18979: Hyppolite Pierre: regarding trust of Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Hyppolite Pierre <hpierre@irsp.org>

Of all the opposition's arguments to remove Aristide from power, the issue
of their "mistrust" towards him is perhaps the most flawed, if not simply
the most dishonest. The reason is very simple.

In politics, especially in modern politics based on a democratic system,
trusting an individual leader is not so relevant. What you need is to trust
a system, not a person. If you establish safeguards along the way that allow
you to go from point A to point R and from point R to point Z through
rational and identifiable channels, it then becomes easier to identify who
is or are trying to place roadblocks along the way. Thus, you can overcome
those roadblocks by first identifying them, and then circumventing them.
Either way, you can and will almost always succeed at achieving your goals.

Anyone who has had the opportunity to read the current
internationally-sponsored proposal presented to Aristide and understands it,
can see clearly that it is very, very clearly their intent. Any reasonable
person can and will agree that they have probably succeeded at that.

It is funny how Haitian politicians tend to place their faith on individuals
rather than a system. In Aristide's case, the official opposition seems to
view him as a demigod, or a Mephisto, or some mystical being with
supranatural power. Yet, for those of us Haitians living in the United
States, or who have had the opportunity to hold a nickel, it is also always,
always interesting to read the inscription on the face of an American 5
cents: "In God We Trust". In other words, you neither trust an individual
politician, nor do you need to; you trust a well-calibrated system.

As a matter of fact, it is very, very healthy that the official opposition
does not have any trust in Aristide. We have always had, and most certainly
will continue to have at least for a while, Haitian presidents who are
either over-powering, or power-grabbing. We must thus prepare ourselves for
such occurrences, present and future by building a healthy democratic system
that is as de-personalized as possible. Thus, we should perhaps begin to
insert into our political culture, modern and standard features of political
systems that make is more dependent on a healthy technocratic machine rather
than individual politicians. The American example is perhaps the most modern
of such institutional models, on how to run successfully a society to the
benefit of all, rich and poor.

If we are going to establish a democratic system in Haiti, we must as well
begin to believe in the rule of law, not in the rule of man. Thus, we must
begin to think in terms of building a political system that relies on
qualified individulas to run the insitutional machines, not on particular
individuals and personalities.

The opposition's argument of their "not trusting Aristide and therefore, not
willing to accept him as the elected president of Haiti who must finish his
term in office" is dubious at best, or childish at worst. Either way, it may
simply imply that they are simply not equipped with the right motivation or
knowledge to help move Haiti away from its 200-year history of politics
based on personality. Either way, this battle looks to me, historically, as
deja vue all over again: it is just the same theatrical script with
different actors and directors.

Best regards,
Hyppolite Pierre
IRSP
http://www.irsp.org