“My country right or wrong” is a dangerous precept if it means that to be a true patriot a citizen must present a bold face to the outside world and call wrong right, when in fact it is wrong.
This thought process, applied in other areas of life, discourages independent thought, blunts the human spirit and imprisons a person in an insidious system that forces him to toe the party line for fear of being called a traitor, the race line to avoid the “Uncle Tom” label, and the gang line to secure membership as “one of the boys.” It is the enemy of democracy, and turns a person into a robot.
The expression “my country right or wrong” – according to Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell it was an expression of Governor-General Arthur Hanna – is in fact an emasculated version of a statement made in the US Senate on February 29, 1872 by Carl Schurz, an American soldier and patriot. Said Mr Schurz on that occasion:
“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right!” And that is what is now taking place in the debate on the release of the two Cuban dentists. Bahamians have commended government for eventually arriving at the right decision and releasing the Cubans to their families. However, there are those who have also condemned government for taking such an unconscionably long time to arrive at the humane decision – and in the process giving this country a bad name.
Mr Mitchell told the House on March 15 that comments made by the Opposition in the case of the Cubans were “symptomatic of the problem that seems to take not the Bahamian view, not a patriotic position of standing up for our country, but taking the view espoused by another country. Our Governor General Arthur Hanna used to say, ‘My country right or wrong.'”
Can anyone imagine the nightmare this would have been if all Bahamians had taken this attitude during the days when the drug lords got protection in this country? The day that a PLP government from the floor of the House of Assembly condemned Norman Solomon for challenging drug lord Carlos Lehder, now safely tucked away in a federal prison in the US, for taking over Norman’s Cay and turning it into his drug cartel’s headquarters. And how when FNM leader Kendal Isaacs was severely criticised in parliament for asking for a committee to investigate what was going on at Norman’s Cay. There were those of us, who during those years, fought side by side with the US in its war against drugs in an effort to rid our country of a pestilence that was destroying our people. We were called traitors, because we did not subscribe to the view “my country right or wrong.” During those years our country was very much in the wrong, and we had no fear of saying so. A Commission of Inquiry into drug trafficking vindicated those of us who refused to toe the so-called “patriotic” line. It pointed a strong finger at this country’s traitors – and it certainly was not against those of us who were calling a spade a spade, and in the words of Hubert Ingraham at that time, letting the “chips fall where they may.”
No matter what time-line Mr Mitchell might like to put on the events behind the scenes of the Cuban affair, 11 months is a very long time for negotiations. There were several moments during those negotiations when a decision could have, and should have been made.
However, it is interesting to note that politicians seemed to get more focused on the seriousness of the situation when the public, the press, and US legislators, including Florida Governor Jebb Bush, got involved. Tempers flared, demonstrations followed, and Bahamian politicians started to move.
It recalled an observation made recently on the internet about Bahamians. The insult was made in a totally different context, but we couldn’t help but recall it as we listened to the Cuban debate on the floor of the House.
After listing several instances – under both the FNM and PLP governments – when government had to be threatened before it would make a decision, the writer commented: “Bahamians are like stubborn mules, they need to be whacked in the backside in order to get them to move.”
It’s a shame that all Bahamians have to suffer for the failings of our politicians. Outsiders would be justified in attaching this label to all Bahamians if we all docilely bowed our heads, folded our arms and agreed that in all things – right or wrong – we should take the “Bahamian view.” Those of us who think, enjoy being a gadfly under the skin of those who would rather that we had no thoughts to think.
“My country right or wrong” should be the slogan for the slow-witted.
Source: The Tribune
