Written by Carol Lawton
Liberty is nothing less than willingness to compromise my rights for the rights of others. Hence for societies to be free there has to be boundaries of the state, the citizen, and the government. The long standing premise of rights has been long discussed as too the responsibility of states but much has not been discussed about the health of the economies. In the globalization of states in world economies where a tree falls in the jungle and it’s heard in the financial markets where do small states fit into this process.
Small States economies are barely the size of a small multinational but with the full responsibilities of sovereign states. The functions of these states must be dependent on the human capital to expand the reach of the state. The citizens’ development and ability to produce acts as a force multiplier which in the end impacts the taxes need to make a small state viable. We all want our countries but do the citizens know what is required to hold this sovereignty.
I believe that this answer is no as a balance is not there between the services offered by the state and the consideration rendered by the citizen. The state has become the mule on which the citizen depends yet many are unwilling to produce to enable the mule to survive. Jamaica is for Jamaica but given a chance most will migrate as it has become our prison as well. Governments are not machines but made up of the human element.
Countries are not land alone but people bounded by a common history, language and culture. Hence for productive government and countries to function the common factor is the people. In a sense the state is the creation of the people. Why then should we be puzzled by the state of Jamaica? The balance is what is missing. Money, Policy, Planning is for nothing if the mass is unwilling to offer the state their all thus expanding opportunities for development and the expansion of the gross domestic product.
