New Zealand Conservative

A new Forbes article (Un)Holy Alliance: Vladimir Putin, The Russian Orthodox Church And Russian Exceptionalism makes shocking reading. [...W]hile much attention has been paid to the growing authoritarianism of the Kremlin and on the support for Putin’s regime on the part of the Russian oligarchs whom Putin has enriched through his crony capitalism, little has been paid to the equally critical role of the Russian Orthodox Church in helping to shape Russia’s current system, and in supporting Putin’s regime and publicly conflating the mission of the Russian state under Vladimir Putin’s leadership with the mission of the Church. Putin’s move in close coordination with the Russian Orthodox Church to sacralize the Russian national identity has been a key factor shaping the increasingly authoritarian bent of the Russian government under Putin, and strengthening his public support, and must be understood in order to understand Russia’s international behavior. The close relationship betwe...

Arghh, what is Colin Craig thinking? Conservative Party leader Colin Craig says he would not form a Government with National unless it agreed to introduce binding referenda . Mr Craig confirmed the party's bottom line for potential coalition talks at its annual meeting in Auckland this afternoon, attended by around 120 delegates. In his keynote speech, he said: "We are not playing a mystery game. We are being upfront with the electorate. "The thing that we want, that will be required if a party wants our support, is that they are going to need to agree to a change whereby that the people of this country have the right on those rare occasions ... to tell the government where to go and what to do." Oh well, they won't be going into coalition with National, then. I'm personally against making citizens initiated referenda binding the Government. The closest thing I would support would be a Voter Veto on Parliament's conscience votes. That would m...

  Just listening to John Key on NewsTalkZB, and the thing that stood out was that John Key wanted to let people know that National could work with the Conservatives. The interviewer was much more interested in talking about the change to potentially being able to work with Winston Peters and New Zealand First, than anything else. Colin Craig has said that the "smacking law" would be one of the things that would influence negotiations were he and his party ever in a position where their support was necessary for a government to form. This article from Stuff calls it a bottom line, and then says the opposite when it quotes what Craig has said about it, leading me to believe that overturning the law will not end up being a condition of support, it will be just used as a means to garner votes.  Probably why John Key is indicating now he can work with the Conservatives. Craig said he was not calling it a bottom-line at this stage because the election had not yet happene...

I used to admire Rodney Hide. His blog was the first political blog that I spent quite a bit of time on when I first ventured into the NZ online political scene. It must have been around 2003. Anyway, I thought he was pretty clued on at the time. Now I can only shake my head at reading this sort of thing: I am left wondering if the conspiracy theorists have found a welcoming home with the new Conservative Party. Certainly Craig was anxious not to offend those who believe that governments are mass dosing us, that 9/11 was a government job, and that Nasa staged the moon landings in Nevada. Of course, it could be that Craig genuinely believes such nonsense possible. After all, conspiracy theories have the same amount of supporting evidence as the idea that a supernatural being made the earth and all its creatures in six days in 4004BC and now oversees human affairs. The defining characteristic of the Conservatives may well be gullibility. I consider myself to be a Conservative,...

Rush Limbaugh - Shock Jock Rush Limbaugh, a shock jock (so guess what's coming next) accuses the Pope of preaching Marxism. That was attack number one. The liberal/progressive media carrying this story likes to represent that Rush Limbaugh speaks for all Conservatives. That was attack number two. Here, the media want to promote the idea that Christian Conservatives are for sticking it to the poor. It's a win-win. Paint the Pope as a Marxist, paint the conservatives as heartless. Rush's comments are dealt with quite easily. His polemic view is simplistic to the point of stupidity. Anyone criticizing excessive greed is not automatically a Marxist. I like the Vatican response: "It does not seem worth the trouble of answering seriously," said a Vatican spokesman. . A quick Google search finds plenty of other places quite willing to take the trouble to answer, although after all is said and done, it really isn't worth taking the time to answer se...

I have been doing a lot of listening lately, and yesterday I listened to Tim Fookes' NewsTalkZB Morning programme as people phoned in to give their opinion of that infamous remark made by a defense lawyer on the lines of, if she didn't want sex, she should have kept her legs closed. Tim Fookes was one of those who was incredibly offended by the inference that this is all women have to do to prevent getting raped, and even apologised on behalf of all men. Good on him, I thought. A number of men phoned in and agreed that the sentiment was disgusting and offensive. Then the lawyer in question (Keith Jefferies) phoned in and explained the statement was in his closing arguments and that he didn't believe his client had actually raped the woman, and that the sex was consensual, therefore to prevent consensual sex, all she had to do is keep her legs closed. Dear Tim just didn't get it. Another lawyer phoned in and explained it in more detail to Tim and he still didn...

