JAMAICA IS a marvel. Does any other country so constantly straddle the line between functioning order and disastrous chaos? Even forces of nature beyond our control regularly contrive to balance our fate on a knife edge and then tip the scales in our favour.

THE PNP came to power in early 1989, only a few months after Hurricane Gilbert hit the island. With the PNP conference being held in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, let's try and evaluate our situation then and now.

America is the richest country on earth, but its democracy is an ugly mess. To quote the September 24th Economist - “If democracy means multi-party competition at the grass roots, America is not a full democracy in elections to the House of Representatives”.

'GOD IS dead', wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882. Sigmund Freud agreed - "The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief."

Jamaicans love to revel in bad news, and there’s been a lot of it lately as the dollar falls, the national debt rises, and Gulf War II decimates tourism. Then of course there’s the continuing cynicism and hypocrisy of our politicians.

When Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke fought for the World Flyweight Boxing title in 1990 you could almost feel the nationalistic fervour in the jampacked National Arena. “Lick ‘im down Shrimpy!” the ecstatic crowd screamed deliriously as he skillfully outboxed champion Sot Chitalada for the first 8 rounds - “He’s giving him a boxing lesson!” a man behind me kept shouting. Alas a jolting uppercut knocked out Shrimpy in the 11th round. “Him teach him too good!” a wag commented wryly as we filed out in gloomy disappointment.

"Jamaicans are so ignorant and uneducated they will vote for anyone who gives them a handout. So our leaders and the entire political system are completely corrupt. Democracy can never work in a country like this."

“Does life get any better than this?” Australian fan at Queen’s Park Oval 2003.
“The fans love West Indies cricket. They love the West Indies way of life. They see on television how West Indians enjoy themselves and they will be coming to be part of it.” Chris Dehring, CEO Cricket World Cup 2007

Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett is undisputedly the most universally loved personality this nation has ever produced. For over 50 years as poet, broadcaster, actress, television personality and stage performer she tirelessly championed Jamaican folk customs. Yet Miss Lou was more than a brilliant entertainer, she is in all likelihood the greatest poet this country has produced. Certainly she is the only Jamaican poet whose works are continuously in print and she still outsells all the others put together.

“Knowledge” said Francis Bacon “is power”. And the more knowledgeable an electorate the more powerful a democracy is in terms of carrying out the true will of the people. With this goal of empowering the electorate through information in mind, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) intends to organize both national and constituency debates in the forthcoming general elections.