12823: Re: 12816: Re: Lavalas and corruption; Simidor responds to Pierre (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: gregory mckee <gregory.mckee@noaa.gov>

G.M. writes,

I've been away from Bob's list for almost one year, yet upon my return I see the same old same old. The sad argument,"My crook is not as crooked as your crook!"  This has been going on as long as I've been following this list.It's been going as long as there has been politics! So Haiti has traded one cocaine dealing meglomaniac for another. {That would be Duvalier et al and Aristide et al.] and many more  before.
For many years before all our time Haiti's problem was due to the French. Now Haiti's problem is the US, OAS and EU. When will Haiti ever begin taking responsible action on her own and quit blaming the rest of the world. Haiti has had over 200 years and even her biggest champions seem to agree that mismanagement by her own leaders has plagued this country practically since its inception. To say that this mismanagement and corruption for the last 100 years was due to outside influence is to say that the people of Haiti are not capable of resisting or seeing thru the nefarious efforts of outsiders. Sorry, I don't believe that. However, I do believe that the system in Haiti has been corrupt for so
long that it will take many years to change it.It is an accepted part of life now. For the last 150 years a governmental position has been a license to steal. Now in a country as poor as Haiti that's understandable. After all for 200 years the only industry has been government.
  Democracy is an evolution and it's painful. But Haiti is on the road there. The people have seen the light of freedom now and will never go back. It's not going to be nice and from time to time its going to be messy but Haiti will evolve.
  I have a dream that one day all the people on Bobs Haiti list will one day show up in mass in Port au Prince and say "B.S. ! We're tired of talking and writing on our computers now we're here to do something about it!" But I guess we're all burned out already, with the exception of a few "journalists" .
                         G M