Better Democracy NZ is a non-partisan, non-profit organisation.

Our mission is to foster the improvement of New Zealand's democratic system and encourage the use of direct democracy through the

Veto, Citizens' Initiated and Recall referendum.

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Tuesday, 14 July 2009

Noam Chomsky says NZ not a democracy


Well, he said America wasn't a democracy actually, but when you watch this video he could certainly be talking about New Zealand! This

guy makes a lot of sense so I would recommend you watch the video.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although he is talking about America I would have to agree he could easily be talking about New Zealand. I don’t believe N.Z is a democracy by any stretch of the imagination. The government “removes decisions that should be made in the public arena” and I agree we should not accept this! Chomsky is right in that we as the population are fragmented and distracted and by voting every 3 years just sends the message thank you now you can continue. There are many people who vote in parties that may go against their own interests without even realising. Binding referendums would stop this, because we wouldn’t be second guessing where politician’s interests really lye. The question is would we rather live in true democracy with binding referendums or the society we have? I know what I would rather!

Steve Baron said...

Yes, it's very much the worst of two evils. Even though we have many choices under MMP it is still very much a two party system. Even when a person votes for a particular party doesn't mean they agree with everything that party stands for. There may even be one of two issues you totally despise. Trouble is it's a bundled offering. Take it or leave it all. That's not real democracy.