COMMENTARY

Commentary: The Kennedys talk to the TCI Published on Thursday, August 27, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version By David Tapfer The passing of Edward ‘Teddy’ Kennedy jolted my memory as I recall two famous speech lines, one from Teddy and one from his brother the assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Both of these well known phrases apply to the people of the TCI. Teddy spoke after losing the presidential nomination to Jimmie Carter in 1980, saying: "The dream will never die" We believe our people still have a dream which is alive and well.” David Tapfer is a retired, US-born engineer and management executive. He is married to Yvette Robinson, a TCIslander born in Middle Caicos and raised in North Caicos. They have a home in Conch Bar, Middle Caicos. He is also the chairman of the Middle Caicos Branch of the opposition Peoples Democratic Movement. John Kennedy told us at his inauguration: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I believe John Kennedy would have identified with the PDM election slogan "Empower the People" and would have no interest in Misick’s "Bigger and Better" mentality. Today TC Islanders search for jobs to empower themselves and Bigger and Better government is now broke and broke down. To correct the years of abuse of Misick and Williams, we the people have lost the power to govern ourselves for the duration of this interim British government. Let us not lose the dream of a proper, dynamic internal self government run by Turks and Caicos Islanders, which goes forward without needing the British to straighten out the excesses we have witnessed the last six years. President Kennedy turned the US space programme, years behind the Russians, into a race for the moon and the USA easily won that race and is greater today for it. We have the people who can win our own moon race and provide us with a stable economy, which does in fact offer empowerment for all TC Islanders who embrace it.   Reads : 533 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *