Saturday September 4th, 2010
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President: preservation of freedom paramount
Published: 31 Jul 2010
President George Maxwell Richards
President George Maxwell Richards says T&T should consider whether the country is taking the best and “most appropriate steps forward as we grow as an independent nation.” The observation is contained in his Emancipation Day 2010 message marking the August 1,1834 declaration. Richards said: “The journey from 1838 until now has not been an easy one as, we are well aware and history records, the facts that have contributed to making us the people we are. We need to remind ourselves of them if we are to take the best and most appropriate steps forward as we grow as an independent nation. “Ours has been described as a democratic society, and in many ways it is so. “However, the celebration of Emancipation Day is a time to consider the extent to which we are indeed free and where we are as individuals, and collectively, in the process of emancipating ourselves, especially in the way we think.
For no one can really declare us free. This is a good time to ask ourselves where we stand on that opinion,” Richards added. T&T is founded upon the principles of democracy—government of the people, for the people and by the people. Richards cited freedom quotes including US politician Adlai Stevenson’s view that “a free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.” He noted that Thucydides the Athenian historian, born in the 5th century BC, said: “The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.” Richards said Thucydides who had experienced exile knew “Freedom is not licence or disorder. Nor is courage bravado, particularly when it signals intimidation from whatever quarter and in whatever manner.”
He also warned T&T to be eternally vigilant with regard to its freedom. Richards also quoted Baron de Montesquieu who said: “A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.” Richards said citizens have a sacred responsibility to preserve T&T’s freedom. “We should not take lightly the courage with which they faced the early days of Emancipation and continuing, as they, women side by side with men, laid foundations on which our Independence would eventually be built. “Out of respect for what they have done, we have a duty to preserve independence of mind and guard the freedoms which we have gained over time, pre and post Independence, including those of our institutions,” said Richards. He reminded the citizenry they had a responsibility to make a contribution to T&T’s development. Richards also conveyed a special appeal to youth to take up the challenge.
this is the same man who
this is the same man who would not cut short his vacation when his country was in a constitutional crisis?
who lied to appointees, promised them positions they would not be granted, and appointed a commission comprised almost exclusively of people who are not allow to hold such an appointment?
come on now, let's be serious. this man is a ghost, and doubly so when compared to ANR and even the shadow of Noor. He should've resigned when his country called on him to, and shall I treat his words as such.
"Who are the men, who,
"Who are the men, who, without our realizing it, give us our ideas, tell us whom to admire and whom to despise...The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society...Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind... In theory, every citizen may vote for whom he pleases... Invisible government, in the shape of rudimentary political parties, arose almost overnight. Ever since then we have agreed, for the sake of simplicity and practicality, that party machines should narrow down the field of choice to two candidates, or at most three or four."
"In theory, every citizen makes up his mind on public questions and matters of private conduct. In practice, if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion without anything. We have voluntarily agreed to let an invisible government sift the data and high-spot the outstanding issue so that our field of choice shall be narrowed to practical proportions. From our leaders and the media they use to reach the public, we accept the evidence and the demarcation of issues bearing upon public question; from some ethical teacher, be it a minister, a favorite essayist, or merely prevailing opinion, we accept a standardized code of social conduct to which we conform most of the time." Edward Bernays