Society is to blame - time to get outraged by the message The Roast Busters story has fired up many sleepy liberal and progressive types that don't yet realise it, but they are waking up to conservative values. For example, the letters to the editor and talk back radio linked the story in the same week about the government providing free condoms to 12 and 13 year old's even as others are crying "what went wrong?" Sean Plunket, in today's DomPost editorial hoped to write something that would make a difference, and generate a change of culture, attitude and responsibility in NZ Male society.  Ironically, his article starts with something along the lines of "I don't want to talk about Len Brown and his adultery, I want to talk about something more important."  He failed to see the connection between Len Brown, in a position of power and influence, being defended by liberals that his "private morality" is of no concern to us.   With tha...

Today David Farrar has written a post entitled The conservative case for same-sex marriage , an oxymoron if I ever heard one. I've heard these so called conservative arguments a number of times, and basically they boil down to, if marriage is so great for society, then why not expand it? Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership. We encourage couples to marry because the commitments they make to one another provide benefits not only to themselves but also to their families and communities. Marriage requires thinking beyond one’s own needs. It transforms two individuals into a union based on shared aspirations, and in doing so establis...

A lesson for so called "conservative parties", don't pick up issues that your constituency doesn't back you on. An opinion poll carried out by ComRes has found that PM Cameron’s plans to legalise homosexual marriage by 2015 could lose the Conservative party 1 million votes at the next election,and up to 30 seats in the Commons. For every disaffected Tory supporter attracted back to the party, it loses almost three because of its stance on the issue. In The Sun today,Trevor Kavanagh says Tory supporters are “deserting in droves over [David Cameron's] irrelevant campaign for gay marriage ” and other unpopular issues. A Home Counties Tory MP said: ‘We’re worried we’ll haemorrhage votes unless Cameron backs down. These protests are not from the usual suspects of complainants. These are from quiet,unassuming Tory supporters telling us,do this and we won’t vote for you again. ’ The Mail on Sunday has been told that Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin has privatel...

Well, it had to happen sooner or later: Garth George is leaving the NZ Herald. His last column is today, and he says- The editors decided back in October that this column does not fit in with their future plans for the opinion pages. And while I shall miss penning my weekly opinions, and have to adapt to a painful drop in income, I hold no rancour. One can only wonder who the Herald intends in their "future plans" for opinion columnists. Perhaps someone like Pam Corkery or her ilk? It will be sad to see George go. He is a conservative and a Catholic, and as such perhaps didn't fit in with the liberal opinions and tastes of those who helm the Herald. I didn't always agree with everything he wrote, but I did so more often than not. He will continue to write his columns for in the Bay of Plenty Times in Tauranga, and the Daily Post in Roturua. It's interesting to read that he is actually a Member of the New Zealand order of Merit (see photo above)

The NZ Conservative Blog looks at the Conservative Party We here at the NZ Conservative blog would like to start out by saying we predate the Conservative Party by many years, indeed it is only 3 months old at this point of time. In no way is the blog associated with the political party. Over a week ago I went to the Conservative Party BBQ, which passed as their party's campaign launch, and while I was there I got to use my new found press credentials to talk to the candidates including an interview with Colin Craig himself. The Conservative Party BBQ attracted around 300 people from around the country was heavily attended by party candidates standing in electorates (the party is standing in around 54 of the 63 general electorates). The Candidates I got the chance to talk to many of the candidates, so many in fact names and electorates were getting hard to remember. Frank, standing for East Mangere, highlighted the diversity of the party with people from all ages and et...

A very succinct explanation on why homosexuality is incompatible with conservatism. Biologically, physiologically, males and females are clearly counterparts to one another. The male sexual and reproductive anatomy is obviously designed for a relationship with a female, and vice versa. Homosexual practice thus requires individuals to contradict their own biology. It disconnects a person’s sexuality from his or her biological identity as male or female — which exerts a self-alienating and fragmenting effect on the human personality. And the logic of alienation will not stop there. Already the acceptance of same-sex relationships is metastasizing into a postmodern notion of sexuality as fluid and changing over time. For example, an article in the Utne Reader highlights individuals who came out of the closet as homosexual, but were later attracted to heterosexual relationships again. The article quotes psychotherapist Bret Johnson explaining that people today “don’t want to fit in...

Conservatives who back same-sex marriage are confused and ignorant. Confused about conservatism and ignorant about what is essential to keeping a civilisation going. Civilisations rise or fall depending upon the morality of their citizens. It's no accident that the West came to dominate the world. It wasn't our guns that lead us to do this, it was our religion which underpinned our morality. And now we are losing our religion. Our families are falling apart. And single parenting is fast becoming the norm. How much longer will the West last? From Open letter to conservatives who back same-sex marriage : When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. (Prager is talking about men and women here.) It is not overstated to say that the Torah's prohibition of non-marital sex made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. T...

