I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with his or her family and friends. This week I’m going to divert a bit from my normal discussion of city issues and finances to spend some time reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future. On Friday I turned fifty years old. I don’t feel fifty years old, but that’s what the calendar says.
In those fifty years, I’ve learned many things – some the hard way; I’ve accomplished many things – often the hard way; I’ve seen some amazing things; and, I’ve seen some amazingly sad things. After all these years, and all of my experiences, I’m thankful for a great family, good health, and a positive realistic outlook on life. I’m thankful that my parents raised me well and invested their time in all the things my brothers and sisters and I were interested in. They gave me the opportunities, experiences, and support I needed to become who I am today. I’m thankful for my wife, who is both a wonderful wife and mother. Sometimes it’s not easy being married to someone like me – particularly when faced with some of the challenges of being self-employed or when I take public stands on issues I think are important. I’m thankful for my two sons who are turning into fine young men. They give me many things to be proud of.
I know this may sound hokey, but looking back on what I think is really important in life, I can say that everything that matters I learned from family, in kindergarten, and in Boy Scouts: sharing, caring, honor, focus, helping others, working hard, doing a good job, having a positive outlook, personal responsibility, respect for others, life-long learning, acceptance of challenges, community service, and desire to do and be better. Values really are more important than worth.
These values define who I am. As a city councilor, I’m sometimes asked, “what are you?”
I’m a libertarian. I believe in the values of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I believe Thomas Jefferson and his peers were very careful with their words, and that they knew exactly what they were doing when they used the words such as “promote” and “provide”. I believe in a smaller government of the people. I believe in diversity of opinion and equal rights. I don’t care who you love, what you believe, or what you do in your own home as long as you take personal responsibility and don’t hurt others.
I’m a conservative. I believe in fiscal conservancy and long-term thinking. We can’t keep living on borrowed money. We can’t count on never-ending growth. We should create policies that encourage innovation and success. We shouldn’t leave our debts to our children. When spending the people’s money, I think all politicians should think of this money as their grandmother’s life savings or their grandchildren’s future lunch money.
I’m a liberal. I believe in helping those in need. I believe in fairness. I believe in sharing our blessings with those who are less fortunate.
I don’t believe government bureaucracies can replace the values taught by family, teachers, religion, or youth programs. I don’t believe everyone is equal, or that everyone can ever be equal (except in the voting booth). Everyone is different. Everyone has different family, different life experiences, different skills and interests, different work ethics, and different opportunities in life. Diversity should be accepted and respected. Differences of opinion should be welcomed and encouraged.
I believe, as a last resort, government should provide for those in need. But, that government should always encourage personal responsibility and effort over dependency.
As a small business owner, I’m often asked “How’s business?” The answer is: some days it’s great and some day’s it’s not so great. The freedom and rewards of accomplishment are wonderful, but the burdens and risks are many. Even with all the extra burdens, I’d still recommend it, and I’d encourage everyone to own a small business at some time in their life – even if it’s just a part-time venture. I’m a big fan of Junior Achievement and believe that you’re never too young to start. Having the experience of owning a business will give you a different perspective on many things – particularly government and taxes.
As a volunteer, I’m sometimes asked “Why do you do this?” The answer is because I believe it’s important, I care, I can, and I have fun. For the last few years I’ve spent a lot of time with scouting as my sons moved through the program. Before that I was a board member and volunteer for other programs. Scouting has been a fantastically rewarding experience for me, the kids, and the other active adult leaders. The kids learn many of those life-long values that I mentioned earlier (we sneak them in when the kids are focused on having fun) and the adult leaders have a wonderful time with their kids. Together we’ve worked thousands of hours of community service and we’ve gone places and experienced things that others only dream of. I highly recommend scouting and similar programs, and I highly recommend that parents don’t just drop the kids at the door. Get involved.
So, what do I look forward to in the next fifty years? I hope we all have strong families and good health. I hope our kids have the opportunity to live wonderful lives. I’d like to see more personal responsibility and less dependency. I’d like to see the communities and government spend more time and money preventing problems than fixing them. I’d like to see more transparency and performance measurement in government. I’d like to see more people spending time making a difference in their community (imagine how much different our community would be if everyone spend two hours a week volunteering or serving their community instead of two hours a week watching TV shows like “Honey Boo Boo” and “Swamp People”). Summing up, I hope we can look back and honestly say to our children and grandchildren that we left this world in better shape than we found it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dave Flaherty, City Councilor
