I am a New Zealander (or “Kiwi,” as we affectionately refer to ourselves) who has spent many years outside my home country — including several years in the United States. At present, I live in Asia and cannot see myself returning to the land of my birth and upbringing anytime soon.
My home country is simply not the paradise that many people, including a lot of Americans, perceive it to be.
Background
It’s important to note that I drafted this article back in April — soon after the mass shooting that took place in Christchurch — but opted to have it sit in limbo for several months. I needed to give my home country some time to emotionally and spiritually recover.
In the aftermath of that shooting — New Zealand’s deadliest single act of violence in the nation’s history — I noticed an unprecedented level of international support and praise being bestowed upon my country, especially from left-wing Americans on social media. They saw a national leader (Jacinda Ardern) whom they deemed far more agreeable to their SJW sensibilities than Donald Trump. They saw a nation that can make sweeping gun reforms within a few days. They saw “they are us” as a popular hashtag for Kiwis to show their unwavering support for Muslim residents, who are one of the darling victim groups of the woke age.
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Most notably, I saw many of these people making the assertion they wanted to leave the United States and move to New Zealand — a move I am here to warn against, and that goes for Americans of all political affiliations.
Kiwis Have Less Civil Liberty than Americans
This needs to be mentioned first and foremost, because I am aware that many U.S. citizens take the concept of civil liberties very, very seriously. I will tell you right now that Americans craving a move to New Zealand — who nonetheless love their Constitution and Bill of Rights, ’til death do us part — need to cancel all of those plans immediately, and don’t ever look back.
In New Zealand, as well as in Australia, we do not have the comprehensive search and seizure protections Americans are granted by their Fourth Amendment. What results is that the New Zealand police regularly deploy roadblocks — euphemistically called “checkpoints” — which infringe on you being able to go about your daily driving business unmolested by the state.
At all of these roadblocks, the intention of the police is to find ways to either drag you away in handcuffs (failed drug tests or carrying contraband) or shank your bank account (fines for expired warrants of fitness, expired registrations, etc.) in order to help the government compensate for their — by global police standards — very high salaries.
In the United States, Americans enjoy the great privilege of being able to go out for a drive at any time without “your papers, please” moments such as these. Additionally, American police can (legally) pull you over only if they have probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed.
Elsewhere in New Zealand — thanks to the Christchurch massacre — freedom of speech and gun privileges are circling the toilet. And yes, Americans will be horrified to know that we do indeed have a 1984-style “chief censor” who determines what’s naughty or nice to watch, read, andn listen to. This New Zealand equivalent of the “Ministry of Truth” blocked access to one of my favorite websites, ZeroHedge, among others earlier this year.
Overall, Americans with strong libertarian sensibilities will feel flagrantly violated in New Zealand.
