Society
Robert Bridge
August 18, 2021
© Photo: REUTERS/Fiona Goodall

Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident.

The Western hemisphere is suffering from a dearth of political talent at a time when a wave of Cultural Marxist ideology is being forced on the people, already suffering under the physical and mental strain of a pandemic and its draconian response.

This month, New Zealand’s Green Party, which shares power with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling Labour Party, removed a portrait of Winston Churchill, the famed British statesman, from a public area in the Parliament House. It seems that the left-leaning lawmakers could not handle the daily reminder as to what a devoted leader of the people truly looks like. Thus they proceeded to do what the left does best, which is to play the deranged game of cancel culture with their own history.

The left-wing beef with the ‘British Bulldog’ is that he promoted imperialistic views, as well as hostility towards socialism, so apparently we’re supposed to forget that the British statesman helped to save the world from the scourge of Nazi Germany during World War II. Thus, without any democratic debate on the matter, Churchill’s visage was swiftly moved to a less conspicuous place lest anymore leftist sensitivities come under assault. In Churchill’s place the Greens said they will display “new art by a tangata whenua artist.”

What the asinine stunt by the New Zealand Leftists effectively demonstrates is the pathetic depths to which statesmanship has fallen. After all, are we not in the midst of a pandemic? With the fate of humanity on the line, how is it conceivable that the idea of removing the portrait of a dead white man – and not necessarily the most infamous in the rogue’s gallery – entered anybody’s head? What better way for these politicians to deflect attention away from their own questionable leadership skills than by dragging up the deficiencies of past statesmen?

As to be expected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern passed on a very good opportunity to take the steam out of the woke movement’s global inquisition as she expressed ambivalence over Churchill’s removal.

“I personally do not care where portraits hang in Parliament – I care about what we do in this place,” she told reporters. “We’ve got a responsibility to look after New Zealanders in a massive crisis we’re facing.”

“Frankly, who hangs on the wall at the time we do it – I don’t care.”

How is it possible that Ardern “doesn’t care” about paying a very humble homage to a talented statesman who helped forge cooperation between New Zealand and Great Britain during World War II in their mutual effort to defeat Hitler? Churchill, in the face of a real existential crisis, demonstrated political acuity and aptitude and not a moment too late. Ardern, facing her own crisis that goes by the name of Covid, unfortunately cannot say the same.

Although her island nation of some 5 million inhabitants has recorded just 26 Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and under 3,000 confirmed infections, Ardern just announced that New Zealand will keep its borders closed to international travellers (with exceptions made for Google founder, Larry Page, of course) until the end of the year.

In February, after three new local COVID-19 cases were reported in Auckland, Ardern  ordered everyone to stay home except for essential shopping and essential work. In March, the entire country went into full lockdown for an entire month.  The message is clear: New Zealanders, much like other places where the simple pleasures in life – shopping, traveling, eating at a restaurant – are becoming severely hindred with the introduction of vaccine passports, will be forced to forever coordinate their life plans with that of a viral outbreak.

Is that the sort of action a leader cut from the same cloth as Winston Churchill would have advised under similar circumstances? It’s very difficult to imagine. Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident. As the trajectory of international politics moves from the national to the global, the very worst type of politician – weak, craven and more subservient to global institutions, like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and their warped ideologies – have been thrust into the spotlight.

These new and very underachieving ‘woke’ leaders, typified by the likes of US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are very poor substitutes for the leaders of yesterday who possessed the conviction, spirit and courage necessary for the success of Western democracy.

Although they had their flaws, is it very difficult to imagine, for example, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and ex-French President Jacques Chirac – two fiercely independent European leaders who, together with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, expressed their opposition to the US and UK invasion of Iraq in 2003 – opening up Europe’s borders to accommodate millions of illegal aliens. Yet that is exactly what Macron, the former Rothschild investment banker, and Merkel have succeeded in doing to Europe, where in the year 2015 alone over 1 million illegal migrants entered various European states for a taxpayer-subsidized lifestyle. That inexplicable decision has an American version now furiously underway on the US-Mexico border – during the peak of a pandemic, no less – thanks to the destructive policies put in place by the Biden administration.

