a letter to alison redford

I wrote this letter for one of my classes this semester and thought I'd share it.

Dear Ms. Redford,

My name is David Sobsey. I am 21 years old, and I am in my third year at Concordia University College of Alberta. One of the classes I am taking this semester is a Christian Ethics class. For the section on politics, one of our choices for an assignment was to write to you and tell you how to be a good Christian political leader. That is the assignment I chose, since I think it’s important to be an active citizen and try to make the world a better place.

I don’t know if you are Christian or not, but many Albertans are, and either way I think it’s important to think about what a good government does.

Throughout history, different Christian scholars have had different ideas and interpretations of what government should be. There are some common themes though.

St Thomas Aquinas thinks that the government’s job is to allow people the opportunity to lead rich, fulfilled lives. He argues that humans were created to be social (God created Eve because Adam shouldn’t be alone), and we need a social structure to reach our potential. A good government is one that tries to fill the role God had in the Garden of Eden, by making sure all citizens have a chance to have a good, social life. So for example, in order to flourish in society, people need education. We need to be alive, which means we need access to things like food, shelter and healthcare.

St Thomas Aquinas also thinks that people should have these opportunities no matter what their condition in life is (for example, health, class, or disability) and no matter what their calling is. So no matter what your job is, you should be able to afford things like food and shelter. You can’t live a flourishing life if you are worrying about not having any food, so the government’s job is to make sure that nobody starves.

Pope John the 23rd argues that the goal of the government should be to create goodness in society with truth, justice and respect. Truth means the government should be open and honest, and tell people the reasons for each law. Justice means that the government should be fair to its citizens and do what it says it will. Respect means that everyone is considered to be valuable and important, and so everyone should be considered equally when making decisions, not just the people who vote or have lots of money.

Here is one way to apply these ideas that is important to me. I have disabilities, and I attend college through an inclusive education program. I think an important part of what St Thomas Aquinas was saying would be making sure people with disabilities get a chance to go to university if they want to. So making sure inclusive post-secondary education continues to be funded would be a way to help all people access education. I definitely think that my experience in university has helped me grow as a person, just like Thomas Aquinas wanted.

I hope that you’ve found some interesting things to think about in my letter. If you would like to know more about me, you can look at my blog at dsobsey.blogspot.com.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say.

Sincerely,

David Sobsey