Principles and Politics

What’s the best way to bring up a child?
 
Give them lots of rules and regulations telling them what they should and shouldn’t do?
 
Or is it better to help them reach a set of core principles which will help guide them through life and which are adaptable to most situations?
 
Some people might recognise these as Christian values, although all of the guiding principles of that religion were lifted from Jewish law and tradition, and most of us regard them as the values of our society and no longer tied to any denomination or religion.
 
Principles are useful things exactly because they are adaptable to any situation. 

The latest UK government seems powerless to amend their own laws to stop (currently) legal tax avoidance and so has fallen back on principles and lambaste the “offenders” as morally wrong. Isn’t it strange to be lectured on principles by the morally bankrupt who would say or do anything for a vote?
 
Locally we would hope that our own politicians still retain a moral code and remain willing to follow their principles regardless of popularity.
 
Take openness and transparency, something that all of our candidates pre last election seemed to be in favour of. Is that still the case?
 
One such person, seemingly then in favour of these principles, recently suggested that confidentiality was essential as nobody could have a meaningful and open discussion if they felt it might later be published.
 
At the time I read this it seemed to make sense. After all, I’ve been known to float the odd outrageous or stupid idea only to be convinced otherwise through discussion.
 
But let’s examine that statement again.
 
Nobody would want to be open in a discussion if they felt their comments might later be published.
 
But if what you are saying evolves through the principles you believe in, why wouldn’t you want to stand by those remarks?
 
I see there being two problems here.
 
The first is that an unpopular opinion might lose you votes so that you may not be re-elected.
 
Is this the sort of politician we want? Someone who is swayed by the wind of popularity or what they think others might think of them both now and come election time?
 
Why was Mrs Thatcher popular enough in the UK to get elected three times in a row as Prime Minister? Because she was a woman of principle. You might not like it or agree with what she said but you knew exactly what she believed.
 
Tony Blair changed all of that. You can’t do anything if you don’t have power became the new mantra and policies let alone principles took second place. No wonder the UK is completely disillusioned with their political representatives.
 
The second problem for Guernsey politicians regarding openness is that our local print press seems to prefer sensationalism to accuracy, and has been known to quote out of context or to cherry pick to support a viewpoint. Quite when we started to want our newspapers to have a viewpoint is beyond me. I thought they were there to factually report on the news and allow us to make up our own minds but perhaps I’m living in the past.
 
Nevertheless, and speaking as a currently apathetic non-voter who refuses to vote for donkeys I would go out of my way to try and elect anyone who stood on well defined and articulated principles and who then stood by them. I’d be even more delighted if we had a civil service which did the same and actually practised accountability when breaking their own principles.
 
But, as I said, I guess I’m living in the past.