The therapeutic state strikes back (again)

The Dominion Post reports this week that teachers are in fact allowed to use force to restrain unruly pupils who threaten teachers or other students.

Inspector Chris Gravenson has apparently told a recent teacher's conference that under the Crimes Act teachers are entitled to use force to restrain violent students, even if it causes bruising.

Sensible stuff you might say.

However, a spokesman for the Children's Commissioner's Office has piped back saying to it is never appropriate to use enough force to cause bruising. Exactly how a violent pupil can be restrained without risking bruising is of course left unexplained.

Clearly the kind of people who inhabit these waste-of-space organs of the therapeutic state aren't open to common-sense discussion.

This is why I was dead against John Key's wishy-washy decision to support the recent Anti-Smacking Bill. By supporting the Bill, albeit in a compromised form, Key allows the left liberal therapeutic state to take a step forward without gaining anything for conservatism in return.

The best stance National could have taken would be to simply to have said NO.

If the bill had been passed in its undiluted form it would have generated serious opposition that could have been exploited by National in the coming election. Instead the Bill's critics have now taken their eye of the ball, and deluded themselves into thinking they have gained some sort of victory from the compromise.

This is how the liberal left still continues to advance - it initiates an arrogant and unpopular piece of legislation, which the majority of the population dislikes. However, the so-called conservative centre-right then suffers a crisis of confidence, and instead of opposing the legislation, decides to support a watered-down version.

Thus not only does the centre left continue to advance its cause, but it does so at an incremental pace, which most people don't really notice. This allows it to steadily take over without attracting any serious opposition.

Its time to start saying NO more often.