A Real Country... (Understanding the Problem)

Lawyer, writer, historian, and Professor of Universal History, Greek and Roman Antiquities, Alexander Fraser Tyler wrote: - “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the people discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits  with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by dictatorship. From bondage to spiritual faith; spiritual faith to great courage;  courage to abundance; abundance to complacency;  complacency to apathy;  apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage again."



Watching the behavior of our politicians on the news over the last few days one might be tempted to believe that Trinidad & Tobago was a real country, but it isn't.  How could it be a real country when instead of fighting over the twelve people murdered over the Easter weekend, the great grandmother murdered for her pension on her wedding anniversary or the little child almost torn in two in anger, our elected officials are locked in a struggle to the death for political turf?  Surely in a real country the government (especially if brought into office on the promise of fixing runaway crime) would have collapsed on the failure of this Easter weekend. Seeming to be accelerating on the curve, we appear well on our way to bondage again, because nothing that is happening politically, no appointments, no plans, no policies appear national in scope or people centered and one can only assume that political investment for immediate reward continues unabated through all parties regardless of their espoused ideology.

In a real country the laws of the land would encourage family life instead of conspiring against it, and  fathers would stay home at night and raise their children (especially their sons) to keep them from becoming driven to kill. In a real country the State would never allow business to invade and destroy working communities in the name of profit, communities whose structure and history worked to provide the village it took to raise the nation's children, instead of allowing them to become casino strips and seedy bars complete with prostitutes on every corner. That we do not ever seem to know what we have until we lose it assures me that this is not a real country, because a real country would be run by grown ups with vision and an understanding that keeps these things in check.  In a real country our people would be our most valuable resource; our homes and neighborhoods would be safe havens and our schools and learning institutions would be crucibles of development, constantly churning out men  and women of a continuously higher caliber. In a real country our hospitals and medical services would respect our citizens and treat them with honor and dignity and care for them to the highest possible standards, not ill treat and dehumanize them because we couldn't be bothered to do it any other way.

But this is not a real country. We are a greedy, lawless, self absorbed people who INSIST on our right to do as we damn well please. We might bitch and moan because it's something to do, but never will we see ourselves as the solution to the problem if only we were brave enough to stand against the tide. This make believe country votes people into office only if they promise to do something for us in return, something real, tangible and financially viable. If this were a real country the current government would be ashamed for coming across just as corrupt, just as incompetent, just as arrogant and in some cases worse than the ones that we just fired, and if this were really a real country the ones we just fired would be themselves too shame to open their mouths to comment on issues they failed to address while they had the chance.

For this to ever become a real country the people would have to grow up and take responsibility for themselves, their children and their communities; we would vote with conscience and work with discipline, but as we are not interested in anything like that, don't expect this to become a real country anytime soon.