Some years back social scientists did a series of the same experiment where a test subject was sat in a room full of actors and smoke was pumped under the door to test their reaction. They found less than 10% of the tested stood and screamed “smoke!” , while the other 90% saw the smoke, looked to see what the others were doing and just sat there in silence.
It’s called bystander syndrome. Remember that in government 'accountability is compliance', and the bystander syndrome and boot licking will guarantee there is no safety net for when things go wrong with political or judicial decisions.
Lord Sumption clearly warned “If democracy is hollowed out, we will not notice, and the fault will be ours”.
Or Lord Denning: “Our procedure for securing our personal freedom is efficient, but our procedure for preventing abuse of power is not..”
In his book "The Dilemma of Democracy", Lord Hailsham described the Westminster system as “an elective dictatorship”. He said “we live under the authority of a rule [of parliamentary supremacy] absolute in theory if tolerable in practice”. He explained: “In our lifetime the use of its powers has continuously increased, and the checks and balances had been rendered increasingly ineffective….becoming more and more the tool of its professional advisers, more and more intolerant of criticism, and less and less in control of the detail of what is done in its name.”
Like so many of you, I am tired, fatigued by the government's endless failures that have tarnished what was once a remarkable country. But look at any list of its heroes, the achievers in sport, science, innovation, business and arts, none were politicians or judges, yet the woke or corporate media make them out to be the leaders to follow without question.
And its obvious that well-funded foreign powers with intelligence objectives could easily manipulate our politicians whose focus is getting a well paid job and having a fancy title. The criteria for being endorsed by a major political party seem to prioritise individuals who can be easily controlled and silenced, regardless of the potential value of proposals they may have for improving the country.
Sir Peter Tapsell warned that only 5% of politicians possess genuine original ideas and good intentions, while the rest pose a threat to the nation.
More to come.
Immanuel Kant's most renowned notion: "Conduct yourself based on principles you'd desire all rational individuals to adopt, as if these principles were universally binding laws."
In New Zealand we get:
"We, the politicians and judges, decline accountability and responsibility. We possess the freedom to deceive, manipulate, make tons of money, make negligent and incompetent decisions, shirk duties, jeopardise the nation, all without facing any recourse from you or any victims from our actions."
Helen Clark once said, "People who suggest that the government has 'let them down' get accountability by who they vote for."
But what do our votes really get us?
New Zealand is a mess. Clearly it's time we rethink how we can hold politicians and judges accountable.