FJM Blog

By Armstrong Williams

The corruption scandal during the spring that quickly engulfed Britain’s parliament and threatened to bring down Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s short-lived labor government is no longer a global headline news story.  To some, it was merely a case of petty corruption gone on for far too long; for the jaded souls among us, the fact that politicians are on the take hardly comes as a surprise.  But Britain’s PM scandal has far reaching implications that extend way beyond its shores to a place close to home for Americans.

Britain’s overseas territory Turks & Caicos, an upscale Caribbean paradise a mere two-hour flight off the shores of Miami, has been featured in the news lately because of its former leader Michael Misick’s allegedly corrupt government.  In fact, the press has so maligned the former leader that one would think that a homegrown Idi Amin was living just off America’s shores.  But more critically, the British government has attempted to use the corruption case in Turks & Caicos as justification for suspending the Island’s constitution, disbanding its parliament, and suspending the right to jury trial on the Island.  If you speak to the people of Turks & Caicos today, they will bluntly tell you that their small Island nation has been paralyzed and business has come to an unbelievable halt.

Britain convened a Commission on Inquiry last summer to investigate alleged corruption on the Island.  Tales of lavish expenditures of private jets, entertainment and overseas travel paint the picture of too many hands in the cookie jar.  The Commission’s interim report included findings of “political amorality” and widespread corruption that, in the British view, justifies its draconian actions.

However, the recent scandal in Britain should make us pause and reflect as to whether an old sinner such as the UK government should be casting stones at the young government of Turks & Caicos.  The Turks & Caicos government is less than forty years old, having been formed in 1976 after a long and protracted struggle by the people of the Island.  While many drastic mistakes have been made and certainly corruption was out of control at the highest level, some would say that along the way towards a solid democracy these are certainly understandable for a country so young on the scene.  While it’s hard to excuse the flagrant abuse of power in Turk’s, one certainly can see the contradiction and different standards the Brits are held to.  Britain’s constitution monarchy, by contrast, is more than three hundred years old.  And yet, no one, including the Queen of England has talked about disbanding the British parliament, suspending its Bill of Rights and having the crown taken from the judicial system.

In fact, Britain’s current fiscal and political woes bring its paternalistic policies towards its remaining colonies squarely into focus.  Here we have Britain insisting upon its imprimatur – it appoints a governor to sit at the head of a locally elected cabinet – supposedly because it has a responsibility to its colonies to ensure good government.  And when things do go its way, or it feels that the territories could serve some strategic purpose, it then takes over; it eliminates the democratically elected local government, and suspends vital civil rights and human rights laws, all in the name of good governance.

Since when did it become good governance for a country to be ruled by a government it did not freely elect?  Only the absurd fictions of colonialism could straight-face advance such a notion.  We Americans soundly rejected the notion that somehow we should pay homage to a government far across the Atlantic Ocean. Our founding fathers, over two centuries ago, fought to make sure that we would be the masters of our own destiny, and no one else.  And we know that although no government is perfect, only a government by and for the people can ever be capable of ruling legitimately.

The British have made a major miscalculation when it comes to the overseas territories — especially those territories that, like Turks & Caicos, are home to offshore financial centers.  In their haste to placate the Obama Administration, they have used the pretext of fiscal mismanagement in Turks & Caicos to intervene in the local affairs of Turks & Caicos and to disenfranchise its people.  Perhaps, because of the Island’s proximity to the United States, Britain believed it could convince the Obama Administration that it is really serious about getting tough on the international banking system.

But Britain’s real problem is much closer to home.  It stems from a culture of greed and entitlement that has beset its own government.  It stems from the on-shore decisions to extend cheap credit without any collateral, and to allow hedge funds to run amok with the money supply.  It smacks of hypocrisy trying to make a small Caribbean Island the scapegoat for a system that is rotten to the core.

It is one crime to steal money and cover it up.  But it is a far greater crime to steal money, kill an innocent bystander, and then blame the dead for your deeds.  Britain should be ashamed of itself for having colonies this late in the game in the first place.  After all, this violates their obligations under both the United Nations charter and the Universal Declaration of human rights – both of which state unequivocally that the right to self-determination is a fundamental human right.  But to have the gall to actually exercise coercive political power over these countries in order to cover its own misdeeds exceeds even the normal limits of villainy.

The people of Turks & Caicos should be free to elect their own government; it should not be within the arbitrary discretion of the British whether or not they have a constitution.  And it is finally time to hang up the cleats on colonialism once and for all.  That’s so nineteenth century.

www.armstrongwilliams.com

“The Armstrong Williams Show” is broadcast daily on XM Satellite Power 169 from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

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