Looks Like We're Communists Again

Looks Like We’re Communists Again

With the announcement this week of a Sixth National Government and its two coalition partners, New Zealand society will now go through some moderate changes. Some cosmetic changes will be made regarding language in Government communications. Taxes will be raised slightly on poor people and lowered slightly for landlords. Nothing fundamental will change, but perceptions will.

One of the most obvious changes will be in the mainstream media. The New Zealand mainstream media has, until now, been paid to cheerlead for the Sixth Labour Government through the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which bunged $55 million to propaganda organs like Stuff.

Some think that the mainstream media will have to be “objective” now that the Marxists are out of power. This is a delusion. In reality, the mainstream media will cheerlead for the capitalists from now on, just as they did up until 2017. Many supposedly left-wing journalists will make an apparent total flip to the right-wing in coming months.

Related to this will be the closure of the more blatant propaganda outlets, such as the Disinformation Project and the Spinoff. People like Kate Hannah and Sanjana Hattotuwa, employed by a leftist government to smear and harass their enemies, will be out of jobs.

Another change will be in the alternative media – and the public perceptions of the alternative media.

VJM Publishing will not change our approach or our focus. We will continue to provide information to those who have seen beyond, from an Elementalist and an alternative centrist perspective. We will continue to provide a high-quality, properly-referenced alternative to the corporatist dross that passes for information today.

We will continue to go hard at the political establishment, and against the constant lies they tell in order to divide and conquer the peoples of the world. However, whatever VJM Publishing does, we will be told that it’s a reaction to the political fashions of the time. And so, perceptions of us will change.

From when this company was founded to 2017, John Key’s Fifth National Government was in charge of New Zealand. As a consequence, our criticism of the then Government led to us being dismissed as Communists. Logical and reasonable criticisms of the housing crisis were written off as Marxist propaganda.

Then, when Jacinda Ardern became the Prime Minister, all the narratives flipped. One of those was the perception of VJM Publishing. Now that we criticised an apparently left-learning government, we were no longer Communists. Now we were Nazis.

All of our criticisms of Labour’s globalist approach – exemplified by their doubling the refugee quota in 2017 – were twisted around and became “Nazi tropes”. All of the reasoning that opposed refugee resettlement from a working-class perspective was ignored. Labour was in charge, and if you don’t agree with them you’re a Nazi.

So now that the right-leaning wing of the Establishment is back in control, the herd will start calling us Communists again. We will continue to criticise the Government for inaction on housing, mental health, wages and child abuse, only now we’ll get called Communists for that instead of getting called Nazis.

It won’t change our attitude. Telling the truth is the highest of all actions. We are now in a time of universal deceit. Therefore, as per Orwell, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. We will continue to tell the truth, and the ruling class will continue to decry us as enemies of society. It’ll be fun!

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Where To Now For The Freedom Movement?

Another General Election has been held in New Zealand. The special votes are yet to be counted, but one thing is already clear: the political establishment won the election, and the freedom movement lost. While we wait to see exactly which form of the political establishment will rule over us for the next three years, there’s an opportunity to take stock of where we are and where we’re going.

Let’s recount the history of the actual freedom movement.

In a New Zealand context the freedom movement truly began with the opposition to World War One. New Zealand introduced conscription in 1916. This meant the Government forced Kiwis to fight overseas to kill the enemies of the international bankers who rule the Anglo world. Naturally, sane people opposed this, leading to them becoming labelled as “conscientious objectors“.

Conscription is a major freedom issue. There are few more egregious examples of totalitarianism than forcing men to kill people they don’t know for reasons they don’t understand. The conscientious objectors to conscription in World Wars One and Two were therefore the first real freedom fighters in New Zealand. Archibald Baxter was a household name for this reason.

The battle against globalist military adventurism continued with the battles against compulsory military training, which didn’t end in New Zealand until 1972. The basic principle remained: freedom fighters oppose the Government forcing people to do things that aren’t in their interest.

