate herd, let alone be successful in halting the ambitions of the Racist Socialists.
Below is an Opinion piece I wrote at the time John ‘Quisling’ Key endorsed the Racist/ Anti- Enlightenment Document… The UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights. The danger I forewarn is now upon us.
This Declaration is about to be used in the most diabolical way. To enshrine an apartheid constitution.
This can only bring Greater evils and injustices upon us.
It will perpetuate the Extortion Racket that syphons millions of dollars into the hands of vile racists.
It will further entrench Maori in the mentality of victimism and the poverty of Socialist dependence.
I post it here today in the hope of stimulating interest in this ‘Mother of all Political struggles’ we currently face… To sound the Alarm… The Barbarians are at our gates! Prepare for Battle or be slaughtered, and your children enslaved.
Article/ Opinion piece… Quisling John Key sells out New Zealand to UN Socialist racism.
By Tim Wikiriwhi Libertarian Independent Hamilton West.
Recent dire events lead me to write this article asking how is it possible that earth shattering truths can explode in the face of a so-called educated people without causing so much as a tiny ripple of contemplation their consciences, yet at other times these same nation of scholars are provoked into a lynch mob frenzy at the drop of a hat? Machiavelli would say “tis elementary”… for the Prince skilled in statecraft.
I however conclude no such Diabolical genius is necessary!
*Mass Deception is easily achievable via corrupting the peoples education*… and thus over time manipulate their grip on reality.
* Furthermore I say New Zealand clearly has been so manipulated*… by mediocre liars who have been furnished with just such socialist political engines of condition and have propagated a nation of thoroughly ‘educated’ Ignorami!
Why am I pouring scorn upon my countrymen?
Let me explain.
Via John Key, New Zealand has just endorsed the UN separatist declaration of Indigenous rights which is contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi and the principles of justice which say our rights must be equal before the Law.
It pains me to think thousands of Kiwis voted for the Quisling John Key and his band of sycophants calling themselves the National Party!
That these Toe rags managed to convince anyone to vote for them is more than a badge of stupidity, it is fast proving to be a fatal error, yet most Kiwi are too ‘educated’ to grasp what this Quisling has achieved in his short stint at the top Job, and most of those who are ‘in the know’ belong to a club of shyster lawyers, racists, stooges, and power hungry Politicains now wringing their hands with glee at the thought of how to enrich themselves with filthy lucre…. thanks to the utter imbecile running our country.
I say John Key must rank as one of the worlds greatest two faced idiots in power today along side the President of Iran and Hugo Chavez, and ultimately is just as dangerous…just as disastrous.
Sitting at my computer, I could not express how grievous has been the collaboration of John Key with the radical racist separatists of the Maori Party, without venting this tirade you are reading.
As a Hamiltonian I wonder where are the voices of protest from our elected representatives Tim Macendoe and David Bennet?
Their silence betrays their complicity!
They have no spine… No independent conscience… They are loyal little minions.
John Key is no Prince yet is Machiavellian enough to time this vile political betrayal now, in the hope that the stupid New Zealanders will have forgotten about his deception at election time.
Not only did he do this without warning the nation, he did it behind the back of his coalition partner Rodney Hide!
This must rank as one of the most fowl deeds of recent NZ politics, right up there with Helen Clarks election fraud regarding Pledge Gate and Winston Peters and the Baubles of Power!
As far as civilisation and progress is concerned this UN document is an Anti- civilisation declaration!
It is the reverse of that great beacon of enlightenment dated 1776 that declared that All men are created equal!
It is a violation of that latter enlightenment treaty of 1840 that guaranteed equal rights for all New Zealanders, and cuts asunder the peoples it ideologically united as one.
I now wonder what National/Maori Spin doctors will weave, to convince the sheeple that the real treaty of Waitangi and the UN declaration of Indigenous rights can be honoured at the same time?
Oh that’s right…they have already been ‘educated’!
Hypocrisy! Stinking filth!
