Thoughtful article Kirk Swearingen.

When I moved to the U.S. from New Zealand, more than forty years ago, something stood out to me. I couldn't understand it. The popular admiration of John Gotti, "The Dapper Don". Every which way I viewed him he was a thug who bullied and took money that was not his. He deserved the anthisis of admiration.

Perhaps it was because I had no experience of such a person in prim little New Zealand. Actually the country although small is not prim at all. But I think no one needed the shelter of a John Gotti because we had confidence in the systems in place to assure security, health, education and persue what we wanted to.

Incidentally (but not) that confidence in systems contributed to the low total tally of COVID deaths in New Zealand being just 27.

Many thanks