Things I like about NZ, Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, my new friend (and colleague, and Head of Programme), Stuart, asked me what I so far think is clearly far and away better about N.Z. than what the U.S. has to offer. I had a hard time answering him. I mean, there are better things here, for sure. It's gorgeous, most obviously. If you could quantify natural beauty in aesthetic points, surely NZ would have more aesthetic points per square mile than most places on earth. And Wellington is no exception. In many ways, it's more beautiful than the very, very attractive US cities, such as Seattle, Portland, SF, or San Diego (and I'd add LA, but many don't appreciate its beauty, because they hang out in the wrong places). And it undoubtedly beats all those cities in terms of combined points for beauty, safety, accessibility, food, bars, etc. (though as far as I can tell it seriously lags in terms of music). But it's not clearly far and away better (CFAAB henceforth). Wellington doesn't have the mountain views of Portland or Seattle, or the sunshine of California.

So after struggling to find something that's CFAAB, I hit upon one item: progressive politics. It's especially nice being in such a progressive place when the U.S. is going into a moral tailspin. And you get real used to it, real quick. I shudder when I read things like good ole Bill Frist (R-Tenn.!) advocating teaching intelligent design. Here are some progressive things about NZ I particularly like, though there are many others (such as universal health care, strong environmentalism, etc.):

• No religious right. Well, I assume it's out there, but it's simply not on the political map. There's a fiscal right--hopefully Labour will beat back all of their tax-hating, debt-loving opponents in the upcoming election. But there's no cultural right. When they decided the other day that "values" should be taught in the schools, they meant "respect," "friendship," and "honesty" (literally--that's official policy), not "God is better than any secular morality." It's so refreshing to not have to listen to constant blather about Family Values, the need to have God in every domain of public life, and the idea of Intelligent Design. Those kinds of falsehood simply gain no purchase here, as far as I can tell. And that, no doubt, is partly due to the fact that...

• Religion itself is fairly unimportant. You never hear about it at all. At all. I know some people go to church, but they're few and far between. There was a study reported in today's paper about how no kids here know anything about Christianity anymore (and NZ, more than the US, is a British, Christian nation). Some gems:

• "Most [Kiwi kids] did not even realise that the Easter and Christmas stories can be found in the Bible"
• "When asked what single thing they found difficult about the Bible, a Year 6 pupil said: 'To sit there for hours reading its thin pages trying not to rip them.'"
• And this, no doubt, is partly responsible for the fact that...

• Marriage is fairly unimportant. I have a hard time figuring out why I like this, but I do. (It's not conceptually based on ownership of another person, even if that's the historical origin.) As far as I can tell, many, many Kiwis simply partner up and never get married. They have kids, they share lives, etc., but no formal marriage. The state recognizes common law marriage after two years of consecutive cohabitation, so if you ever lived with someone for two years, you'd own half their stuff and they'd own half yours. (Does that mean I should get Julie's Domino every other weekend?) So everything's set up so that formal marriage is, well, irrelevant, I guess.

Progressive Politics: CFAAB.