When forced militarism ended in the wake of the end of the Vietnam War, the globalist control freaks opened up a new front against the peoples of the world in the form of the Drug War. Locking people up in prison for using medicinal substances or spiritual sacraments might not be as brutal as conscripting them into battle, but the callous sadism of it was enough to spark resistance.

The names of the freedom fighters who resisted the War on Drugs are numerous. Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Terence McKenna, Jack Herer and many others fought for the freedom to explore our own minds free of government interference. Inspired by such people, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party was founded in 1996.

After the 20th Century ended we got 9/11 and the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act introduced restrictions on civil liberties that were previously considered unthinkable. First and foremost, it allowed for widespread spying on and surveillance of American citizens by the American Government. Incredible volumes of information were collected on everyone in an effort to predict the next terrorist attack.

These measures were soon copied by other Anglo nations, leading to the Search and Surveillance Act in New Zealand. The end result was a new wave of freedom fighters. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are among the best known of those who resisted the new totalitarianism, this being more like Big Brother than even Orwell had predicted.

Recently we have seen the Covid pandemic excuse a new suite of totalitarian measures from the authorities. Vaccine mandates outraged a large number of people and led to the Parliament Lawn protests in 2022. These protests were one of the major achievements of the freedom movement in New Zealand, and created another new wave of people who understood the value of freedom for its own sake.

Looking back at all of these battles, some patterns are evident.

First, the freedom movement is primarily a movement against government coercion. It’s not terrorism to understand that governments often have different interests to their citizens. When those interests clash, governments often use their monopoly on violence to force the citizens to do the governments’ bidding.

The freedom movement isn’t primarily a moral crusade. It isn’t primarily a temperance, chastity or Puritanical movement. It might contain elements of those things on occasion, but the number one enemy is government forcing the citizens to do things against their own interests (as determined by the citizens). The freedom movement is certainly not about using the power of government to coerce others to behave morally.

Second, the freedom movement is against the freedom to cause harm to others. We must observe Zechariah Chafee’s maxim that “Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.” As such, no marital rapists, pedophiles, armed robbers, slavery advocates, hard drug traffickers, cheap labour importers or vaccine mandate supporters need be included.

These two points give us a much better idea of what we can agree freedom is, and therefore what the freedom movement is about.

Kelvyn Alp’s suggestion was to not worry about freedom so much, and to focus on truth instead. This means facts and evidence first and foremost. This makes sense as freedoms are usually downstream from perceptions of truth. Unfortunately there are many different ideas about what truth is, and many different ideas about how to determine truth from falsehood.

It seems that the freedom movement can’t make any progress until we develop a coherent fundamental philosophy. This will have to include the values and beliefs commonly agreed upon by those who genuinely desire freedom. Perhaps the model to follow is the American Constitutional Convention that took place after the American Revolution.

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What Would Be A Fair Wage Today, In Housing Terms?

A recent post on Plebbit’s r/newzealand subforum involved a Boomer crying about having to pay a farmhand $28 per hour. The Boomer seemed surprised that “a young guy in his late twenties” wasn’t grateful for the opportunity. Simple economic psychology explains why – and everyone younger than Boomers understands it.

If said farmhand works 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year, he’ll earn a gross pay of $56,000. After income tax, that works out to $45,323. After rent is sucked out of him, he’s left with the princely sum of $37,003. Let’s say that he’s capable of living as cheaply as the average beneficiary, on about $350 per week or so. That leaves him with $18,803 in savings per year to go towards owning a house one day.

The average New Zealand house price is now $893,639. This means it would take our farmhand 47.53 years to save up enough money. Assuming he’s now 29, he should have enough money by roughly age 77. And this is assuming that house prices don’t rise in this time.

The obvious objection here is that our farmhand would get a mortgage. So let’s do the maths on that.

The WestPac mortgage calculator suggests that a person on a wage of $56,000 p.a. should be able to afford a mortgage of $249,360. If they already had a 20% deposit saved, they could potentially buy a house worth $311,700.

