The following letter to the Editor, by Dr. Kenneth Knowles, was first published in The Tribune on Monday, May 17, 2010 and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.
Dear Sir/Madam:
Re: Many Bahamians living beyond means — Minister.
The Tribune, 06 May, 2010
History was made on this date! The State Minister courageously told people what few want to hear: that they “should rethink their spending patterns, putting a focus on needs over wants – rather than depending on the government to bail them out”. Imagine that, a politician is actually telling those people that are able, to strive to be responsible for themselves! These are words of honesty seldom heard. After all, so many otherwise intelligent & reasonable Bahamians have been corrupted by government programming to firmly believe in entitlement & dependency on government for handouts — widespread malignant concepts which first reared their ugly heads decades ago.
Whole generations have been contaminated with the twin infectious diseases of dependency & entitlement—- grandparents, parents, children & grandchildren. Many people like to proclaim loudly, & without much thought, that they are ‘proud’ Bahamians. However, they have very little right to be ‘proud’ until (where possible) they attempt to stand on their own two feet & stop begging for undeserved & degrading government handouts. If this country is ever to become the great little country we would like it to be, we must refrain from looking to the government to bail us out whenever we want something rather than need it. Only then can we say with dignity & pride that it truly is “Better in The Bahamas”.
Kenneth W. Knowles, M.D.
Nassau,
12 May, 2010
I don’t know how you can say that what Laing had to say was words of honesty seldom heard because how could that be honest when he is the one responsible for the mess our country is in by borrowing so much money and practically giving it away especially to foreigners…
You are right about one thing though. The govt. (every govt) has programmed our people to expect handouts from them.. This encourages LAZINESS!!!
Hi OT:
Thanks as usual.
I think it is honest to say that far too many of us are over extended and spend money unwisely.
Now if you want to suggest that politicians and successive government finance ministers have double standards, I’ll also buy that.
What is it about politics that turns good people into something we don’t recognise?
I did not read the comments myself, but will say this:
Any Government which insistes on micro managing it’s citizens, will find itself with little left to manage.
If Mr. Laing made these comments then good, but saying or recognizing is different from doing something about it.
In this case, the only action the government needs to take, is to stop.
Mr. Laing, nor any onther politico has the fortitude to do that.
One and all are simply parts of the same machine that has created the dependancy and the dismal circumstances we find ourselves in, a contition that predates the global economic meltdown.
We were already heading up our own little creek, to find ourselves entering yet another creek.
Should we wait for the IMF to recommend(or demand) we implement “austerity” budgets, or act now?
Hi Chris:
Your question about austerity budgets might be rhetorical to every day people, but to politicos that want your vote to keep their job, it becomes a PR exercise of denial.
But at the end of the day who pays?
Everybody but the politicos of course.
Rick, you do know that Mother Pratt has made that statement over and over in the HOA when she was minister though???
That is nothing new!! Most Bahamians don’t care about living above their means.. They seem to like it.. That’s why you find so many working people are being locked up for stealing.. And it does not matter how much money they are making, they just want more all the time…..
Education is the only thing that could fix that but our govt. continues to just blame the parents… We need help desperately!!!
Hi OT:
Where do you think that “help” should come from to get that education?
My potential solution is vouchers for education.
And what if no help arrives?
Sometimes the best help is self help.
Of course, that is predicated on learning lifes lessons the hard way, small realities when young, developing alongside living into adulthood.
Are we that pathetic or incapable we need help for everything?
Responsibility has been avoided quite efficiently.
Reality also.
Absolutely Chris!
Rick, I don’t know what you mean by vouchers for education but I’ll say something on where the help should come from. The help should be coming from our government but like I said they just keep on blaming the parents.. Not that the parents aren’t the ones responsible for the mess that we find ourselves in but when the government was in opposition and they were campaigning for the jobs that they now have, they said that they had the answers to our country’s problems..
So there is no need finding excuses for them now.. They just need to be encouaged to do the job that they were put there to do.. The government thought that police should not be in the schools so they took them out and the same can be said for many other areas.
But it is quite simple ya know. When parents are not doing their jobs then the government has to step in. If the government doesn’t then any country would end up right where we are today, sinking fast!! They need to stop pointing fingers and take control of this country..
They need to stop breaking the laws that they want us to follow and abide by…
Ya know C. Lowe, it’s because of statements like the ones you just made that have this country in the mess that it is in today! It’s about time the government realizes that many people have children but do little to raise them properly and if they continue to say that people should be responsible for themselves and do NOTHING, this country will continue to get WORSE and WORSE evey year!!
