Dear Editor,
Battered nation syndrome. I have never witnessed a nation so seemingly content with the battering, pillage, abuse and victimization by its politicians as Guyana. We are the strangest people I know. For some inexplicable reason we cannot see right and wrong in our political choices but do we ever complain bitterly about these same people we put on a pedestal to stomp all over us. Why is it that we cannot fight for right with our conscience but instead choose to flee? Anywhere from 500,000 to 750,000 of us have fled since the 1950s but none of us decided to stay and fight the scourge by starting with a simple act of right: voting our conscience and the hard cold truth. The last man who fought was murdered and the land remained silent, and some even try to dishonour his legacy. We are a nation of runners. We create problems, never try to fix them and run seeking refuge in nations where their people confront their problems and make the right choices for change. Every five years we mark that X on the basis of race, fear, ignorance and the easy malleability of our minds. And it is not like we do not know.
Everywhere you turn, whether under the British or the PNC or the PPP the people of this nation were/are doing what they do best: complain. They moan, groan, complain and complain some more. Listening to their complaints you know they know the problems intimately. They complain about VAT, the cost of living, crime, corruption, moral decay and the failed future, but they still go to the voting booths like zombies and park that X next to the charlatans. Which is why the people of this nation probably deserve some of the beating and hammering they get at the hands of the political conmen. In an abundance of lambs butchers will be created. The beauty of democracy is that it gives the individual the power of choice. The power to dictate the present and future. There is no one to blame but the person who has the power. There are thousands of such persons in Guyana holding that choice.
The right thing will never be done until people see themselves as part of the problem. And truth be told, the Guyanese people are the real problem. For politicians cannot become dominant unless someone gives them the reins to dominance. For despite all the claims to morality, integrity, honesty, decency and fairness the Guyanese people have wilfully wronged themselves by forgetting those values when it matters most. For no one lives under a rock that blinds them to the reality that political power dominates the land. That political power will only serve itself and its small group of friends before the nation. That the choice to vote for this system is theirs to make and theirs to live with. Anyone who chooses the real risk of tyranny or corruption will get tyranny and corruption. For those who see their political support as the only way to benefit, when is the last time they got a major contract or their children had a secure future? Why are they desperate to get that visa to flee to America? It is time the people of this nation started blaming themselves for this utter mess they have created. Hiding behind ethnicity and other shallow calls has exposed everyone to poverty, deprivation, crime and lawlessness.
In a nation where normally 70% or more vote the blame can only rest squarely with the voters. If they are afraid of being murdered by unemployed youths using guns smuggled in by drug cartels then keep voting for a government that does nothing to alleviate their fear that hardly makes sense. There is the argument of limited political choices forcing them to choose between the bad and the worse. However, that is bogus. They should try minority governments for a change. Give them power but not absolute power. Try limiting and punishing political parties for the grief they have brought. Until people have the courage to change themselves they cannot change their society. Courage is a commodity lacking in Guyana. Courage must overcome fear for this nation to break free. I have blamed politicians like everyone else, but it is time we start telling the truth about ourselves and the decay of courage, the decline of strength, the loss of truth and the fall of personal integrity within each of us. Even if someone wants to run to Uncle Sam they must contemplate the right course for the future. Time to start the war within.
Yours faithfully,
M. Maxwell