Where I ask, are journalists reminding the sheeple that Hone Harawera and co rejected all established authority in New Zealand apparently demanding Maori Sovereignty, yet now call for us to surrender our sovereignty to the dictates of foreign powers centralised in the UN?…oh that’s right, all our journalists have been ‘educated’ too!
It has been left to Libertarians and Patriots such as the One New Zealand Foundation to ring out the alarm.
I have been telling New Zealanders for years that contrary to what we are being taught, the real racial troubles of our Nation were not a result of failure to honour the treaty of Waitangi, but emanates from Anti Western Racist Socialist Ideology emanating from the UN.
I have been saying that even without the Treaty of Waitangi we would still be in this racist mess and I have referred to Zimbabwe and Fiji as proof of this, yet my voice and that of a small bunch of individuals has been as one who cries out in the wilderness.
When I said Frank Bainamarama is a hero of racial equality before the Law, desperately fighting the Indigenous racists of his country, The media and the sheeple choose to ignore my arguements, and vilify Bainimarama.
Well ignore me if you will, but don’t ignore the Haka of Hone Harawera!
You do so at your Peril and that of your children.
Harawera has already told you to your face that his party intends to wield The UN declaration as a weapon to crush the rights of all non-Maori!
Listen to the Racist Judges such as Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie who have already indicated to Maori Party that they will collaborate with their racist schemes that invoke the UN declaration!
Listen to the media that now tells us that even the treaty grounds themselves will now be claimed as exclusively Maori!
Read the declaration for yourselves and realise it is a green light for an utterly divided country, severed into two different Nations, with two different governments!
That is what self-determination means!
Ask your Zimbabwean neighbours who are now refugees from their motherland!
Why has Rodney Hide not withdrawn his support from such treacherous Leadership?
Hide has no credibility! It was obvious from the day John Key hongied Tama Iti what extremes he was prepared to stoop to in his bid for power and when Key ask to support a National/Maori Party coalition, Hide should have refused outright!
He sold himself and his party’s claims to oppose Waitangi apartheid for forty pieces of silver…just as Winston Peters did with Helen Clark.
True Justice is Blind to Colour, Culture, Creed, etc.
Whom will save us from this diabolical scheme?
What evils must we now face?
To what lengths must we now strive… how much blood must soon flow to win yet again justice and equality before the Law and restore our land to the tranquillity hard won in the 1860s?
We must throw out National and the Maori Party, and don’t let Labour or the Greens back in either as they share the same racist politics as National/Maori.
We must get the Real treaty restored, ie The Littlewood Treaty which is an exact translation of The signed Maori Te Triti o Waitangi and scrap the perverted revised Modern perversions that are being used to justify Maori sovereignty and separatism .
We must abolish the separate electoral roll and Maori seats in Parliament.
We must abolish all race based Laws and state institutions.
We must enshrine a New constitution of equality before the Law!
We must abandon the UN.
We ought to support Frank Bainimarama in his struggle to have racial equality in Fiji.
New Zealanders need to look past all the charlatans of the mainstream parties and look for new representatives who have not sullied themselves with racist politics
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Libertarian Independent
Hamilton West.
Life is not meaningless and amoral.
It is in fact a ‘Stanley Milgram’ Experiment.
A test of your Moral character and conviction.
The decisions you make throughout your life are all being observed and recorded.
One day you will be asked to give account.
When confronted with your sheepish (yet vicious) conformity to the Ungodly system of Leviathan will you reply “I was only following orders!” ???
Will you expect such an excuse to save you from the Judgement of Almighty God?
The Stanley Milgram Experiment was created to explain some of the concentration camp-horrors of the World War 2, where Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and other enemies of the state were slaughtered by Nazis. Read this description of the experiment
How Evil are you?
To what degree will you subordinate your own values to those in power and authority?
Do you have a code of ethics powerful enough to overcome submission to tyranical powers… powerful enough to stop you from tyranizing over the weak?
Or will you obey evil commands?
And where are your charitible deeds?
Where is your compassion? Where is your humility?
Do you practice forgiveness, or do you store up wrath and guile?
