Towards optimum governance

THE EDITOR: As a teenager and young adult, I often read and heard the quote, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” Now in the winter of my life, I know through research that Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre, a crossover of the 18th and 19th centuries, lawyer, diplomat, writer, and philosopher, gave us this gem.

I am not in possession of the facts but I assume that because Joseph-Marie was a product of both the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment who lived in revolutionary times, these thoughts would have been spontaneous for him to express.

My search to understand the above quote led me to appreciate the socialisation that creates political leadership profiles – profiles which contribute to the quality of a country’s governance and which provide answers to the question, “What creates an Eric Williams, a Nelson Mandela, an Abraham Lincoln, a Lee Kuan Yew, a John F Kennedy, a Donald Trump, or even a Kim Jong-un? “Much has been written about these leaders, but what do we really know about ours? What do we know of their cognitive, affective, psycho-social attributes, powers of compassion and empathy, aspirations, and dreams? Why have they been attracted to the corridors of government and the public service – for country or self?

Perhaps, when we seek and discover, among other things, the correct answers to these questions, we may get the country that is our due.

RAYMOND S HACKETT
, Curepe