what do dictators do?

What a week in NZ politics.

As parents, we lost the right to correct our children with force. Oh, we can stop them from harming another individual or themselves, but we're not allowed to *correct* them any more - unless we want a criminal record. Of course if we can prove our actions to be "inconseqential", then we'll be acquitted. But where's the sense in that? I am only going to force my children to do things that ARE of some consequence. I believe strongly in training children out of times of conflict. For us, that means being proactive about what we do with our kids....we want to encourage our kids to do what is right - not just to "stop doing what's wrong". We can no longer lawfully train our children to do anything they don't want to.
On more than one occasion I have got hot under the collar about the media portraying this as a "smacking debate".......there was always far more than smacking at stake. It was about who makes the decisions in families, who is in control of the children, who sets the parameters. It is now clear; the government has wrenched that control from us - against the wishes of 83% of the nation. Is this anything less than tyrannical? How long will it be before we are forbidden to homeschool our kids? How long will it be before "the state education programme" is compulsory from birth? Let's face it - they want testing at birth, 5 years, preteen, and school-leaving age....and they're not talking just academic testing - they have been clear about the fact that it includes social testing. It is not inconceivable to think that my kids would be taken from me when they say that they have been taught there is one God, you should work if you want to eat, cows are not sacred and it is immodest to wear midriff-baring-low-cut slinky tops.
How many child murders will this new piece of legislation prevent? Please don't expect me to believe the government is actually trying to stop abuse with this law. We all know that those who beat their children do not care about any law. They were already criminals....now we join them too.

And it doesn't stop there. We had the Finance Minister telling us how to spend our money too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against saving for retirement, I'm certainly not against people taking responsibility for themselves....but I get antsy when the government wants to go into partnership with me and my money. They take enough as it is! I feel for people who want to pay off their mortgages before starting a separate retirement fund - let's face it, you pay more interest on a mortgage than you get interest off money in the bank so it makes fiscal sense to get rid of your debt ASAP. Yet Dr Cullen calls this "short-sightedness". What am I missing?

Then to add insult to injury, I came across this. http://www.christiannation.org.nz/
Never mind what you think about Brian Tamaki......

A friend who has left these shores summed it up sadly, but truly:
I have to say that I am currently so disgusted with the state of NZ that I am without hesitation prepared to become an Australian Citizen. In many ways it isn't better here, perhaps even worse. Nominalism, hedonism and humanism are the norm, however the place does not seem to be ruled by the lunatic fringe and they still call stupid "stupid". My first instincts are to be romantic about my NZ identity, the land, the sea, and being part of the pacific region. However the truth is that holidays at Tawharanui do not make up for spiritual imprisonment.