By Stephen Gray
There it was in big blazing headlines in the newspaper box: “exonerated.” Not being a buyer of newspapers, I proceeded to the library to see who or what was “exonerated.” The information in the paper was this: the leader of The Land had been “exonerated.” It seems that huge amounts of the peoples’ money had been plundered, pillaged, looted and lost while he was in charge of the finances; it had been an inside job, but he did not know who the culprits were. He had also been a cabinet minister and sat in on cabinet meetings where important issues were discussed; and he was “exonerated” of any blame. And why not? He did not know there was anything amiss or that skullduggery was afoot. He was also a member of the treasury board, but still did not know about the peoples money going missing. He was also an important minister in the province where the depredations took place, but he knew nothing. All of this raises the questions, “If important positions are held by a person and this person does not know what is going on, does this make that person incompetent and unfit to hold positions of authority? Or is incompetence an asset, and a qualification for a person to be, ‘exonerated’?”
Still, it was good to see the leader get some support. At a news conference he had a former separatist seated on one side of him and a former opposition member on the other. Both these people were now proud members of the party they used to criticize. There they were, seated together, a political threesome basking in the delight of the “exonerated.”
Are the people of the land happy, now that their leader is “exonerated?” According to a poll, a majority of the people are not pleased over this exoneration. Should their leader call an election right away so that he can be “exonerated” by the people? Would a moral and principled leader not do this and say, “Let the people exonerate me for I trust the people?” Or is there still a “democratic deficit” in the land that cannot allow the people to have their say? Therefore, he will continue as the leader. A leader who in the words of an old saying: “Hears no evil, sees no evil, and speaks no evil” and is “exonerated” for not knowing there was evil afoot.
Does this now mean The Land is ruled by a bungler? For if one does not know what is going on, thinking people might say, “Is our leader incompetent because he is a know- nothing, and knowing nothing got him “exonerated.” Or will other people say, “Our leader appointed the judge who held the inquiry into the missing money and the judge ‘exonerated’ our leader, therefore he is still fit to lead us because he knew nothing, and it is not a crime to know nothing.” Though other people might say, “Nothing makes sense anymore; our money is missing and the political party who received some of our stolen money is now taking credit for investigating its theft. Is this party the Jekyll and Hyde of politics and do we have political monsters ruling the country?”
Anyway, the “exonerated” political leader has called in the police to investigate. Surely they will be able to find out where ALL the peoples’ money went? Will all the thieves be found? Were there secret bank accounts? Were there cancelled checks? Will people go to jail? Is the country safe from political robbers? Is there a secret government within the government? These are all questions that need answers so that our political system can be declared to be “exonerated.”
Stephen Gray
Nov. 7, 2005.
graysinfo@yahoo.ca website: http://www.oocities.org/graysinfo