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#4116: On the issue of Moral Superiority, Lavalass and the Duvalierists (fwd)
From:Jepiem@aol.com
What are we embarking on here? Who is going to define what morality is for a
politician? To grant the Lavalass party and its leader a pass for "Moral
Superiority" is like leading the pigs to the slaughter blindfolded, or
through a tunnel like they do for the cows. There were high hopes when
Duvalier challenged the Magloire government and the 1956 uprising toppled the
military dictatorship and Duvalier came to power. Believe it or not Duvalier
had a lot of sympathizers and true believers behind him when he came to
power. Let's not get blinded by the messiah politics and believe that one man
is going to change everything in and about Haiti. Aristide is going to have a
lot of people around him when he gets to office. As for the Duvalierists,
there are opportunists of every stripe on the one hand, and having been a
government functionnary under Duvalier does not necessarily a bad person
make. The people and the political leaders will have to remain vigilant and
watch anyone, Duvalierist or not that gets in a position of power under any
government. The press will have to rise to the task and make itself the
servant of the people instead of the established government; that is if it's
allowed to do so and considering our past and recent history, there are
strong doubts that it will. If the change from Duvalier was a Revolution and
not a simple uprising, this revolution has been left dormant and it must
continue, not just by electing a messiah, but by the people choosing leaders
based on individual qualities and keeping a watch on their activities. Again,
given the way the last elections went, I have strong doubt that such
discrimination was practiced in the selection. It's ok to recognize and say
that so and so party won because it is popular, but is that really what is
good for Haiti now? Quite a few known good people (good in the Haitian
context) did not come near the winning total in those elections. Should one
opt for mediocrity in the name of the so called Democracy? I grant that there
is no way for them to get in if they aren't popular, given that in the name
of "democracy" the elections have to be carried out, but at least I believe
it is imperative to make sure that the elections be carried out without a
hint of fraud. From opinions and accounts I heard during a post election
visit to Haiti, this was hardly the case. If those opinions and accounts have
some validity, what is the credibility of those to whom free pass to moral
superiority ground has been granted so freely?