The road to hell is paved with good intentions

As I closely monitor the new administration’s efforts, and progress toward Madagascar’s recovery, I get a glimpse of President Ravalomanana, the dreamer, and I get an idea of the true size, and magnitude of his dream. And what a beautiful dream it is, indeed. I should be happy, even overjoyed, but I am not. No, not yet. Decades of gross governmental misconduct, and abuse of power have left a lingering stench that is sure to keep true happiness in check. Nonetheless, I am hopeful, and cautiously optimistic that maybe, this time, things will be different. Maybe, the dreams of an entire nation will not, once again, turn to dust, and their lives will not become but a virtual “graveyard of buried hopes”. Maybe, just maybe… As we all know, when it comes to governments, and corporations, prostitution is not the oldest profession in the world, corruption is. When you get to the heart of the matter, a prostitute, and a corrupt government official, or business executive have a lot in common. They all exchange their moral, and ethical values for perverse monetary gain. There is one big difference, however: most prostitutes either do not know any better, or do not have a choice; government officials, and corporate executives, on the other hand, do know better, and do have a choice. Just as mankind has yet to successfully eradicate prostitution, we must always remember that fighting corruption is a never ending battle. Coming up with the appropriate measures, and implementing them are just part of the preliminary skirmish. The real battle only begins when you try to keep these measures in place, enforce them, and oversee the overseers. Because this phase of the battle involves a rather distasteful personal, relentless, and bloody hand to hand combat, this is where most people lose sight of the real goal, and give up. It is a daunting challenge to keep a healthy system of checks, and balances going. However, we must always keep in mind that this is not a battle we can afford to lose. Quite simply, we cannot win the war, without winning this critical battle. If we lose, despite our best intentions, we will probably end up in a worse hell hole than we have ever been in. Thus, we must guard against complacency, and against our natural tendencies to follow the path of least resistance.