MAYOR ANDY FOSTERâS surprise attack on local democracy in Wellington left half his Council feeling dazed and confused â as intended. The authoritarian flourish of getting all those around the council table to indicate their support for his âreviewâ, by rising to their feet, was creepy in the extreme. Nothing could have demonstrated more clearly the cult-like quality of neoliberalismâs faith in âgovernanceâ. This latest example of the quite conscious delegitimization, and sinister re-framing, of spirited political opposition and debate as irresponsible, immature and âdysfunctionalâ shows how very far from the processes of freedom and democracy New Zealandâs neoliberal political class, and their bureaucratic enablers, are determined to take us.