Worzels World - Playing the Trump card

 

I once knew a bloke that reckoned the gutters of the world were full of bums who didn’t lead with their trumps. After seeing a few of the world’s gutters I can’t say as I ever played cards with any of those I found there, so I cannot say if this is true.

I am sometimes told that I concentrate on problems but seldom offer solutions. In my defence I would assert that in order to find a solution one must first clearly define the problem. They said that the US election that put George W in power was trumped up but it’s got nothing on this current one. And thanks to the current candidate Donald Trump I now have at least one solution to offer for our nation’s general improvement.

It has taken a couple of hundred years to sort out some of the problems caused by the wholesale immigration that occurred during the initial stages of New Zealand’s colonisation. Some remain unresolved to this day. Yet at present, with a rate of 58,000-plus immigrants per annum, we are exceeding all previous records. Is importing such vast quantities of people from other cultures fair on them or on us?

I am a New Zealander. I like this country and even a few of its inhabitants. I have had a good look around elsewhere too and believe it to be infinitely better here than anywhere else I have visited. I am biased of course – I was born and grew up here, and partiality is inevitable. I would like to preserve this land of my birth so others might enjoy it as much as I have.

I do not think becoming part of some amorphous New World Order where one size fits all and national and personal individuality are swallowed by a global corporate empire is a more attractive prospect. Over time a relationship evolves between a land and its people. In New Zealand that relationship is not perfect but it is not so bad either.

So far going global has done New Zealand no favours. Back in the days when imports were heavily restricted and moving funds offshore was discouraged by the Muldoon government we were, relative to today, a prosperous and egalitarian nation.

Sadly the global marketplace is pretty much like every market place everywhere, a squalid bazaar full of rascals and thieves. We need only look at unfulfilled IT contracts, the loans to the KDC, Chinese trains and steel. As in any of Mammon's markets the naive get swindled and the stupid get robbed. And for all I know, those that don’t lead with their trumps end up lying about in gutters.

Bringing in huge quantities of immigrants from countries with languages and cultures radically different from our own can hardly improve matters. Even in a happy household too many additional dinner guests puts a strain on the catering. How much harder is it for a dysfunctional family unable to keep within budget? And with a national debt of over 100 billion it's obvious we are not operating within our means.

Mr Trump seems to have done his chances of election no harm by proposing that a wall be built between Mexico and the US and proposing to ban certain groups from entry into the US. This is not a new idea. Many centuries ago China built the biggest wall in history to keep the Mongolians at bay. These days the Mongolians want to separate from their Chinese overlords but China refuses let them go. So I propose we take a leaf from Mr Trump’s book (or is that a trump card from Donald’s deck) and stem the flow of immigrants. This would give those many recent arrivals time to learn to assimilate into our culture rather than retain the habits that made the countries of their birthplaces they prefer to leave rather than live in.

If only half of what we hear in the news is true it is obvious New Zealand should cut the cord that connects us to the global mess that the wider world has so obviously become. I do not share Mr Trump’s discriminatory views in regard to race or religion. They are not applicable to

New Zealand. So instead of banning any one in particular we must simply ban everyone regardless.

So let us play the Trump card and initiate our own version of ‘Brexit’ as quickly as possible, and with the natural barrier of the Pacific Ocean we needn't even bother to take the time and trouble to build a wall.

n prof_worzel@hotmail.com

Bringing in huge quantities of immigrants from countries with languages and cultures radically different from our own can hardly improve matters. Even in a happy household too many additional dinner guests puts a strain on the catering.