“In any thriving democracy, sound public policy can only come through informed debate and discussion.”
The reason for writing The Sir Robert Bond Papers remains today as it was five years ago when the first post appeared: to support informed discussion of issues that are important in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The reason remains because the need remains.
In the wake of political scandals and in an atmosphere of sometimes intense political thuggery, too many people of conscience have abandoned public life in our province. They have turned their backs on politics.
What’s worse, thoughtful people have turned away from talking seriously in their day-to-day lives about our province and its people and their future.
“Sound public policy” comes across as a really high-brow pile of words. Simple put, it is about choices. Politics is really about picking between different views, different goals, different ways and different ideas.
In order to make choices people need to know what choices there are. So Bond Papers provides a point of view that you just don’t find in many other places, if at all. Offering another point of view has become, of necessity, the second reason for writing.
So much of what does get talked about these days in Newfoundland and Labrador is based on false information. No one can make a sensible choice based on myth and fantasy. And that has become, again of necessity, the third reason for writing: Bond Papers is a source of accurate information.
All those links are there for a reason. They take you back to where the information came from in the first place. They also take you back to the heart of what democracy is really all about.
In a democracy, everyone gets to make the choices. So when you read something here, you don’t have to just accept that it is correct because someone in authority – real or supposed – tells you so. You can go and think about it, find the original information and make up your own mind. You have a right to information, accurate information, complete information.
And in the end, you have the right to make a choice for something other than what those in authority decide is best if that’s what you think is best. You and every other individual in this province have that right. You have the right to expect your politicians to listen when you say something. They ought to listen every day, not just when there is a by-election on.
Anything else is not healthy.
Bond Papers continues five years after it started, five years and some four and a half thousand posts later, because the need for it remains.
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