My Values

I was thinking a lot today about why I draw different lines in the sand than some other people I know. These are the values, in order, that guide my decisions:

Life.  I think mercy is included in this.

Liberty.

Justice. By this I also mean equality of people under the law.

Right to property. By this I mean that people should have a right to keep and use things on their terms as long as they don't hurt anyone else and as long as they obtained their property in some legitimate way. There are rules about how to obtain property legitimately (like no stealing) and also rules about what can be property (like not people). 

Opportunity. By this I also mean equal opportunity in situations where it applies, which is also sometimes called fairness.

The constitution lists the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the three primary values of the American people. I believe that the right to pursue happiness is comprised of justice, right to property, and opportunity. I list them separately because I value them in that order.

I value the right to property more than opportunity because, stated simply, opportunity represents sharing and I believe that in most cases (the exceptions being cases where the crux is justice, liberty, or right to life) I should be able to choose when I share - and choosing to share implies that the right to property is more important than opportunity. That doesn't mean that I don't value sharing - but when I share I want it to be on my terms and that means I value the right to property over opportunity.

Taken together, my top five values amount to a single value which is the spirit of the Constitution of the United States of America. For this reason I have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all its enemies.

I value these things too:

Respect. By this I mean acting with respect or demonstrating respect - in one direction only. The other direction (receiving respect) follows naturally from this. Respect also includes courtesy. I think respect also includes the concept of obedience, because I don't value obedience separately from respect.

Integrity. By this I also mean honesty.

Loyalty. Loyalty is the glue that makes people stick together. Loyalty can be to a cause or to a person or group. A person can have multiple loyalties: country, state, soccer club, etc. A person should take care that the chosen loyalties don't conflict with each other, or to be explicit about which one would be chosen in the case that a conflict arises in the future. Keeping a conflict in loyalty secret is called divided loyalty, and it demonstrates a lack of integrity.

Duty. By this I also mean responsibility and keeping promises.

Charity. By charity I also mean kindness and helpfulness. I place charity at the end of the list because I wouldn't sacrifice my other values for charity. Value conflicts aside, charity is something that should be done when one determines oneself to have what is needed.

Courage and bravery. I value courage below loyalty and duty because being courageous is meaningless if it's not done for the purpose of accomplishing something else of value - such as respect, integrity, loyalty, or duty. Because I only value courage in the context of achieving something else of value, and not for the sake of being courageous, it belongs beneath the values that merit courage.

Instrumental values:

Family. I value family because I value life. Family is the way that human beings organize to create life and protect it. It's the foundation of other social relationships whose purpose is ultimately life. So I value family as a means to promoting life and enjoying it. 

Earth. By this I also mean protecting the environment, including endangered species. But this is not an intrinsic value - I don't value the Earth for itself. I value the Earth because I value life. For this reason, when I make decisions I may choose the Earth over other things (convenience, cost, right to property) because life is my foremost value and protecting the Earth promotes that value for many people. Also, for this reason I advocate that environmental protection is a governmental function - because protecting the Earth is important to preserving many people's lives in current and future generations, it's more important than convenience, right to property, and most other costs. When I think about situations in which I value something more than the Earth, the only ones I come up with are situations in which the choice is between life and life, and in those I tend to value more life. That is, if the choice is between protecting few lives or many, and all other things being equal (not "us versus them" but "all of us" or "all of them", and no differences in innocence or other factors), I generally choose to protect the many.

Community. I value community because it's an extension of family. Communities work for the common good of their members, and if their members share similar core values then this is a very good thing. I value being a member of a community of people who share my values. I disvalue membership in any community of people who do not share my values or prioritize theirs in a way that would frequently conflict with my value priorities. For me, community includes the concept of friendship or friendliness.

Honor. By this I mean a system of behavior where a one's actions credit one's reputation, as a means to promoting intrinsic values of life, liberty, justice, right to property, opportunity, respect, integrity, loyalty, duty, and courage.

Trust. I value trust because it's so convenient. Trust allows me to save much time and effort by not checking every assumption. I value trust because I value convenience and expediency and because it helps me to acquire my other values.

Cleanliness and sanitation. I value keeping clean as it relates to promoting life, family, and community. 

Frugality and thriftiness. I value conservation of property as it relates to promoting life and the enjoyment of life. That means, I don't avoid spending for the sake of avoiding spending. I avoid spending for the sake of maintaining a potential to spend later on something that is more important to me, and all other things being equal, it makes sense to find ways to spend less to obtain the same value, because it leads to more value.

Cheer. I value cheerfulness in other people except when it is inappropriate - I value respect more than cheer.

Rest. By this I mean that I value rest from work. This includes the Sabbath. 

No God? No, God is something I wrestle with, not something I value. I can't have God, demonstrate God, or exercise my God. I can't obtain God, keep God, or give God away. And I've decided what my values are in this lifetime whether God exists or not, whether I'll ever get a second chance or not. I also haven't come to a conclusion yet whether I value the concept of God - whether it brings more good than harm, or if there are rules about the concept that cause it to bring good or harm that people haven't discovered and codified yet.