At the same time, Brussels has committed itself to promoting the transgender ideology that first took root in the United States before spreading around the Western hemisphere. In fact, Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand has the dubious distinction of being home to the world’s first transgender Olympian. In the Tokyo Summer Games, Laurel Hubbard competed for New Zealand in the weightlifting event.

Now, the Eastern European nation of Hungary, which has just passed child protection laws similar to that of Russia’s that forbid sexual propaganda in kindergartens, schools, on television and in advertisements, faces severe sanctions from Brussels for daring to do the right thing. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who singlehandedly halted the flow of illegal migration into the continent with the construction of a border fence along the Serbian border, said he would let the Hungarian people decide on the issue in a referendum.

Hungarians will be asked whether they support the teaching of sexual themes in schools without parental consent, and whether they believe gender reassignment procedures, complete with puberty blockers, hormone drugs and radical surgeries, should be promoted among children.

Now that the global mainstream media largely supports open borders, transgender ideology, and every other leftist narrative (which, by the way, makes the question of premeditated collusion a viable one), the importance of strong and courageous leaders to stand up to the madness is of the utmost importance. Yet for every Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin, who seem to rule with the best interest of their people and nation at heart, there are one hundred venal and spineless leaders who would sell their country and people down the river for a song.

The reason for the removal of Winston Churchill’s portrait from the New Zealand Parliament had nothing to do with the shortcomings of the British statesman, and everything to do with the glaring deficiencies of today’s lackluster liberal leaders who could not bear to be reminded of their mediocrity every time they passed the picture of the great man in the hall.

Where Are the Strong Western Leaders of Yesteryear (Now That We Really Need Them)?

Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident.

The Western hemisphere is suffering from a dearth of political talent at a time when a wave of Cultural Marxist ideology is being forced on the people, already suffering under the physical and mental strain of a pandemic and its draconian response.

This month, New Zealand’s Green Party, which shares power with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling Labour Party, removed a portrait of Winston Churchill, the famed British statesman, from a public area in the Parliament House. It seems that the left-leaning lawmakers could not handle the daily reminder as to what a devoted leader of the people truly looks like. Thus they proceeded to do what the left does best, which is to play the deranged game of cancel culture with their own history.

The left-wing beef with the ‘British Bulldog’ is that he promoted imperialistic views, as well as hostility towards socialism, so apparently we’re supposed to forget that the British statesman helped to save the world from the scourge of Nazi Germany during World War II. Thus, without any democratic debate on the matter, Churchill’s visage was swiftly moved to a less conspicuous place lest anymore leftist sensitivities come under assault. In Churchill’s place the Greens said they will display “new art by a tangata whenua artist.”

What the asinine stunt by the New Zealand Leftists effectively demonstrates is the pathetic depths to which statesmanship has fallen. After all, are we not in the midst of a pandemic? With the fate of humanity on the line, how is it conceivable that the idea of removing the portrait of a dead white man – and not necessarily the most infamous in the rogue’s gallery – entered anybody’s head? What better way for these politicians to deflect attention away from their own questionable leadership skills than by dragging up the deficiencies of past statesmen?

As to be expected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern passed on a very good opportunity to take the steam out of the woke movement’s global inquisition as she expressed ambivalence over Churchill’s removal.

“I personally do not care where portraits hang in Parliament – I care about what we do in this place,” she told reporters. “We’ve got a responsibility to look after New Zealanders in a massive crisis we’re facing.”

“Frankly, who hangs on the wall at the time we do it – I don’t care.”

How is it possible that Ardern “doesn’t care” about paying a very humble homage to a talented statesman who helped forge cooperation between New Zealand and Great Britain during World War II in their mutual effort to defeat Hitler? Churchill, in the face of a real existential crisis, demonstrated political acuity and aptitude and not a moment too late. Ardern, facing her own crisis that goes by the name of Covid, unfortunately cannot say the same.

Although her island nation of some 5 million inhabitants has recorded just 26 Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and under 3,000 confirmed infections, Ardern just announced that New Zealand will keep its borders closed to international travellers (with exceptions made for Google founder, Larry Page, of course) until the end of the year.

In February, after three new local COVID-19 cases were reported in Auckland, Ardern  ordered everyone to stay home except for essential shopping and essential work. In March, the entire country went into full lockdown for an entire month.  The message is clear: New Zealanders, much like other places where the simple pleasures in life – shopping, traveling, eating at a restaurant – are becoming severely hindred with the introduction of vaccine passports, will be forced to forever coordinate their life plans with that of a viral outbreak.

