A Response To Senator Archie Bernard

Thu Dec 7, 2006 9:52 am


Dear Senator Archie Bernard: The following points summarize my opinion which is a direct response to your claims submitted on the ULIBSAAFORUM:

1. Senator Bernard: We have a fundamental question here: The nation which is Liberia is currently gripped in a barbwire of continued miseducation and misinformation linked to doctrinal decay. Do you know this?


2. In Liberia we lack the sound judgment to determine exactly what our national "problems" are and what is responsible for them.


3. This backward tendency makes us clinch to symptoms rather than the cause of the "problem" we intend to solve. we harbor a fake sense and hope of alleviating the "problem" through osmosis.


4. Each time we tackle the symptom of the "problem", we create new problems. And each time we struggle with the symptom, we sink deeper into the quicksand of time.


5. Sen. Bernard, what is obtaining in Liberia is nothing new. When Tubman died, I am told, some Liberians were in the street jubilating. Why? Because they thought the "problem" responsible for the backwardness of Liberia which was associated with Tubman would go with Tubman in the grave.


6. When President Tolbert was assassinated, some Liberians also rejoiced; I know this because I was around at the time. I mean i was matured enough to know on my own. Some Liberians were hoping the "problem" associated with our leaders like Tolbert would also disappear along with Tolbert when he was assassinated.


7. When President Doe was bludgeoned to death in the public by another Liberian citizen, some Liberians danced and jubilated in the streets; they too thought the "problem" associated with him like all others that came before him,would also die with Doe.


8. When President Taylor was kicked through the back-door into Nigeria and then to Europe, some Liberians, I am told, danced and celebrated as well; I wasn't around. I was in the Diaspora. Those Liberians that were jubilating believed at the time that the "problem" which they thought was centered around Taylor, would go with Taylor in the Diaspora, especially in the Hague.


9. In all these cases, Liberians are as wrong as they can be. Because the national "problem" which they thought or still think is found in their leaders, still persists, even though those leaders are dead, imprisoned and gone.


10. Certain Liberians are under fire for "corruption" in Liberia. Again, there's jubilation and dancing in the streets with the fake hope "corruption" will be wiped out as soon as they put their hands on the perceived corrupt officials.


11. Studies and experiences teach us that Liberians will continue to be wrong as long as they view & wish to solve their "problem" on the periphery without taking a fundamental approach.


12. Liberians will continue to kill their leaders - both “good” & “bad” - and remain at each other's throats until they damage their country permanently.


13. Unless and until, Liberians begin to review the various doctrines that undercut their educational, socioeconomic & political systems for improvement, perish will they.


14. So every time Liberians think by ridding themselves of one group that they consider as the "problem," the more grounds they lay for their own self-destruction.


15. Essentially, corruption is an intrinsic value of our political system. Lies are embedded on our national psyche. To minimize all of these, we have to attack the foundational question, rather than ONLY prosecuting and persecuting individuals.

16. Because if the "problem" were locked in individuals, then the deaths of Presidents Tubman, Tolbert, Doe and the imprisonment of Taylor, would have solved our national “problem” long ago.


17. But since we all have learned that the opposite is true, we then need to begin to overhaul and re-examine our system of governance and education for improvement.


18. And there's where the redemption of Liberia lies. Anything in the contrary is to do nothing but anarchy and hypocrisy!


19. Power & titles are illusory. Personalities will come and go. But ideas will remain forever. All that is required of us as Liberians is to deal with ideas and not preach disorder.

I am,

Thomas G. Bedell