Next Wednesday, Lindsay Perigo will lead a horde of fundamentalist spanking enthusiasts to Parliament. What is wrong with this picture? Perigo and his associate objectivist libertarians would insist that nothing is. According to them, the Bradford Bill is an insidious example of leftwing 'political correctness' and 'nanny state' authoritarianism, which all libertarians should fight. Trouble is, his former colleague, Deborah Coddington, has taken a more sober perspective on the available evidence-based research from child health and welfare sources, and concluded exactly the opposite. Libertarians are paradoxical creatures. They support decriminalisation of abortion, homosexuality, sex work, soft drugs and voluntary euthanasia, as well as the abolition of state censorship, but they also oppose progressive taxation, subsidised medical treatment, anti-discrimination laws and public health and education provision. They'd argue that this places them beyond conventional left/right dichotomies. Unfortunately for Perigo, he sometimes confuses libertarianism proper with mere antistate populism, and ends up in bed with the Christian Right over issues like voluntary student unionism, antidiscrimination laws- and now, Section 59 Repeal. There's nothing 'politically correct' about Section 59 Repeal. Rather, as Deborah Coddington has correctly noted in the New Zealand Herald, it is about reviewing available child health, welfare and development evidence-based research and forming public policy from this basis. As for Linz, he's going to end marching with some rather antisavoury authoritarian statists who are diametrically opposed to him when it comes to abortion, same-sex marriage, sex work and censorship policy. Most of the anti--repeal rabble are former Christian Heritage Party members. The Society for Promotion of Community Standards wants to ban sex work and introduce repressive state censorship laws, while Right to Life New Zealand wants to prohibit abortion altogether. He may well oppose "Nanny State," but has it driven him into the arms of "Nunny State," the progeny of the late Sisters of Mercy (SM) Nun Patricia Bartlett? And is this a case of religious liberty only, when the religious take considerable liberties with everyone elses rights? Not Recommended: http://www.spcs.org.nz http://www.right-to-life.org Craig Young - 22nd March 2007