Is that the sort of action a leader cut from the same cloth as Winston Churchill would have advised under similar circumstances? It’s very difficult to imagine. Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident. As the trajectory of international politics moves from the national to the global, the very worst type of politician – weak, craven and more subservient to global institutions, like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and their warped ideologies – have been thrust into the spotlight.

These new and very underachieving ‘woke’ leaders, typified by the likes of US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are very poor substitutes for the leaders of yesterday who possessed the conviction, spirit and courage necessary for the success of Western democracy.

Although they had their flaws, is it very difficult to imagine, for example, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and ex-French President Jacques Chirac – two fiercely independent European leaders who, together with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, expressed their opposition to the US and UK invasion of Iraq in 2003 – opening up Europe’s borders to accommodate millions of illegal aliens. Yet that is exactly what Macron, the former Rothschild investment banker, and Merkel have succeeded in doing to Europe, where in the year 2015 alone over 1 million illegal migrants entered various European states for a taxpayer-subsidized lifestyle. That inexplicable decision has an American version now furiously underway on the US-Mexico border – during the peak of a pandemic, no less – thanks to the destructive policies put in place by the Biden administration.

At the same time, Brussels has committed itself to promoting the transgender ideology that first took root in the United States before spreading around the Western hemisphere. In fact, Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand has the dubious distinction of being home to the world’s first transgender Olympian. In the Tokyo Summer Games, Laurel Hubbard competed for New Zealand in the weightlifting event.

Now, the Eastern European nation of Hungary, which has just passed child protection laws similar to that of Russia’s that forbid sexual propaganda in kindergartens, schools, on television and in advertisements, faces severe sanctions from Brussels for daring to do the right thing. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who singlehandedly halted the flow of illegal migration into the continent with the construction of a border fence along the Serbian border, said he would let the Hungarian people decide on the issue in a referendum.

Hungarians will be asked whether they support the teaching of sexual themes in schools without parental consent, and whether they believe gender reassignment procedures, complete with puberty blockers, hormone drugs and radical surgeries, should be promoted among children.

Now that the global mainstream media largely supports open borders, transgender ideology, and every other leftist narrative (which, by the way, makes the question of premeditated collusion a viable one), the importance of strong and courageous leaders to stand up to the madness is of the utmost importance. Yet for every Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin, who seem to rule with the best interest of their people and nation at heart, there are one hundred venal and spineless leaders who would sell their country and people down the river for a song.

The reason for the removal of Winston Churchill’s portrait from the New Zealand Parliament had nothing to do with the shortcomings of the British statesman, and everything to do with the glaring deficiencies of today’s lackluster liberal leaders who could not bear to be reminded of their mediocrity every time they passed the picture of the great man in the hall.

Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident.

The Western hemisphere is suffering from a dearth of political talent at a time when a wave of Cultural Marxist ideology is being forced on the people, already suffering under the physical and mental strain of a pandemic and its draconian response.

This month, New Zealand’s Green Party, which shares power with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling Labour Party, removed a portrait of Winston Churchill, the famed British statesman, from a public area in the Parliament House. It seems that the left-leaning lawmakers could not handle the daily reminder as to what a devoted leader of the people truly looks like. Thus they proceeded to do what the left does best, which is to play the deranged game of cancel culture with their own history.

The left-wing beef with the ‘British Bulldog’ is that he promoted imperialistic views, as well as hostility towards socialism, so apparently we’re supposed to forget that the British statesman helped to save the world from the scourge of Nazi Germany during World War II. Thus, without any democratic debate on the matter, Churchill’s visage was swiftly moved to a less conspicuous place lest anymore leftist sensitivities come under assault. In Churchill’s place the Greens said they will display “new art by a tangata whenua artist.”

What the asinine stunt by the New Zealand Leftists effectively demonstrates is the pathetic depths to which statesmanship has fallen. After all, are we not in the midst of a pandemic? With the fate of humanity on the line, how is it conceivable that the idea of removing the portrait of a dead white man – and not necessarily the most infamous in the rogue’s gallery – entered anybody’s head? What better way for these politicians to deflect attention away from their own questionable leadership skills than by dragging up the deficiencies of past statesmen?

