Why aren't these successes being touted all over America?

[Cumulonimbus]

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Without reading any of this... isn't New Zealand's gov pretty liberal? If so, I think that answers your question.

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From what I've read, they are pretty libertarian. I wouldn't classify them as liberal since I associate the term with those here in the US who think the solution to problems is to expand government, not contract it.


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oh yeah, in that case, that's what I meant. <3 New Zealand.

[iggymcfly]

Well, it sounds like they were borderline socialist before the reform government came in, and for that reason had a lot more room to improve than the United States would. What they did was not to move from US-style capitalism to minarchy as much as it was to move from socialism to US-style capitalism. Still, it's yet another example that the smaller role government plays, the healthier the nation is.

[bismillahno]

I haven't seen any kiwis (New Zealanders) comment, so I guess I should weigh in somewhat.

Firstly, theres nothing here to suggest the downsides of the changes which were pretty unpleasant and long lasting, NZ had a recession from 1988-1993. Basically we moved in roughly 7 years from being the most heavily regulated western economy to the least. The changes were definitely necessary and successful, but many people were hurt pretty badly in the process.

For example, prior to 1984 it was illegal to send anything by truck more than 150km. That was to prop up an inefficient railway system. If you wanted to send logs to a sawmill 300km away for example, legally you'd have to truck it to the railway lines, send it by train to the nearest station, then truck it to the mill. Things like that were total madness, and utter economic suicide. The changes were painful, but highly effective, and we now have a strong economy with very low unemployment.

Calling NZ libertarian is really a misnomer, though it does have a grain of truth. The closest thing to a libertarian party has 2 out of the 120 seats in parliament (we're under proportional representation). We still have a large and pretty comprehensive social welfare net, government healthcare, national superannuation. Also a scheme (ACC) which means you are unable to sue anyone at fault for an accident you suffer. Instead the government compensates you by a set formula. Economic regulation such as tariffs or ownership restrictions are kept to a minimum though.

There are definitely still large elements of big government, but they have done a great job of cutting a lot of unnecessary elements. Socially it is fairly liberal, but we still have strict drug laws, gun control etc.

I will say NZ government has generally been far more competent than what I've observed in the US. If I was living under Bush I suspect I'd be far more likely to drink the AC kool aid. Living here, I just don't see the need for it.

[DrunkHamster]

Great article

[Nonfiction]

This [censored] makes me really want to move to NZ after 2008 election

[JussiUt]

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If I was living under Bush I suspect I'd be far more likely to drink the AC kool aid. Living here, I just don't see the need for it.

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This is exactly right. I see that a lot of Americans are ACists but that's probably mostly because the US is screwed in so many ways. State is actually functional in some countries so there's no point in depicting it to be from the devil or something.

[AlexM]

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If I was living under Bush I suspect I'd be far more likely to drink the AC kool aid. Living here, I just don't see the need for it.

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This is exactly right. I see that a lot of Americans are ACists but that's probably mostly because the US is screwed in so many ways. State is actually functional in some countries so there's no point in depicting it to be from the devil or something.

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The state can function "perfectly" and it's still using force to make people do what you want them to do. The greater desire for liberty in Americans has nothing to do with our government sucking more than others. It's because we were raised to believe in liberty and because this country once had a great deal more liberty.