February, 1988

Having read your issues carefully, there are two issues that I do not agree with: (1) abortion, (2) Sunday shopping.

There are certain basic principles that a responsible government has to assume to keep the human race in order. Freedom without responsibility can lead to anarchy.

Since many of the human race disregard the fact of a divine authority as guidelines for daily living, I can foresee many dangers in the liberty portrayed by your party.

Thanks for placing the issues so plainly before me. An intelligent voter is the best guarantee of good government.

- Ruth Fidler, WELLAND, Ontario

EDITOR: When it comes to Sunday Shopping and abortion, we believe that freedom without responsibility is what we have now.

A "responsible" government would never force its citizens, against their conscience, to pay for the abortions of others, yet that's what our governments currently do. Freedom Party believes that along with having a personal choice in the matter of abortion comes the responsibility of exercising that choice. That means no one else should have the right to force you to pay for someone else's choices --- including an abortion. So while we wouldn't prohibit the practice, we certainly wouldn't force you to fund it, as the government is doing right now.

On the matter of Sunday shopping, we can't see why any "responsible" government would treat an honest businessman or retailer like a criminal just because he wants to peacefully exercise the right to his own property. The responsibility of owning or maintaining property belongs to the people who own the property --- not to governments or voters. A responsible government protects private property rights, it doesn't violate them.

We agree that a "responsible" government has to adopt basic principles to keep the human race peaceful, that's why Freedom Party has adopted those principles. They state that "Every individual, in the peaceful pursuit of personal fulfillment, has an absolute right to his or her own life, liberty and property." In other words, it's the government's job to administer justice and to keep the peace by protecting each individual from having the opinions and choices of others forced upon him. Where's the "danger" in that?

Originally published: Freedom Flyer 14