Liberal - JFK

If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties - someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad if that is what they mean by a "liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

Bill Bryson, American writer living in England wrote "Notes from a Small Island'

What is striking to Bryson as he rambles about the island is how deep, how old and how varied the country is. "That is its glory, you see - that it manages at once to be intimate and small scale, and at the same time packed to bursting with incident and interest. I am constantly filled with admiration at this - at the way you can wander through a town like Oxford and in the space of a few hundred yards pass the home of Chrostopher Wren, the buildings where Hailey found his comet and Boyle his first law, the track where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, the meadow where Lewis Carroll strolled; or how you can stand on Snow's HIll at Windsor and see, in a single sweep, Windsor Castle, the playing fields of Eton, the churchyard where Gray wrote his Elegy, the site where the Merry Wives of Windsor was first performed. Can there anywhere on earth be, in such a modest span, a landscape more packed with centuries of busy, productive attainment?"

JFK

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

Trying to find a name that will lend to an easy search is difficult.

Test

It is time that the government

stopped dictating and began representing. Far too often we discover that new laws have been implemented without any direction from the citizens. Unfortunately, the only time it seems to be an issue is when the new law impacts the individual. Every time I turn around the government decides that as a body it deems itself supreme with regards to what is best for its citizens. Let the citizens decide! Go back to your office and deal with the bigger issues that plague the nation: democracy, poverty, health care, education, security and peace. Let the rest of us enjoy the luxury of deciding what we as individuals believe is best for us. Provide services and let it be!

Dr. Adrian Rogers - You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for.... that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Where will it end?

"Health conscious standards proposed for new vendors in Vancouver." So here we go: as it is the Municipal Government of Vancouver has decided that it is not healthy to purchase or consume fish and chips or hot dogs from street vendors without a serving of fruit or vegetables. I find this to be rather pompous given the fact that strict guidelines have not been implemented to ensure that the homeless are adhering to their Master Plan. Moreover, what about the families who opt to buy a box of kraft dinner to feed their children rather than a bag of apples because it is all they can afford. Despite the issue of affordability life is about choices and the way it seems to be is that choice is being taken away from us in the name of consciousness. Who gave these elected officials the right to dictate and mandate what is best? This is not why they were elected? WE are NOT electing politicians to dictate what we should ingest? The decision to dictate, monitor and create policy is something for us, the citizens of this country to decide. How is it that a dozen individuals determine our fate? Andrea Remier sees nothing wrong with the city acting as "Big Mother"!
DEMOCRACY IS PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION. IF THIS IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT THEN LET THEM DECIDE!
I live in Burnaby and quite frankly Andrea I have an issue with the city acting as Big Mother. When you take on the role of mother you are opening yourself up to issues of accountability. Is that what you want because currently we are NOT equipped with the tools necessary to heal the world all we can do is look after ourselves in the best way we can; we provide care and nurturing to the best of our ability to our children and our family. In a perfect world hopefully we will be able to help others along the way but with legislation dictating to small businesses what they can or cannot sell is unconstitutional we fought for democracy and every time I turn around there is another rule that must be adhered which is apparently a rule to better my life. We don't need your guidance. Stick to issues that matters; try to resolve the issues that have plagued society from the beginning; try to unravel the mystery surrounding human nature and behaviour; cure the world of poverty and I am certain that you will be awarded the Pulitizer Prize. Do the job you are paid to do but leave individuals alone to make decisions in their lives because you see it is their life not yours: leave us alone. We don't need your high-principled dictatorship we are all capable of deciding for ourselves. Who are you to decide what is best. We all know that too much of anything isn't good for us but here is a little surprise for you: we are all going to die, guaranteed, but along the way we hope to find joy in the little things and sometimes their is immense joy in enjoying a hot dog or fish and chips but that does not imply that we don't eat fruit and vegetables at other times during the day. Even if all we ever do is consume what you deem to be unhealthy what is it to you? Does it matter to you if my arteries thicken with plague because when they do I have paid over $500,000 in the last decade in taxes which I believe should cover a visit to the doctor. Leave us alone. Look after yourself and your family by investing time in them; be kind to yourself and to others in interim remember to get off your high horse and realize that we are all capable of making choices we don't need you to advice us; I have a mother as do my children.

Micromanagement

Yesterday, I heard on the news: it is illegal to use a tanning booth for those under the age of 18 in Victoria, BC. I would have to explore this further but the fact that government would take the time to legislate an issue so insignificant in the bigger scheme of things is beyond my comprehension. How is it that the state has decided to micromanage individuals when we fail society on other levels. I am certain that a homeless child is not concerned whether they should be using a tanning bed when all they really want is a bed! It is matter such as these that lead me to have little, if any, faith in those that we have elected.

CONTEMPLATION

This is a perfect place to examine the state of the world sitting on rock on a beach hoping my husband won't snap a photograph. He did! How fortunate we are to live in a country where we have the freedom to make choices! We have the freedom to question legislation; we have the luxury to eat what we want; we have the luxury to be fat; we have access to democracy yet fail to exercise our right to vote. We have the freedom to be complacent without contempt or criticism. Yet somehow how we have overlooked our freedom and to a large degree we have taken it for granted. It is our duty as citizens to ensure that government remains accountable and responsible.....

Energy & the Environment

Liberal

A simple definition: favouring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform.

This is just the beginning of where I hope to go with this blog. It is my intention to expand the "Liberal" support in Canada. In the beginning there may be a few gaps in reason and logic as I explore this template but as this format evolves the goal is to present a forum for contemplation, conversation, criticism and change.