As to be expected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern passed on a very good opportunity to take the steam out of the woke movement’s global inquisition as she expressed ambivalence over Churchill’s removal.

“I personally do not care where portraits hang in Parliament – I care about what we do in this place,” she told reporters. “We’ve got a responsibility to look after New Zealanders in a massive crisis we’re facing.”

“Frankly, who hangs on the wall at the time we do it – I don’t care.”

How is it possible that Ardern “doesn’t care” about paying a very humble homage to a talented statesman who helped forge cooperation between New Zealand and Great Britain during World War II in their mutual effort to defeat Hitler? Churchill, in the face of a real existential crisis, demonstrated political acuity and aptitude and not a moment too late. Ardern, facing her own crisis that goes by the name of Covid, unfortunately cannot say the same.

Although her island nation of some 5 million inhabitants has recorded just 26 Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and under 3,000 confirmed infections, Ardern just announced that New Zealand will keep its borders closed to international travellers (with exceptions made for Google founder, Larry Page, of course) until the end of the year.

In February, after three new local COVID-19 cases were reported in Auckland, Ardern  ordered everyone to stay home except for essential shopping and essential work. In March, the entire country went into full lockdown for an entire month.  The message is clear: New Zealanders, much like other places where the simple pleasures in life – shopping, traveling, eating at a restaurant – are becoming severely hindred with the introduction of vaccine passports, will be forced to forever coordinate their life plans with that of a viral outbreak.

Is that the sort of action a leader cut from the same cloth as Winston Churchill would have advised under similar circumstances? It’s very difficult to imagine. Regrettably, the truly great Western leaders of the type that once dominated the world stage are gone, and it seems that that is no accident. As the trajectory of international politics moves from the national to the global, the very worst type of politician – weak, craven and more subservient to global institutions, like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and their warped ideologies – have been thrust into the spotlight.

These new and very underachieving ‘woke’ leaders, typified by the likes of US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are very poor substitutes for the leaders of yesterday who possessed the conviction, spirit and courage necessary for the success of Western democracy.

Although they had their flaws, is it very difficult to imagine, for example, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and ex-French President Jacques Chirac – two fiercely independent European leaders who, together with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, expressed their opposition to the US and UK invasion of Iraq in 2003 – opening up Europe’s borders to accommodate millions of illegal aliens. Yet that is exactly what Macron, the former Rothschild investment banker, and Merkel have succeeded in doing to Europe, where in the year 2015 alone over 1 million illegal migrants entered various European states for a taxpayer-subsidized lifestyle. That inexplicable decision has an American version now furiously underway on the US-Mexico border – during the peak of a pandemic, no less – thanks to the destructive policies put in place by the Biden administration.

At the same time, Brussels has committed itself to promoting the transgender ideology that first took root in the United States before spreading around the Western hemisphere. In fact, Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand has the dubious distinction of being home to the world’s first transgender Olympian. In the Tokyo Summer Games, Laurel Hubbard competed for New Zealand in the weightlifting event.

Now, the Eastern European nation of Hungary, which has just passed child protection laws similar to that of Russia’s that forbid sexual propaganda in kindergartens, schools, on television and in advertisements, faces severe sanctions from Brussels for daring to do the right thing. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who singlehandedly halted the flow of illegal migration into the continent with the construction of a border fence along the Serbian border, said he would let the Hungarian people decide on the issue in a referendum.

Hungarians will be asked whether they support the teaching of sexual themes in schools without parental consent, and whether they believe gender reassignment procedures, complete with puberty blockers, hormone drugs and radical surgeries, should be promoted among children.

Now that the global mainstream media largely supports open borders, transgender ideology, and every other leftist narrative (which, by the way, makes the question of premeditated collusion a viable one), the importance of strong and courageous leaders to stand up to the madness is of the utmost importance. Yet for every Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin, who seem to rule with the best interest of their people and nation at heart, there are one hundred venal and spineless leaders who would sell their country and people down the river for a song.

The reason for the removal of Winston Churchill’s portrait from the New Zealand Parliament had nothing to do with the shortcomings of the British statesman, and everything to do with the glaring deficiencies of today’s lackluster liberal leaders who could not bear to be reminded of their mediocrity every time they passed the picture of the great man in the hall.

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

See also

See also

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.