A TradeMe Property search reveals that there is almost nowhere that you can buy a house in New Zealand for $311,700. For reference, even leasehold land in Hokitika, a town more remote than 99% of New Zealand, is going for $249,000 right now. Almost everything else at that price is a bare section.

So with a 30-year mortgage, our farmhand could potentially aim to own enough land to pitch a tent on by the time he was 60. Finding a fertile woman as a 60-year old man living in a tent would no doubt prove an absurd challenge.

Buying an actual home is simply impossible on $28/hour. Homeownership and raising a family are unachievable dreams on such a wage. Ergo, it isn’t a fair wage, it’s exploitation. Which raises an obvious question: what would be a fair wage for a full-time worker today?

The first assumption is that the most accurate measure of a fair wage is the extent to which it provides for a decent (not luxurious) lifestyle, and this primarily means homeownership. People are not happy making high wages if all they can afford is televisions and takeaways and the money doesn’t stretch to establishing a home.

The second assumption is that the Boomers themselves got a fair deal. Thus, I will assume that the housing situation in 1992 (when the average Boomer would have been about 36-37) is representative of the Boomer life experience. This certainly meant homeownership; for many Boomers, it meant owning so many homes that they could live off the rents of the young for life.

In 1992 the average New Zealand house price was $109,000. Also in 1992, the average hourly wage was about $15. This works out to 7,266 hours of saved labour to own the average house.

If the average house price now is $893,639, we can divide that by 7,266 hours of labour, and then multiply the resulting hourly wage by 2,000 hours in the year, to find the annual wage that would give a late-20s farmhand today the same chance of owning a home that a late-20s Boomer had in 1992 (this is the youngest possible Boomer, and all older ones will have had an even easier time).

Therefore, a fair wage today, per annum, would be about $245,978. Only a wage of no less than $245,978 would allow today’s worker to own a home with the same ease that the Boomers enjoyed. Any less than that, and today’s worker is forced to work hours that Boomers were not forced to, in order to enjoy the same standard of living.

Note that this figure implies absolutely zero standard of living increase from all the technological advancement of the last 31 years. Let’s just assume (for the sake of humility, perhaps) that the corporates deserve all of the profits from all of that advancement, which includes the advent of the personal computer, the Internet, the cellphone etc. Let’s assume that our farmhand deserves a zero share of this bounty.

That still leaves us with a wage of $245,978 (some $123 per hour) minimum for today’s farmhand to have the same standard of living as a farmhand in 1992. Such a wage is necessary if he wants to buy today’s $893,639 average house with 7,266 hours of saved labour, as the average Boomer was privileged enough to do.

Of course, the average farmer or business owner would rather go out of business than pay a wage anywhere near that. Which leaves many people asking honestly where the New Zealand economy can possibly go from here.

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Correlations With Special Voting Yes In The Euthanasia Referendum

