Principles! - What Principles?

I recently admonished Simon Bridges and Bob Clarkson for being bereft of principles, and have had people asking me what do I mean by principles?

Principles are a set of fundamental rules by which you or your group operate. 

They set out the foundation upon how you make decisions in a consistent manner, ensuring that followers know what you stand for.

If you stand fast by your principles and do not break or compromise them, and do not stray from the rules they set out, you should be able to make consistent choices and come to  consistent moral conclusions that apply equally and fairly to all.

This in turn should give people confidence in placing their trust in your decisions because they are always consistent, fair, just and moral, and you can be assured exactly how this person or group will vote or what their decision will be based upon their core principles.

The National party have a set of principles which they totally ignore and contravene daily. 

The reason for this is that people like Simon and Bob do not understand how principles work, let alone that they even have any and why they are important! They just go by opinions. - What they FEEL is right, or what their constituents want.

Every one of my letters is based upon my set of principles which I go to great lengths not to break. Sometimes that means that I may stand up for something that I personally do not agree with. 

Opinions are like arseholes - Everybody has one!.

Everybody has an opinion, but you can't base policy on personal opinion. It is immorral, unfair and inconsistent.

All present political parties (except one) have lost sight of their core principles and campaign on feelings and public opinion. 

WHY do they continue to do this?

Because if they didn't campaign on these things, they would not be elected. 

That is WHY we have marijuana or drug prohibition - If National or labour said they would legalise drugs, most of their supporters would desert them, and they would then be out of a job - political suicide.

That is why alchohol is still legal. 

National or Labour would have banned it by now - along with cigarettes, but if either of those parties said they would ban alchohol or cigarettes, they would lose popularity, and commit political suicide.

politics based upon feelings and opinions, instead of RIGHTS and PRINCIPLES.

Until principles are rediscovered our political system will be doomed to remain the farce that it has become, and immorral and un-just policies will continue to be forced upon us by un-principled cartoon characters like Simple Simon and Bob the Builder.