CalgaryLiberal

We don’t trust judges so we put in place mandatory minimums.

We don’t trust pardon boards so we go to the 11th hour to deny a pardon to someone who likely wouldn’t have gotten one anyway.

We don’t trust politicians so we demand that they spend more time accounting their endeavors than governing.

We don’t trust politicians so we pull them in front of tribunals, commissions, and everything else.

The governing party doesn’t trust Canadians so they lock them away for a narcotic that is less addictive and less harmful than cigarettes.

The governing party doesn’t trust Canadians so they put more and more legislation limiting their rights.

Gerrymandering is a mainstay of politicians and bureaucrats unwilling to trust the people.

The governing party doesn’t trust Canadians to make the right choice on their television choices so they subsidize an ideological channel.

The governing party doesn’t trust bureaucrats, Canadians, or its own politicians so it churns out MEPs (Message Event Proposals) to shut down any changes, any accountability, or any semblance of openness.

The governing party doesn’t trust reporters and Canadians so they shut down freedom of information requests.

There is a low estimate of the human spirit and of humanity in Ottawa. The Liberals over the last few months call it the “Culture of Deceit” and the “Cult of Fear”. The NDP say it’s the same old politics by the same old people. The Conservative continue on with their triumphalist pandering. The same can be said of Edmonton.

But where’s the trust?

The Conservatives have always spoken about local government in their past elections, but they’ve done the opposite. The NDP want equality for all, but their rhetoric has turned to political pandering and, in all seriousness, they have undermined every position they’ve ever taken with Jack Layton’s leadership. There’s no trust there by Canadians for these guys.

There’s no trust for judges, for people, for politicians, or for neighbors.

This is broken. This is wrong.

We need to trust. Although trust will be abused, it will be challenged, and it will be sometimes irrevocably destroyed, we need to trust. We need to trust people to make the right decision most  of the time and live accordingly.

In the field of law this would be realizing that we shouldn’t persecute based on punishment but on righting the wrongs of the abused trust we put into people. Allow for the expectation that we are our brother’s keeper, that we are supposed to protect one another, and that society expects that we be kind to one another. And when this trust is abused? Seek to heal the broken trust and make right what was wronged. Have the criminal re-earn the trust that he or she has broken.

Allow for pardons. Allow for pleas. Allow for justice not based on arbitrary feel good rules and mandatory minimums. And recognize that justice is not formed on the basis of writing laws against specific groups or specific individuals but the considerations of how such laws would protect and serve the entirety of the nation.

In gaming and in entertainment this means not punishing loyal customers who chose to play their paid for media on all their tools, whatever they may be. Allow for the expectation that people will not abuse what they treasure–but at the same time coming down hard on those who notoriously abuse this trust, like mass pirates or bootleggers.

In politics it’s to assume that people are doing good or trying to do good–and expecting that politicians, of whatever stripe or creed, should be held to a standard above that of what they now currently wallow in.

And when politicians break that trust? Have them re-earn it. Force them into an election, test their mettle, and make them decide whether or not they are worthy of Canadians’ trust.

Allow for reasonableness. Allow for common sense (the little of it we have). Allow for leeway and judgment. That’s trust. And we need more of it. We are shutting down our humanity otherwise.

The expectation of trust, of reasonableness, and of good judgment is a harrowing thing, too. To feel that trust is both at the same time rewarding as it is a frightening experience–something that tends to overwhelm the few that have rarely been touched by it. It binds people together, it brings peace to the hearts of many, and reinforces upon itself over time… while, at the same time, the pressure of feeling trusted can bring out the best in people.

If at every turn some is expected to steal, and is acted against; is expected to kill, and is acted against; is expected to lie, and is acted against; and is expected to cheat, and is acted against, we reinforce a terrible, terrible crime on peoples’ minds.  Where we expect terrible acts people assume it’s a common occurrence and that it is the norm. It isn’t.

Humanity is good.

It should be treated as such, and by that treatment and expectation we’ll engender something better. Let’s ditch the culture of deceit.

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