13119: Charles comments on: Elites, Masses, Leaders and Citizens (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Philippe Charles <pcharles@us.ibm.com>

In commenting on Simidor's criticism of Elites, Lance Durban wrote:

> To be effective any Haitian leader must not only bridge the gap
> between the elites and the masses, but try and close it.  To do
> that effectively, he needs to consciously step away from
> whatever group that put him in power and appeal to the other
> side.  It's a high risk proposition for any leader, yet it seems
> to me to be the only way to get beyond the political frictions
> that otherwise divide the country.

Perhaps, one of the major problems is that we are too focused on
the wrong terms: Elites, Masses and Leaders. Please allow me to
introduce a new one: citizen... Indulge me a bit.

    citizen - a member of a state or nation, especially one
                  with a republican form of government, who owes
                  allegiance to it by birth or naturalization
                  and is entitled to full civil rights.

    allegiance - the obligation of support and loyalty to
                        one's ruler, government or country.

The citizen is always motivated to do what she believes to be
right for her country. That does not mean that she is always
right. However, you can expect her to admit when she is wrong
and rectify things accordingly. All that is required to be a
citizen is that one has a developed sense of social responsibility
toward her country.

Others have gone farther in describing the moral obligation
of the citizen. In the book Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein
wrote:

    "Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional
     conviction that the whole is greater than the part ... and
     that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself
     that the whole may live."

A few examples of citizens that I read about in Corbettland
would include:

. Dr Rodrigue Mortel who grew from humble beginnings to become
  a distinguished physician and professor. Dr Mortel is now
  retired and has gone back to his native St Marc to build
  a school to help educate needy children.

. Professor of public administration Jean-Claude Garcia-Zamor,
  who has given $200,000 to a scholarship program for needy Haitian
  students. His donation is the largest gift FIU has ever received
  from a faculty member.

. The army of people who set out with their brooms a few years
  ago to clean up Port-au-Prince.

. Bob Corbett (honorary citizen) who has been funding small
  projects throughout Haiti through his organization People-to-People.

and many more...

--Philippe