“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Mat 7vs2)
These are questions that shine a light into the dark places of the soul, and highlight the essential part a persons faith in the moral nature of Reality plays in determining how we live and behaive when faced with morally weighty circumstances… exposing our ultimate values and ideals (Or lack thereof).
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Rev20vs11,12)
Here we sit.
The reality is we all fail the Great Moral test of life.
To understand this moral truth is an enlightenment.
We all sin and come short of the glory of God.
Yet God commenteth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Tim Wikiriwhi
The following is today’s op-ed by my friend (when I haven’t been doing my level best to sorely piss him off) and political ally, Lindsay Perigo. Perigo is still New Zealand’s #1 libertarian. Partly because the competition is unhealthy, but mostly because … well, the gem of an op-ed below speaks for itself. Cheers, Linz!
In the Declaration of Independence, ratified in 1776, America’s Founding Fathers affirmed that the role of government was to secure the inalienable rights of all citizens to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In 2012, the Mayor of New York affirms that the role of government is to forbid the sale of super-sized sodas.
Michael Bloomberg has announced a ban, not yet ratified, on the sale of sugary drinks in containers holding more than 16 ounces.
It is an illuminating snapshot of how far the United States has been dragged from its founding principles by obnoxious wowsers like Bloomberg that he can indulge his odious urges with such impunity.
“Big Brother Bloomberg,” as Fox News’s The Five have dubbed him, has already succeeded in banning the smoking of tobacco in public and the use of trans-fats in restaurants.
Bloomberg is now a one-man obesity nazi, on a mission to force fatties to shrink. He has bought into the latest dietary theology that sugar is the main cause of flab, and thinks it’s government’s job forcibly to limit how much of it citizens may ingest.
The last time a politician took such an invasive interest in his subjects’ health his name was Adolf Hitler. He too campaigned against tobacco, along with white-bread and meat-eating.
If New York’s citizens had any understanding of what the original Tea Party was all about, they’d eject Mayor Bloomberg from his office forthwith, before he bans smoking in their homes, criminalizes caffeine and reintroduces alcohol prohibition.
Instead, many are treating his proposed ban respectfully, as though he indeed has a right to institute such a thing. And disastrously, opponents are not staking out a position based on principle—that government under the American system has no business dictating how much sugar people may consume—but on quibbles as to whether sugar actually is the culprit (tacitly conceding that if it were, the move to restrict it would be valid). They also point out that the ban could be easily circumvented by the sale of two 16-oz sodas instead of one 32-oz one. These “arguments” remind me of the hypothetical group of folk, conjured up by Leonard Peikoff in his lecture on why people don’t think in principles, who idly muse on whether it might be a good idea to rob a bank. “Which bank?” one of them asks.
Many of Bloomberg’s opponents are of the “which bank?” ilk, toying with the proposition that robbing a bank might be OK but fretting over which one has the laxest security, the easiest escape route, etc. They forget what they were raised, rightly, to believe—that it’s flat-out wrong to rob banks, period. Bossyboots Busybody Bloomberg is radically, fundamentally, treasonously out of line with the Declaration of Independence in his relentless Nanny Statism … and this is what his critics should be hanging him in effigy for.
Here in New Zealand, the National Socialist Government has announced that the excise tax on tobacco will be raised 10% a year over the next four years, meaning a pack of 20 cigarettes will end up costing over $20 a pack. It has also set aside $20 million of taxpayer money to facilitate the path to a “smoke-free New Zealand” (no smoking in private homes?) by 2025. A freedom-conscious citizenry, smokers and non-smokers alike, would storm Parliament over intolerable outrages such as this. Alas, we do not have a freedom-conscious citizenry, just a flock of sheeple.
America once had, but no longer has, a freedom-conscious citizenry. “Don’t tread on me” has become “please tread on me.”
“The natural order of things,” lamented Thomas Jefferson, “is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
In which case, paraphrasing Diderot, liberty will be safe only when the last pathological power-luster has been strangled with the guts of the last congenital control-freak.
And when its champions are able to defend it on principle.
