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The term, 'Family Values' is vague in its exact meaning in that it differs in varying capacities from household to household, from country to country and from generation to generation.

When I was introduced as a UBP candidate, I said, with great pride: "As a husband and father of two daughters, I believe that the success of a nation is rooted in functional, healthy family structures and environments. We need to focus on family. We need to celebrate family. We need to support family. It is out of great families that great nations emerge."

I refer to family values in a broad sense, as I am certain that if Bermudian families function as they should, it naturally follows that we will be able to create a stronger and better-functioning country, which, after all, is simply family on a much larger scale.

At the core of this broader meaning of family values is the role of the family in the nurturing and development of its youngest members. Each member of the family has a role to play in providing knowledge to children, and in teaching them how to use it. Collectively, the family gives children the love, the care, the support and the discipline to allow them to grow to be confident, well-rounded, well-educated and law-abiding members of the society in which they live, capable of contributing, not just receiving or taking.

The family is the crucible in which good citizens are forged. The health of the community depends on the health of the family team and its ability to supply good citizens. I don't want to say that if you weren't brought up in a traditional family, you can't be a good citizen - that's far from the truth. But a loving family, whose members accept and understand the responsibility they have in nurturing children, is the easiest and surest path to good citizenship. I am a candidate for election to Parliament in Constituency Four because I feel an obligation to try to ensure that the idea of the family is used in the governing of this country.

As I said during my introduction as a candidate, the UBP philosophy of unity is big for me. This is a philosophy which at its centre emanates unity, equality and harmony. This is a philosophy that great people, groups and nations have turned to in the ultimate realization of success and triumph. I believe that this is the philosophy of family.

We all know the sting of disharmony within the family unit and its effects. We all also are aware of the disharmony that we are experiencing within Bermuda. The remedy for disharmony is found in wholehearted efforts to support and emphasise the notion of unity and harmony.

This is the way the United Bermuda Party will approach government. This is the way that I am committed to approaching service within government.

Donte Hunt is the Deputy Chairman of the United Bermuda Party and is the party's approved candidate in St George's South, Constituency Four.[[In-content Ad]]

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