The Battle is over. The War is won. We surrendered.

New Zealand is grumbling. It is grumbling about a health crisis, a cost of living crisis - the cost of fuel, food, shelter have all risen beyond what kiwis can muster from their meagre pay packets. And New Zealand is grumbling about it.

We grumble on Twitter, and we grumble on Facebook. We post memes and tweets about the state of the nation, our technocratic Prime Minister, and the brutal Police army that she controls. We grumble about the National Party and the Labour Party, and their new-found coalition against New Zealanders.

And yet, we are still remarkably quiet on the subject that matters.

I confess to viewing the state of New Zealand right now with great sadness. I confess to viewing New Zealanders tacit approval of their situation with growing disgust. It was not Us who won this war. It was Them.

Like many other kiwis I watched good, hard-working, freedom-loving kiwis get bashed and brutalised by Police at Wellington's Camp Freedom on Black Wednesday with shock and horror. But once the shock wore off, the anger began to capitalise deep in the core of my being. How dare they do this to New Zealanders? How dare they ignore our pain and desperation? They don't deserve to be in the position they are if they are not prepared to represent us.

It seems to me that after everything our people in Wellington went through, we have slipped back into the routine of apathy and submission with incredible speed. Its like we have retreated to the caves because at least it feels like home. We got beat up, so we slunk away and decided that we would not do that again.

Voices for Freedom went back to being voices without challenge, the Freedoms & Rights Coalition turned back to God in the hope that somehow He would step in and save us from tyranny (fat chance!), the CONVOY crowd have retreated to post speculative and ever more ludicrous conspiracy theories about Clarke Gayford, and NZDSOS are simply nowhere to be seen. Groundswell was right not to get involved or they too would have to be added to the list of groups who were clamouring for the limelight when there was a chant of "Peace and Love" but slinking off into the background when the battle was lost.

Once, they were warriors. Now, having been beaten black and blue by Police batons and shields, the people have lost their appetite for battle. They've lost the will to fight. Still happy to wander the streets like lost orphans with placards, sure - but we all know that having lost Wellington those placards are a symbol of an almighty loss not a powerful challenge.

Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern strengthens her position. Striding over the reclaimed Grounds at Parliament House, she and her Speaker take advantage of the vacuum that the so-called leaders of the revolution have left behind. She gains ground because it is handed to her without protest, and without a fight.

The cost of living, the inability to find stable housing or feed our families, the denial of the right to work, the creation of the underclass - all of that is a symptom of a much larger problem. The current political system, and the current political leaders are the problem. Our refusal to fight to the death if need be for our freedom from it is part of that problem. All else is downstream.

When, in the entire history of our tiny nation, did kiwis ever surrender after getting a bloody nose?  

This is surely not us, New Zealand.