SOLO-NZ Press Release: Dump the Treaty and the Day; Let's Have Western Civilisation Day!

February 5, 2008

The Treaty of Waitangi should be scrapped, and Waitangi Day should be dumped in favour of a Western Civilisation Day, says SOLO Principal Lindsay Perigo.

Perigo makes the call as New Zealand's politicians, whom he calls "the current legislators of moral cannibalism," gather for the yearly grandstanding that passes for National Day celebrations at Waitangi.

"The Treaty of Waitangi should be commemorated because it bestowed upon Maori the rights of British subjects, thus introducing the notion of individual freedom within the rule of law to gangs of tribal savages who hitherto had been cannibalising and enslaving each other. But it has become a de facto constitution in the absence of a formal one, a brief for which it is woefully inadequate," argues Perigo.

"The five-paragraph, three-point Treaty is silent on many matters with which a constitution must deal. Moreover, there are ongoing arguments about what it really meant and which version is authentic. The best thing to do is scrap it and start over. The Libertarianz' "Constitution for New Freeland" would be an excellent beginning—and ending.

"In the meantime, New Zealanders should use February 6 as an occasion to salute and savour the blessings of Western Civilisation brought here by the British, which blessings latter-day born-again tribalists of both brown and white hue would have us renounce—reason and freedom, science and technology, capitalism and prosperity, individualism and the right to pursue one's own happiness ... and of course, the sublimest art possible to human beings.

"Indeed," concludes Perigo, "given the orgy of guilt going on globally over man's conquest of nature and glorious flourishing, it would be a good idea to institute Western Civilisation Day worldwide."

ENDS

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