The government needs to step in and make parents more responsible for their childrens upbringing… I know that that is a sad statement to make but it it also sad to say that that’s where we are in this country today!!! We must get real and see things as they are and stop thinking that it is the way it used to be when all parents cared!!!
Hi again OT:
Thanks for stopping by as usual.
Here’s some info on Vouchers or School Choice: http://bit.ly/bUSNSl
I have made the point over and over that the government has chosen to take the educational system over so they have a responsibility to ensure Bahamians receive an education, (and not indoctrination) whether or not we have parents that, in many instances, should not have children in the first place.
However, government officials of the PLP and FNM have admitted they have failed at education, yet you call for more of the same. I don’t get it?
By the way, Police in schools to “stop the violence” is a symptom, not a cause of a failed educational system.
Suggesting that Police in schools or “Urban Renewal” is going to solve our problems is well, political rhetoric. No more, no less.
The teacher union is a major problem that neither political party seems able to challenge, while our kids suffer.
All of us need to understand that there are consequences for our actions. Few of us do.
Sorry Chris, I have to jump in on this one.
Can you explain what you mean when you say the government needs to step in and make parents more responsible for their childrens upbringing please?
Can you say you are satisfied with the results of other government action that you would trust them with our children?
So Rick, why do you say that the educational system has failed???
I totally disagree with that statement! The police has to be put back into the schools to regain some kind of control there. I never said that it will solve the problems that we have with our youths… I don’t understand why it is so hard for you FNMs to understand what purpose Urban Renewal served.. Urban Renewal dealt with youths up to ages 14 or 15.. It was preparing the next crop of youths to be usefull citizens. Now, those children would have been adults in 4 to 5 years and would have had the training necessary to make them productive citizens.
Everyone knows that that programme could not take on every child so many children still would have been left to grow up themselves. My point is that the effectiveness of Urban Renewal would not have been seen for atleast 5 to 10 years.. FNMs still continue to talk NONSENSE about the Urban Renewal programme…
The Urban Renewal Programme as it is is a total WASTE of time!! It is just like it is NON EXISTENT!!! It is no different from all the other programmes out there in its present form and will do very little to make a difference in our children’s/country’s lives.
As far as unions go, I don’t like unions!! I think that they have served their time and are only proving to be a hindrance to our country’s productivity and growth….
Hi OT:
Why do you need Police in the schools when properly trained security officers should do?
We need the Police on the streets etc.
If the private education institutions created the number of functionally illiterates that the public educational system does, would you say the private schools had failed? Or would you pass a law that if they didn’t do better they’d be shut down?
As for Urban Renewal, you’re right, it has always been a waste of money. Not that some good stuff is not being done, but I would rather see, kids kept in school until 5:00pm, with a parent or guardian only picking them up to take them home to keep them out of trouble.
As for summer vacation, I would reduce it to two weeks for kids that are failing.
I don’t know what you mean by ‘government action’ but if you are still talking about our educational system, I already disagreed with you on that.. I’ll tell you why.
Those same schools that you say are failing are turning out doctors, lawyers, engineers, policemen. etc, etc!! How could you say that the educational system is failing??
I dare say that our homes are the ones failing and will continue to fail unless our government find some sort of solution.. Now, I’ll answer your question on how to make parents more responsible..
(1) If there is a single parent in a home the govt. should see that they are made responsible for their children by punishing them when their children break the law.
(2) Married couples should also be made to face punishment for their children who break the law..
Then and only then, parents will make sure their children follow their rules at home from a young age hence breaking this cycle of delinquent children because of delinquent parents!! Without some kind of law to force parents to be parents, we will continue to get what we have been getting…
Thanks OT:
Government action – meaning anything government does. What concerns me is it ultimately ends up with force. Which is counter to freedom.
In any event, how can someone else be made responsible for my actions. In other words I don’t see how a parent can be charged for crimes committed by their child.
You put an awful lot of faith in government officials. Do you work in the civil service?
Rick, for years I have held the same view that you have but all I have seen is that things are just getting worse and worse!
You are worried about freedom when things are so bad in this country as far as crime is concerned??
You are worried about freedom when you don’t know if someone will be waiting outside your door to kill you on your way to work???
These are the questions that I had to ask myself and I had to change my view…. I don’t care if police hold road blocks everyday and even ask me to step outside my vehicle so that they can search it.. I don’t have anything to hide and I would feel safer in this country!! I could careless about freedom right now!!!
We must do something in order to get different results!! Oh, I am self employed and has been for the past 9 years….
Thanks OT:
You’ve changed the subject from charging parents for crimes of their children to road blocks/police searches.
How did we get there?
Can we come up with other ideas to resolve education first?