Reid doesn't read

Daniel Thwaites

Sometimes I think: "If these are the new politicians, give me back the old ones." We want politicians to pull their hands out of our pockets, not push past the wallet to grab the manly parts. No man in Jamaica wants to feel that! Ahhmmm ... OK, maybe some in J-FLAG do, and you know what, that is their right. But most of us don't want it.

These are Senator Reid's words:

"I know what I'm going to say is a little controversial ... . China has a one-child policy ... . I am not opposed to a mandatory policy of no more than two children for any male or female for the next 10 years until we resolve our socio-economic issues."

This was no slip of the lip by Ruel, as the preface of "I know what I'm going to say is a little controversial" would already prove. But from last year, before leadership challenges occasioned Ruel's ride into the Senate, he had pronounced that "politicians are afraid to stand up and say you can't have children if you can't afford it". So being that he is now a politician, he has chosen to not only stand up, but to not be opposed to a two-child policy.

I wonder why he would limit it to 10 years? But that aside, it's a curious verbal formulation to say "I am not opposed," as opposed to saying, "I support." Well, I am not opposed to senators thinking twice before they propose to finagle with the basic relationship between government and citizen.

The cavalier invocation of China's one-child policy requires strict and total denunciation. Reid is either unaware of, or insensitive to, the unspeakable human pain and suffering inflicted by China's despots. That policy should be mentioned only for condemnation, and never as a model, or near-model, of what could be appropriate in Jamaica. I'm going to insist that Ruel read.

Quite apart from the levies and fines on people for having more than one child, there was the bureaucratic corruption surrounding permission to have children, on top of forced abortions, selective abortions, and infanticide. Not to mention that because of that botched experiment in treating people like guinea pigs, China is about to become ground zero for 'bymatickal' behaviour in the world.

When you have millions and millions more men than women, it's a matter of pure mathematical certainty that (to borrow from Buju) dem gwine waan join committee, an' waan office inna Beijing City, an' dat gwine gwaan ova wi live body. The alternative is that China's horny goats of unwifed men will burst their borders to hunt for females from new island hubs. They may even be called 'Goat Islands'. Never mind if those places had been set aside for lizards; those will not be found. Ask a certain entertainer. Every Goat will have his day, and every Lizard his 4 o'clock.

enormous misstep

This proposal is such an enormous misstep that it is difficult to look beyond it to try to find intelligence in Reid's underlying sentiments, but the principle of intellectual charity demands that we ought to do that. With that in mind, we can say that behind Ruel's screed, one can find a sound concern and moral disgust with the casual production of children.

This is how liberalism can beat a direct path into tyranny. For if you believe that it is society's responsibility to care for each child, owing to the extreme irresponsibility of many among us, the thought will eventually surface that there must be some control at the factory and point of production. That, I believe, was Ruel's road, and so I understand where he is coming from.

But liberty is precious, even if routinely abused, and we need to think creatively about using Government's enormous capacity to educate, nudge and guide people into better choices, rather than copying schemes that have led to unthinkable human misery. The law is a blunt force and a cruel reed, and we must avoid policy that will inevitably lead to abuse.

Sadly, there are many men in Jamaica who 'get' children, as if they are assigned to them by an external agency and have very little to do with the concerted action they undertook of putting on their best clothes, hopping a ride to the dance, spying a hot girl, getting a friend to make an introduction, letting her know is she yuh ah pree, puttin' on nuff argument, sending her a couple dirty text messages next day, getting some naked pics in return, then sweet-talking her skimpy clothes off in person by promising her 'the world' (or a trip to KFC, to bring the saying in line with reality).

Last time I had cause to mention Senator Reid, it was to support his effort to bring a little Christianity up at Jamaica College as an antidote to some of the cultural rot. And actually, it is a vexing theological issue as to whether Jesus was himself an unplanned pregnancy. The more bland formulation of the question is whether the salvific plan of sending Jesus was in God's contemplation from Creation, or whether it became necessary only after the Fall? But I like my way of putting it better.

It would seem to show that even God doesn't plan every pregnancy, and Lord knows we can't either. In fact, most of us wouldn't be here if people hadn't been irresponsible and gone right ahead and had children before being able to afford them. I know I wouldn't be.

There is an enormous social cost accompanying our desire for people to live their own lives, make their own mistakes, and own their own destinies. That's because people do lots of stupid things, like have loads of children they can't care for, and generally they want and demand for others to pay for their mistakes. They also vote for politicians who assure them that it's everyone else's responsibility ('society') but their own.

So the core commitment to liberty can be sorely tried. But even so, I believe it's Ruel's job to control Ruel's reed, and I would not be opposed if he would kindly desist from saying it's the Government's job to control mine.

Daniel Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.