Inspired from reading Kiwiblogs understanding of international affairs.

I am intrigued by the ignorance and emotive reactions to the commenters on the popular blog site. It is with futile vigour that the host and his moderators comment on their interpretation of the goings on in U.S. politics and the Russian military action in Ukraine.

And it is these events, and the vitriolic comments on Trump, Putin and anyone who may not feel the way they do about these characters that made me think, do we live in a free democracy, or do we just think we do, and are we actually just as harshly treated by the powers that be as we assume the residents  of places like Russia and China are treated?

Like most societies, if you mind your own business, tow the line and move on the right conveyor belts when required, life is comfortable. But what if you go in through the out door, or even more dangerously question the narrative of the ruling elite? This is the true test of freedom, is it not?

Before we look at the land of the ever changing name, let us look at some of the pinnacles of freedom such as the North America’s.

It is now no longer controvertible that there were illegal going ons in the election in the USA in 2020, regardless of if this really changed the outcome, there were large quantities of irregularities now known as election fortification. And as much as many will try and have you believe that there are not remedy’s for contested elections, the U.S.constitution actually does have methodology to contest the electors. You only need to go back as far as the George W Bush’s election in 2,000 or even more appropriately the Kennedy v Nixon election of 1960.

These elections were not the only elections where a party complained about the winner either. Aside from the fact that the Democrats haven’t accepted an election they lost since the year 2,000, let us look at the close race of 1960.

This was a very close election between the then current Vice President Nixon and the more flamboyant John Kennedy.

After the votes had been counted the electors went to Washington to give the results, but a very close election in Hawaii saw contesting electors sent to Washington from the Hawaii democrats who had forced a recount. Even though the official recount numbers hadn’t come in the Democrats sent their electors to Washington to contest the result, and low and behold, Nixon as the sitting VP accepted to contesting electors and in that single move cost himself the 1960 presidency. Then Kennedy got shot, but hey its a free world – unless you are required to take the blame for a political assassination. but I digress.

Just to put it out there to those TDS political commentators, Pence was well within his right to send electors back to their respective states to ensure that the election was fair and reasonable. There are more than just the Nixon case that has set this precedent . Anyone who claims Pence couldn’t have changed the result of the election through rejection of certain electors is simply ignorant of the US constitution and history..

But back to the main point of this article, do we really live in a free society in our western countries?

As I mentioned earlier, if you stay on the straight and narrow sure, life can seem hassle free and easy. But it probably is that way in North Korea too. But what happens when you upset the wrong people?

In the USA you had a protest about the 2020 election. If you are a liberal it is called an insurrection, If you are anyone else it was a protest that got violent – dare I say it was really…mostly peaceful.

There are over 100 people who are still in prison awaiting trial from this event 18 months later. They are on charges of trespassing, obstruction and of being general nuisance.

They are not allowed to make a case for themselves, meet with their lawyers, access evidence such as video footage of the day, they are on terrible prison food, cannot meet their family, spend over 18 hours a day in solitary confinement and have their court cases moved further back so that they are psychologically tortured into a plea bargain rather than standing trial.

This even lead to Russia lodging a complaint of human rights breaches against the U.S. Government. There is some irony there isn’t there. so these people who have no previous convictions, are mothers, grandparents, business owners, have been forced into bankruptcy and further tribulations when they finally crack. Freedom!

In Canada they had their own protest not to dissimilar to out own. Protestors there were met with having their bank accounts frozen, even donating to protestors had you doxed and listed as an enemy of the state.

These people were protesting forced medications and lock downs. Sure if you took the vaccine you are allowed to participate in society, but peacefully protest, (and boy do Canadians know how to peacefully protest). It still ended in police brutality and draconian prison waits for those seen as instigators of the protest.

We all remember our own little occupation too where undesiriables camped out on the lawn outside parliament, for the same reasons. How did that end up again?

We have in the past two years been given stay at home orders, lied to about the reasons why, stopped from being able to associate with our fellow citizens under the guise of health. Police actually intimidated people for having the audacity of bringing food to their elderly parents. Police stopped us in the street to ask if we had good reason for being outside the confines of our four walls. Freedom!

Yet we scoff at other nations who we say don’t have proper elections, or are not democracies like our own. Maybe not, but are we really more free than these other nations? what is freedom? is voting for one of two parties equally set on being as affiliated to the U.N. one world order as the other really a freedom of choice?

I have been in foreign  countries where the government or Army have dictated that all shops must close for reasons they believed were valid. Life still went on largely uninterrupted. I have been in third world countries while a natural disaster took place. I have visited areas where they have strict controls over what people can do or even drink. However, the most diabolical treatment by the Government I have ever experience is here in New Zealand (apart from being kicked off the dance floor in India for dancing on my own, but that was soon fixed by telling them they are only saying that because I am white, you should have seen their faces when I said that).But in NZ we were told not to even dare speak to our neighbours, not to swim (unless you have pink hair) and that there is only one source of truth being a two faced part time self obsessed juvenile upstart of a PM. Then when things looked like getting better we were stopped from being able to live a normal life due to the refusal to take an experimental medical treatment. Freedom!

Hey we might claim its still better than living in places like Russia or Vietnam, The Congo or Myanmar but is that because we perceive these as poor nations without the same comforts we have rather than the level of freedom really afforded to us?

Don’t get me wrong, places like the USA, Canada and New Zealand used to be the land of the free. But can we still claim that the Carbon footprint focused, hate speech banning, cancel culture woke gender neutral social justice warrior ridden society we now occupy is really the land of the free? Perhaps it is if you are anything but pale stale and male. Once again I’m off the dance floor for being out of place

I have never felt so disenfranchised with what we used to know as GodZone. Our little piece of paradise. It is now a divided nation focused on being eternally offended for those that predominantly don’t even know what people are offended by.

We have a bunch of so called intellectual elites, vying for power and telling the rest of us we must pay for the sins of our fathers by keeping our mouths shut and paying what ever reparation or tax that they dream up, and don’t be using fossil fuels in that climate change fuelled automobile. go get yourself a coal fired electric one instead or even better go walk. Soon smoking is to be banned, not only can’t you smoke in a.bar, or a public place soon you won’t be able to smoke in your own home where you live alone.

We are as free as the free range chicken. as long as we lay an egg for our master we can stay on, but stray away from our use, we are right royally plucked.

It is all done by stealth too. It is one by one the straws are laid on the back of the donkey until suddenly it is too late and then you are living in the same place you thought we would never be. a totalitarian state where he who controlled the past now controls your future.

We may not quite be there, but may this serve as a warning that every generation needs to fight for their freedom. Climate change, pandemics, hate speech and disinformation are all tools of the ones that want us to serve them. Yet ignorant fools, dogmatic politicians and dishonest media will slowly pry the freedom from hands all too willing to trade freedom for protection.

With fools and horses we are but a step away from our younger generation not knowing what freedoms we had.

I bet you don’t want to wear a mask but you feel guilty not wearing one, admit it you do don’t you….FREEDOM!!