Values
These are the things I believe and teach my children
All people deserve respect, at least until they demonstrate that they don’t. Similarly, I expect respect in return. I don’t care what faith, if any, you profess, what colour or ethnicity you are, what your political beliefs are, how you identify socially. All of these things are your business and none of mine.
In the same vein, what you do on your own property is your business and not mine or that of governments’, as long as it does not directly harm others.
If you are an adult that I am meeting for the first time and I don’t know your name, I will address you with Ma’am or Sir. If you prefer another form of address, I’m fine with that, too.
I say please and thank you a lot as I believe that the health of civil society is based on how we interact as people.
Absolutely everyone knows something I don’t know and for this reason I can learn something from anybody.
Your word is your bond; do what you say you will do.
I believe in parental rights and that the role of parents is to raise and guide their children to be good human beings until the age of majority, whatever that age is.
I do not believe that it is the role of any government to dictate how children are raised or to specify particular social values that are “acceptable”.
I believe in human autonomy generally and specifically as written in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This includes freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of bodily autonomy, freedom of association and more.
I believe in “bottom-up” democracy where the people have a clear and dominant role in choosing how society is governed. This is the difference between delegated and assumed authority: The latter seems to be the operating model of the current CVRD. In part, I am running for Director to return the people of the Cowichan Valley to delegated authority by their elected officials.
My focus, socially (and politically), begins with my family, my community, then moves to my region, the province and finally nationally. I believe that most of what I can do effectively lies in the first three of these. Indeed, it is these three that will provide the greatest assistance to any of us in times of trouble or emergency.
These are the core values that I believe and that I will expand on in future posts. Those who disagree with these views may well vote for a director who also disagrees. Those who share my values now have a choice.
As always, comments welcome.
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