Re: Fighting the good fight for 17 years, News, May 4, 2011.
In evaluating politicians, hard work and independence are not nearly all that is necessary.
For example, while former Esqimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin bravely spoke against the irrational environmentalist push to treat sewage, he suggested that poverty was to blame for the attacks of September 11, 2001 that were organized by educated rich people.
He worked to ban land mines when the effective approach is to eliminate evil people who will always get weapons regardless of bans, often inventing them for local production as al-Qaida does.
Certainly the insistence on adherence to party group-think is bad, though I don’t see how things could have been better with bully Jean Chrétien than Stephen Harper. The craziness of the Liberal party almost cost Keith Martin his seat and was a major part of the nastiness he says motivated him to retire as MP.
Similarly Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders works hard but is all over the map in apparent beliefs. His pushiness about taxing the former gravel pit and SD 62’s property, and his irrationalism over radio towers, indicate he lacks a sound belief system for human life.
The “good fight” would be solidly supporting what is proven throughout history to feed, shelter and foster humans — individual freedom supported by justice and defense.
None of the candidates for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca in the recent federal election measure up to that standard. The root cause of that failure is voters’ inability to understand freedom and their unwillingness to support development of sound candidates.
Keith Sketchley
Saanich