What my faith and my politics have to do with each other

Some of you might be wondering about the link on my right side bar.

In Canada we are currently in the midst of general wrangling about a possible federal election, which looks a lot less likely now, and just finished a by-election here in Alberta.

In the British parliamentary system when an MLA vacates their seat for any reason we must have a new election called within six months for the seat.  The provincial government announced the last one on September 14.   For reasons I am not sure about most elections in Canada happen on a Monday, so the vote was set for then.

Well to the surprise of most the Wildrose Alliance Party (a centre-right party) won the by-election.  In fact my old boss Paul Hinman was the winner.    I like Paul, we did work well for a couple of years together and so I am happy for him but more happy for the party.

I have often worked in politics under various different hats and have been involved with parties both federally and at the provincial level.   I have voted for just about every party at least once.

My first real experience came working for the Reform Party of Canada (different from the Ross Perot version) as a executive on the constituency board and as the president of the local campus club.   Through that affiliation I ended up on the National youth board and helped create the first youth website.

Then in 1996 I met the leader of the Social Credit party of Alberta.  This man seemed fairly rational and he seemed to want my help running things in Southern Alberta for the coming election in the spring of 1997.   So I cobbled together a couple of campaigns and we did reasonably well even though we knew very little.

In the years after I was caught up in work and moving overseas and did not have much to do with politics.  However, on my return to Alberta in 2002 I found a forum of people from Canada who talked about conservative ideals in a way I did.  They were interesting people and I met a number of good ones at http://www.freedominion.ca.

Through that affiliation I started up a website to feature good conservative Canadian writers, it was a blog before they were cool.  In the end I could not keep it up as I was working as a writer for a newspaper so I had little time for writing other documents.

Because of this paper I was introduced to Paul Hinman who ran for the Alberta Alliance.  With his affiliation with a friend of mine we struck up a pretty quick friendship.  During his campaign I cheered him quietly.   When he won I was there, covering the main event at their campaign headquarters.  It was a shocking upset in 2004.

After he asked me to work for him in Edmonton I found myself more and more caught up in the politics of the day and meeting a number of different people.  Because of him I was able to see Queen Elizabeth as she reviewed the Legislature staff in 2005.  It was a pretty interesting experience to meet a head of state and think, wow is she short.  I also got to meet our current Prime Minister and our provincial Premier ignored me on an elevator (his security guard was nice however).

As time grew on and we tired of one another we parted ways.   I look back on those days and reflect on how much they mean to me now that I am on the outside of the situation.   Out of the experience I felt a disconnect with everything and I was burned out.  Thankfully a City Councilor here in Edmonton gave me a job as her research assistant and in that position I came to understand the difficulties of being in a municipal government.

This summer I came to know Danielle Smith, she is running for the leadership of the Wildrose Party.  She is someone I had met before but did not really know.  We often ran in similar circles during our younger days but never really met.  She is telegenic, smart and a good leader.  I respect her and expect her to win.   So I have worked to help her where I can.

So what has this got to do with my faith you might wonder about now.

Well thanks to my beliefs I have come to understand the nuances of politics.  Because of my faith I am more moderate than extreme.  I care about the poor downtrodden as much as I do about business.  I know that helping people is more than platitudes and fluff.   Also it has given me the ability to examine other sides a lot better over time.

Now this does not mean I am not willing to mix it up or weak willed with my principles but it does mean that I do not look at all politicians in one party and say they are evil and you cannot trust any of them.   Some are good people through and through and should be worth knowing.

My faith has also taught me that politics is not more important than my family.  For me my family is more important than almost anything.  My relationship with them is an eternal one so it makes sense to make it as good as I can.

My faith also teaches me that we are expected as Saints to participate in the political process.  It is important that we both respect and sustain the law.   So I have come to appreciate how much that means to me.

Also let me remind you of one quote from our Prophet and founder Joseph Smith to keep in mind:

… let the people of the whole Union, like the inflexible Romans, whenever they find a promise made by a candidate that is not practiced as an officer, hurl the miserable sycophant from his exaltation.