We at the Caymanian Compass, along with most in the Cayman Islands, enter the New Year with high hopes and high expectations, as well as with an additional commitment to high standards and journalistic principles.
We are especially buoyed by the New Year’s messages of our Premier, the Hon. Alden McLaughlin, and our Opposition Leader, the Hon. McKeeva Bush, both striking a note of comity and willingness to work together for the good of the country. Their words could be interpreted as an extension of an olive branch, albeit a bit short of a “mistletoe moment.”
Premier McLaughlin cited the unanimous passage of the National Conservation Law as “indeed a triumph of our democratic process and a testament to what I hope is a new spirit of cooperation and compromise among members of the House.”
For his part, Mr. Bush said, “We must be unified, not divided, to get through the great work that is before us.”
We agree.
In the past several months, this newspaper has been cited by the Premier as being too aligned with the Opposition Leader and the UDP, and cited by the Opposition Leader as being co-opted by the Premier and the PPM. The independent members appear convinced that regardless who this newspaper might be favoring, it certainly isn’t them.
Perhaps some clarification is in order:
The editorials, meaning the “opinions” of the Compass Editorial Board, are issue-oriented, not party or people driven. Most often in Cayman, issues do not have a large “political” component. Education, conservation, sanitation, crime and most issues facing the islands (and most municipalities beyond our shores) are nonpartisan and nonpolitical.
Put another way, worthwhile ideas are as likely to originate from our elected members in North Side or East End as they are from those in George Town or West Bay – regardless of their political affiliations or lack thereof.
On this Editorial Page, we expect to have an active, and activist, new year. Our readers can expect well-researched, strong, and unequivocal commentary on the major issues facing these islands, including these four:
Education: Cayman can no longer afford a second-class school system in our first-class country. The seeds of unemployment and social ills are sown in the classroom but flower in the street.
The Landfill: The recent conflagration at the landfill only underscores the health and wellness issues, both personal and economic, related to this simmering, possibly lethal, mountain of toxicity. A series of informative news reports and editorials will follow shortly.
Government Expenditure: The avaricious appetite of government to fund more services, more programs and more jobs has far outdistanced its ability to pay for its largesse. Fees on businesses, work permits, licenses, imported goods, etc., ad infinitum, have become almost confiscatory. Put another way, government can no longer afford itself – nor can the people of these islands.
Personal Freedoms: The encroachment of government, whether it emanates from the U.K. or the local legislature, should always be treated with skepticism – and most often resisted. For example, the right of privacy is so sacrosanct that the recent expansion of wiretapping regulations, especially in light of Cayman’s prominence as a financial services center, needs to be revisited in the New Year.
This newspaper, regardless of its own positions, will continue to welcome, and publish, contrary views in the form of signed letters to the editor and guest columns. Write to us in the new year.
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