*SOLO-NZ Press Release: We'll Hold You to That, Mr. Key!

December 9, 2008

The most promising moment of today's Speech from the Throne came right at the start, says SOLO Principal Lindsay Perigo.

"Just four sentences in, after noting the new government's commitment to economic growth, the Governor-General read out the following:

'In pursuing this goal of economic growth my Government will be guided by the principle of individual freedom and a belief in the capacity and right of individuals to shape and improve their own lives.'

"This is probably the first time in living memory the principle of individual freedom has been mentioned *at all*, let alone as central, in a formal government agenda," notes Perigo.

"Of course, too much shouldn't be expected from a government stuffed with anti-freedom conservatives and the occasional unreconstructed Muldoonist, but it's fair to assume Prime Minister John Key knows what his party is * supposed* to represent, and we freedom-lovers will be demanding that he deliver on his welcome inclusion of it in today's agenda-setting document.

"The promised tax cuts are a good start, and will indeed 'encourage New Zealanders to get ahead under their own steam,' as the Speech says. Ditto the proposed reduction in government bureaucracy. The repeal of the vile Electoral Finance Act will be a boon for freedom of speech. Indirectly, the vow to lift education standards will help freedom too, in the sense that the illiterate, incoherent, ignorant hordes currently being churned out of our 'schools' are incapable of freedom's prerequisite: *conceptual thought*.

"There are many respects in which freedom-lovers would wish for a far more radical programme from Mr. Key's government. In particular it's a tragedy that the document still buys into the nonsense of man-made Global Warming. But given the government's explicit commitment in the Speech from the Throne not to try to dictate the way New Zealanders live their lives, one is entitled to be optimistic that we are seeing the beginning of the end of the suffocating tyranny of political correctness emanating from Helengrad. The leaden weight of socialism that has held New Zealanders down and back for so long may just be about to lift significantly.

"If not, Mr. Key will be hearing from us," Perigo concludes.

ENDS

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