Variable	Special voting Yes for Euthanasia
Honours degree	0.750
Master’s degree	0.746
Working in professional, scientific or technical services	0.743
Special voting Yes for cannabis	0.742
Working as a professional	0.700
Voting Greens 2020	0.697
Bachelor’s degree	0.687
Personal income $70,000+	0.685
No children	0.663
Mean personal income	0.654
Working in information media or telecommunications	0.623
Following Judaism	0.617
Doctorate	0.613
Voting The Opportunities Party 2020	0.602
Working in financial or insurance services	0.558
Median personal income	0.553
Working in arts or recreation services	0.544
Part-time study	0.499
Aged 25-29	0.499
Working in rental, hiring or real estate services	0.485
Voting Sustainable NZ 2020	0.469
Receiving income from interest, dividends, rent, other investments	0.462
Aged 30-34	0.435
Aged 20-24	0.433
Percentage of electorate overseas-born	0.397
Receiving income from self-employment or owning one’s own business	0.390
Turnout rate	0.366
Following Buddhism	0.364
Employed full-time	0.349
Own house in family trust	0.338
Working in accommodation or food services	0.314
Aged 35-39	0.309
Receiving income from Student Allowance	0.298
Asian	0.279
Working as a manager	0.277
Receiving wage or salary	0.275
Following no religion	0.274
Aged 40-44	0.234
Never married	0.234
Level 6 diploma	0.232
Enrolled in an urban electorate	0.220
Aged 45-49	0.205
Working in public administration or safety	0.198
Employed part-time	0.194
Voting ACT 2020	0.174
Voting National 2020	0.168
Following Hinduism	0.165
Personal income $5,000-$10,000	0.143
Following Spiritualism or a New Age religion	0.136
Enrolled in a North Island electorate	0.135
Voting TEA Party 2020	0.129
European	0.125
Personal income $50,000-$70,000	0.115
Neither ownership of house nor house in family trust	0.113
Working as a clerical or administrative worker	0.109
Currently unpartnered	0.108
Working in education or training	0.094
Following Islam	0.086
Level 3 certificate	0.070
Aged 50-54	0.069
Personal income < $5,000	0.030
Percentage of voting age population enrolled	0.025
Percentage of males in electorate	0.019
Full-time study	0.013
Working in wholesale trade	0.004
One child	0.000
Working as a sales worker	-0.005
Working in administrative or support services	-0.009
Voting Heartland NZ 2020	-0.015
Percentage of females in electorate	-0.019
Receiving no source of income	-0.058
Not studying	-0.061
Aged 85+	-0.083
Voting Labour 2020	-0.092
Aged 55-59	-0.103
Married (not separated)	-0.107
Currently partnered	-0.108
Aged 70-74	-0.118
Two children	-0.123
Aged 65-69	-0.132
Aged 75-79	-0.149
Aged 60-64	-0.149
Mean age	-0.155
Voting NZ Outdoors Party 2020	-0.160
Working in mining	-0.166
Aged 80-84	-0.178
Working in healthcare or social assistance	-0.184
Unemployed	-0.195
Receiving income from NZ Super or Veteran’s pension	-0.210
Voting New Conservative 2020	-0.212
Voting Social Credit 2020	-0.214
Working in construction	-0.214
Voting Maori Party 2020	-0.215
Enrolled in a Maori electorate	-0.217
Pacific Islander	-0.221
Median age	-0.221
Voting Vision NZ Party 2020	-0.233
Working as a community or personal services worker	-0.236
Working in electricity, gas, water or waste services	-0.243
Working in retail trade	-0.253
Working in other services	-0.270
Own or part own house	-0.273
Voting New Zealand First 2020	-0.275
Voting ONE Party 2020	-0.298
Voting Advance NZ 2020	-0.308
Voting ALCP 2020	-0.312
Following a Maori religion	-0.315
Maori	-0.322
Receiving income from Supported Living Payment	-0.354
Working in agriculture, forestry or fishing	-0.367
Receiving income from Sole Parent Support	-0.373
Following Christianity	-0.394
Not in the labour force	-0.394
Percentage of electorate New Zealand-born	-0.397
Receiving income from Jobseeker Support	-0.398
Divorced/separated/widowed	-0.414
Working in transport, postal or warehousing	-0.424
Working as a technician or trades worker	-0.437
Three children	-0.493
Receiving income from ACC or private work insurance	-0.521
Personal income $20,000-$30,000	-0.527
Personal income $10,000-$20,000	-0.537
Level 5 diploma	-0.541
Six or more children	-0.555
Object to answering how many children	-0.561
Level 2 certificate	-0.572
Level 1 certificate	-0.587
Personal income $30,000-$50,000	-0.597
Level 4 certificate	-0.597
Working as a machinery operator or driver	-0.617
Working as a labourer	-0.635
Five children	-0.647
Working in manufacturing	-0.655
Four children	-0.667
No NZQA qualifications	-0.727

This table is an excerpt from the upcoming 3rd Edition of Understanding New Zealand, by Dan McGlashan and published by VJM Publishing. Understanding New Zealand is the comprehensive guide to the demographics and voting patterns of the New Zealand people.