MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
|
|
Worzels World - I Should Have Known BetterHistory shows that even if two Wrights make an aeroplane, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Regular readers will already know that since the dissolution by forced resignation of the elected Kaipara District Council in 2012 I have refused to give money to the illegitimate non-democratic organisation that currently occupies our public buildings in Dargaville. Upon embarking upon this course of inaction I wrote to the Kaipara Commissary and explained why I had made the decision to withhold my resources from them. Four years later they served papers upon me wanting an amount of money that they claimed I owed them due entirely to their sending me invoices. This of course is the sole service that the Kaipara District Council has ever provided to my property. When there was an elected council coupled with the illusion that rates collected would be used for the greatest benefit of the most people, I paid those rates. I am happy to contribute to my community even if, like many others, I derive no direct benefit from any council service and no more indirect benefit than anyone outside the district who happens to pass through. The provision of services to the many is what council’s are supposed to do – at least in theory, if not, as we found out, in practice. As most now realise, in Kaipara the major portion of funds collected, plus another 50-odd million with interest still yet to be collected, have not been used for the many but have been siphoned off to a few. And those few do not, for the most part, even live in the district. What has occurred is, as I told Judge McDonald, a massive and ongoing fraud. In a world that has become more surreal than a Dali painting, the fraudsters decided to take the innocent to court for refusing to contribute to their fraud. I have caused no harm to the Kaipara District Commissary, I have merely withheld my resources from them because they are not democratically accountable, cannot be trusted, have broken the law and are defrauding the ratepayers they are paid to serve. There is ample proof of this. Surely, I thought, a learned judge will see the gross injustice being perpetrated? I was a foolish man indeed to entertain such notions. Why would my experience of law be somehow different from everyone elses throughout the centuries? ‘Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law’ wrote Oliver Goldsmith, and Frances Bacon observed ‘Laws are like cobwebs; where the small flies are caught but the great break through.’ And myself being such a small fly and the government backed commission being a particularly large blowfly the outcome was predictable. Yet closer to home a contemporary quoted, “They can’t afford to let you win.” “Maybe not,” I replied, “but they have hired some of the most expensive legal representatives in the land to prosecute me and they are paying them with your money.” Tangle with the law in any of its myriad forms and it’s very likely if not inevitable your experience will be frustrating, protracted, inefficient and sometimes incomprehensible. The outcome is usually a massive and unreasonable waste of time, money and other resources. Is it rational to believe for a moment that such a system could produce anything akin to justice? I should have known better. Dickens made similar points in Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce written over a hundred years ago. In the Bible judges and lawyers are usually the bad guys, and looking through my reference books I find the law and those who practice it constantly maligned. I have written in this column that when the stakes rise above a certain level the game is likely to be rigged. Yes, I should have known better but what choice did I have? I decided to give the courts a go. The outcome was predictable – they refused to even allow my defence. The hearing I was afforded lasted less than half an hour. Judge McDonald refused to hear any evidence that I had of KDC’s fraudulent practices. The judge did not appear to be a fool and only a fool would claim that what has occurred here in Kaipara is in any way right or just. It is often difficult to do what we know to be right and just. How much harder is it when we are told that doing what is right will have catastrophic effects? That doing what is right will cause a crisis? This is always a falsehood and the real truth is that injustice, and most especially institutionalised injustice, will eventually result in pain and suffering and while pragmatic and expedient solutions may postpone a crisis they are more likely to guarantee one. In situations such as these the politicians and judges know there will be pain and suffering but are gambling that it will be felt by others rather than themselves It is an evil message that says wrong actions can produce a good result, that the end justifies the means, that injustice must sometimes be tolerated to facilitate a greater good. This approach always presupposes that the end is predictable which it seldom, if ever, is. This is especially true for those whose foresight is stigmatised by the myopia of agenda, personal or otherwise. This was true yesterday, it is true today, and will certainly still be true tomorrow. My defence was struck out. Later I sat despondent, alone at a bar. “Judges and lawyers are arseholes,” I muttered over my half-drunk pint. A fellow patron desultorily potting balls on the pool table behind me overheard and remonstrated. “Take that back you insulting bastard.” “Sorry,” I said startled, “are you a lawyer?” “No,” he replied, “I’m an arsehole.” So I have decided to give up on the law. As St Paul said in his letter to the Romans two thousand years ago: ‘Where there is no law is there is no transgression.’ I must be content to have proved beyond reasonable doubt that our justice system does not serve ordinary people. So then, who does it serve? And why? n prof_worzel@hotmail.com What has occurred is, as I told Judge McDonald, a massive and ongoing fraud. In a world that has become more surreal than a Dali painting, the fraudsters decided to take the innocent to court for refusing to contribute to their fraud. |