CASEY TIMMERMANS - These principles are the building blocks for social freedom because without them everything collapses in chaos

The spiritual principle is very simple: love God first, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” ... or one leg of the guiding principles for the Rotary Club: “Is it fair to all concerned?”

The images of the murder of George Floyd should give all of us a pause for thought as we reflect on the current discrimination that black communities suffer from, which is very real.

The failed and tired proposed solutions by the political left will not bring about its meaningful empowerment to individuals within these harmed communities. Our First Nations and the American black community also have to play their part in this as well. The key to empowerment must come from neutral rules and laws that empower all citizens neutrally.

If we want our society to succeed, we have to look at some of our historic norms. Our historic spiritual values define a moral compass that must be our internal guide, in order for true freedom to occur.

The harm that our First Nations community suffers from, in Canada, mirrors the black communities’ complaints in the U.S. Because our First Nations community is so small in comparison, we Canadians often don't notice its issues. It is similarly swept under the carpet by the general populace and life goes on as normal without addressing the true underlying instruments in law that are needed to deliver the kind of long-term positive change that empowers all Canadian citizens but especially those in these harmed sectors of our society.

The First Nations community in Canada doesn’t have individual property rights, a key element in empowering peoples' economic outcomes. These concepts are so clearly articulated in Dr. Hernando DeSoto’s book: “The Mystery of Capital” which identifies what is the most significant building block (fee-simple property rights) in building economic freedom and self-fiscal actualization.

These principles are interdependent so that we as citizens (meaning completely neutral, completely devoid of any kind of gender or race or ethnic identity, simply as Canadians or Americans) are all to become able to provide for our families' needs. If we do not have the economic empowerment and the means to provide the necessities to accomplish the desires of our hearts in both social and spiritual terms then discontent eventually erupts.

The spiritual component is critical because it is the foundation for the principles that make up our laws which go back to the founding fathers of our Confederation or the fathers of the American Republic; we all have in common these spiritual values as the foundational principles for our laws.

These principles are the building blocks for social freedom because without them everything collapses in chaos.

We just have to look around the world -- at the countries that collapse -- and you find out that these nations at their core have a ruling class that is anti-God and uses our historic spiritual principles beguilingly to present themselves as caring and gracious ... but enact policies and laws that spawn the religion of envy used for their political gain which ultimately spawns violence and discontent.

The spiritual principle is very simple: love God first, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

... or one leg of the guiding principles for the Rotary Club: “Is It Fair To All Concerned?”

... and the scales are balanced with “The greatest is love that passes all human understanding”.

Love is not without judgement because when you look in the mirror, and ask yourself the question of how I would like others to treat me, I’m sure we’ll all understand emotionally and intellectually what that is.


Casey Timmermans ... is a Nanaimo-based businessman who maintains active interests in federal and provincial politics and policies related to business, taxes and economics