With David Cameron's blessing, Nick Herbert is off to Poland to try and convince the Polish to be more accepting of gay rights. Nick Herbert, Britain's most senior gay minister, will tomorrow attend Europe's largest gay pride celebration in Warsaw in an attempt by the Tories to encourage their eastern European allies to abandon homophobic views. A gay pride parade (yes, I've been to them) will do the opposite. Anyone who is not well-disposed to full on out there homosexuality will be more entrenched in that view by watching a gay pride parade in which mostly men flaunt themselves in a gratuitous way to the general public.  Rather than the Polish abandoning their views, it will further reinforce them. The policing minister, who told US Republicans in Washington in February that gay rights are compatible with conservatism, said last night he hoped the centre right in eastern Europe would follow the Tories' modernising example. This it the bit that made me decide ...

This blog exists because I believe real conservatism to be rooted in all that is good and true, and could therefore only come from those who are authentically Catholic. And now it looks like I am not the only one that thinks this way. “This year will mark a great opportunity for conservatives,” said the voice over the radio, by which he meant that one style of politician wholly committed to the cramped secular vision of man would triumph over another style of politician committed to the same thing. Which caused me to consider that any new conservatism in America will be Catholic, or Christian at least, in both its looking forward to the kingdom of God and its gratitude for the gifts of the past, or it will not be at all. For more on what this new conservatism will look like, read : A new conservatism? ~ Catholic World Report

Rejection of God leaves society, and our very civilisation, weak and vulnerable. Far from secularism being the great liberator, it is the great enslaver, enslaving societies until their ultimate death or destruction. For that reason, Pope Benedict's vision of what is needed (the restoration of Christendom) is the only way out of this quagmire we've created. Conservatives are searching for a leader. Move over Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney. Pope Benedict XVI has emerged as the great conservative champion. In his recently issued and much anticipated third encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" ("Love in Truth"), the pope lays out a brilliant blueprint for addressing the seminal problems of our age. Contrary to headlines, the encyclical is not an anti-capitalist tract. The pope is not a red Tory who puts "social justice" and statist economics above free markets. He does not call for big-government liberalism. Instead, he upholds free markets ...

Some articles to scan if you find yourself on the internet rather than elsewhere. Like here, for example, in 1935 Bondi. The luckiest generation: pre-boomers born 1920-1940. Rather than spreading wealth between classes does welfare spread it between generations? Or another way, does the system only work if treasury-bills can attract buyers? Be very afraid but not of Santa. Vexatious litigation is funny in Boston Legal but not as a major influence on your culture. Fathers for Good. Lessons in Maniless from It's a Wonderful Life. Postmodern Conservatism in Australia. An oxymoron or confirmation of the suspicion that relativism is a subtle temptress even of John Howard and maybe John Key? How kangaroo burgers could save the planet. New Scientist Best Videos of 2008. NatGeo top ten Space photos of 2008. Another year and 74 year-old Gene Cernan is still the last man on the moon! Born in 1934 he would be another member of the putative"luckiest generation". Genetic Engineering ...

DPF has written a post on the family friendly ratings Family First have given to NZ's political leaders. In the course of the discussion, the question was asked, what is conservatism? Is it or is it not synonymous with being on the "right" side of politics. The best explanation of what I consider to be conservatism are summarised by Russell Kirk in The Ten Conservative Principles . I've made a condensed summary of that summary, which will give those of you that don't want to read the expanded definitions a quick idea of what the principles are. However, I'd recommend reading the article as I've just picked the sentences that best represented the idea, but in doing so each point is incomplete. 1) There exists an enduring moral order - order is made for man, and man is made for it: human nature is a constant, and moral truths are permanent. 2) Adherence to custom, convention, and continuity - order and justice and freedom are the artificial products of ...

A couple of days ago Fran O'Sullivan called John Key "New Zealand's conservative leader". On No Minister (I'm sorry, can't find the post). But unfortunately New Zealand's conservative leader John Key would rather indulge his crush on Obama, than directly mix it by contesting Helen Clark with a clear agenda of his own. I commented then that John Key was not a conservative and over the last few days I've been thinking on the absurdity of this assumption. I think it rests on another assumption, that there is choice in politics. It is natural to assume that if one major party is one way, then in order to give balance and choice, that the other major party is another way. But has anyone seen any sort of differentiation from National showing how they will be different from Labour over the last year or so? Case in point is the anti-smacking legislation. I see in the Dom Post today that a father has been fined for belting his daughter. No indication th...

Along the way on my journey to conservatism, there have been a number of historical events and stories of people within those events that have really stuck and helped penetrate the fog of liberalism that I had been sucked in by over the years from my childhood to adulthood. One such event, the stories of which I had been told from when I was a young child, were my Dad's experiences in the Soviet Union during WW2. However, it wasn't until I had grown older and read more and understood more that my Grandmother dying during the journey out of the Soviet Union gained a real significance to my own motherhood, and thereby took on a whole new meaning. My Dad's entire family was rounded up at the beginning of WW2 from their home in Poland by the invading Soviet army, and herded into cattle cars for the trip into Siberia from Poland in the middle of winter. Apparently many children died during this trip, as the cattle cars (designed to move cattle) were not heated. Food was l...