Trevor Loudon

Trevor Loudon is a New Zealand political activist who was vice president of the ACT New Zealand Party from 2006 to 2008.cite web| title = ACT Board Election Results | work = ACT New Zealand | url = http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0603/S00436.htm | date = 2006-05-27] He has been involved in right-wing politics in Christchurch for many years, most notably the Campaign for a Soviet Free New Zealand [New Zealand and the Soviet Union 1950-1991: A Brittle Relationship. A. C. Wilson. Wellington: Victoria University Press and the New Zealand Institute for International Affairs, 2004.] a group which published dossiers on people involved in the nuclear-free movement, declaring them to be communists and "connecting the dots" between them and their supposed Soviet masters.cite web | title = Taxpayers pay $1m for spies' sarcasm | Work = The Sunday Star Times | url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4584266a6442.html | date = 2008-06-15] He is also a student of Zenith Applied Philosophy (a New Zealand breakaway sect of Scientology).

He describes himself as " [Believing] in freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. My ideal society is one in which government is slashed to the bone and people are free to reach their potential." In addition to his libertarian economic views he is strongly anti-communist, in a 2006 post to his blog (see below) he stated "Socialism, is in short a manifestation of mental illness or major character deficiency." [cite web | title = Are Socialists Psychos? | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2006/12/are-socialists-psychos.html | date = 2006-12-12] he has also stated a belief that communists are responsible for "supplying much of the world's illegal drugs," although he supports drug legalisation (while being personally against drug use)cite web | title = Drug Freeland Part 1 | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2006/12/drug-freeland-part-1.html | date = 2006-12-19]

New Zeal

Prior to March 2008 [cite web | title = Great Week for Freedom, But Signing Off For a While | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-week-for-freedom-but-signing-off.html | date = 2008-03-22] he maintained a sometimes controversial blog entitled "New Zeal". Many of his posts were exhaustive investigations into the former political careers of political opponents whom he sees as "menace [s] to liberty". Favourite subjects for attack are Green Party co-leader Russel Normancite web | title = Was the Green's "Mr Clean", a Marxist-Leninist? | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2006/01/was-greens-mr-clean-marxist-leninist_31.html | date = 2006-01-31] and MP Keith Locke, as well as academics he views as left-wing, posts about whom are titled "Socialist Academic Profile". (S.A.P.) [cite web | title = S.A.P. Number 8, Brian Roper | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2006/07/sap-number-8-brian-roper.html | date = 2006-07-14]
Posts on members of the Save Happy Valley Coalition were cited in a report from Thompson and Clark, a private investigator firm which has spied on the environmental group.
A series of posts he wrote on US presidential candidate Barack Obama [cite web | title = Obama-file 20 Young Communist League Backs Barack Obama-Again | work = New Zeal | url = http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-file-20-young-communist-league.html | date = 2008-02-29] attracted the attention of the conservative US based Accuracy in Media organisation, who brought Loudon's allegations of Obama's communist connections to a wider audience. [cite web | title = Obama’s Communist Mentor | work = Accuracy in Media | url = http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/ | date = 2008-02-18] Loudons allegations even received coverage in "The Washington Post", though the columnist stated that "The charges [against Obama] ranged from the absurd to the merely questionable". [cite web | title = Obama as You've Never Known Him! | work = The Washington Post | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203905.html | date = 2008-05-23]

Controversy

Loudon sparked some controversy when in December 2005 his blog featured a post titled "Himmler and Benson-Pope; Spot the Difference?" comparing Labour Cabinet Minister David Benson-Pope to Heinrich Himmler. A spokesman for Benson-Pope said that the joke was in bad taste, stating that "Mr Loudon is clearly a failed stand-up comedian with bad taste and poor judgement and he's perfectly suited as office holder of the ACT Party." Loudon claimed that the post had been a joke that "went around the Internet. Quite a few people posted that." cite web | title = ACT vice-president defends blog comments | work = Stuff.co.nz | url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3622794a6160,00.html | date = 2006-04-01]

External links

* [http://newzeal.blogspot.com New Zeal]
* [http://anarchia.wordpress.com/2006/05/24/trevor-loudon-once-a-nutter-always-a-nutter/ Trevor Loudon] - Once a nutter, always a nutter
* [http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/45086/index.php The Act Vice President and the Fascists]
* [http://blog.greens.org.nz/index.php/2006/02/02/truly-tiresome-trev/ Truly tiresome Trev]

Notes and references