From practically the first day that COVID appeared, New Zealand's government was on the front line of totalitarianism in terms of trying to keep the virus off its shores. The country's lockdown was total. With every fanatic rule, it was hard to imagine the government topping itself. And yet that's exactly what the government is doing. The newest initiative is to fine people for refusing COVID tests—and, if they ignore the fine, destroying them financially and imprisoning them in fortress New Zealand.

Beginning in March 2020, New Zealand closed its borders to the world and put the country (and its economy) in almost complete lockdown, with only occasional intermittent breaks from these national prison conditions — and of course, the government-mandated vaccine passports, which are effectively vaccine mandates for those who wish to function in the country.

The latest initiative is, apparently, enforced COVID testing.  Libs of TikTok tweeted out a Notice someone received for "COVID-19 Testing Non Compliance."  The fine is NZD 330, which is USD 220.  If the person fails to pay the fine, another NZD 102 (USD 68) gets added to the fine.

But wait!  There's more!

That additional $102 fee seems to be intended to cover the costs of the more serious consequences for non-payment of the fine (and, presumably, the continued refusal to have that swab stuck up your nose):

It is important that you contact us. If you don’t pay or arrange payment the Court can:

• Issue a warrant for your arrest
• Suspend your driver’s license
• Seize and sell your property, or take money from your income or bank account
• Report your overdue fine as part of your credit reference check – meaning you may or may not be able to get a loan, credit card, or hire purchase
• Restrict your ability to sell your property
• Stop you from travelling overseas

From Ministry of Health website pic.twitter.com/ADLUEhsekv

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 16, 2022

As a reminder, this is not for driving drunk or strong-arm robbery or assault.  This is for refusing to get tested for COVID.

What's lost in all this is that, for healthy people, COVID has a less than 1% mortality rate.  Moreover, there are treatments.

The same governments that are stretching their wings with increasingly totalitarian edicts are also making sure that people have no access to cheap, efficacious treatments that, if given sufficiently early in the process of the virus, usually mean that people recover without complications.  Instead, they deny treatment until people are in extremis, at which point they stick them in hospitals; give them toxic Remdesivir; and, then, when patients die, say the equivalent of "We told you it was dangerous.  Now shut up and hand over your liberties."

We the People thought we lived in free countries.  It turns out that we don't.  The situation is especially bad in countries that saw left-of-center citizens willingly give their weapons to their governments, smugly assuring themselves that they were proving themselves infinitely better than those violent Americans.  Their governments do not fear them.  They are discovering the truth of what John Basil Barnhill said in 1914: "Where the people fear the government, you have tyranny.  Where the government fears the people, you have liberty."

Image: Notice of Fine.  Twitter screen grab.