Eight score and ten years ago, Liberia was conceptualized, conceived, and birthed as the land of freedom, liberty, and dignity of man. For the freed black American slaves, it symbolized release from the scourge and the bondage of human slavery in the American South. The American Colonization Society (ACS) established this new nation, the second black Republic in history, on the West Coast of Africa, bringing the autochthonous into the realm of western civilization.  In nearly two centuries of sovereignty, the wretched conditions (education, domestic economy, healthcare, etc.) are evidence that the Republic has not live up to its true meaning and purpose.  The impecunious condition we find ourselves today is the culpability of us all --- the PEOPLE.

Liberia is a republic, which is a form of democracy; in a democracy, the POWER of the republic is vested in the sovereign – the PEOPLE.  To secure the Republic for posterity and defend individual liberty under the rule of law, the sovereignty establishes a government through free democratic elections to exercise the power of the state.  Thus, the government is accountable to the PEOPLE.

On October 11, 2017, Liberians (except those in the Diasporas) will exercise their fundamental constitutional rights of electing a new government, the third since the senseless civil wars of the 1990s.  Election campaigns are now in full throttle mode, but surprisingly without substantive pronouncements from the candidates on the apocalyptical problems facing the country:

• The monopolization of the domestic economy by foreign nationals (i.e., the Lebanese)
• The abject poverty of the masses
• The mediocrity of the education system
• The impecunious condition of the healthcare system
• Economic injustice
• The edema of corruption
• Constitutional reform
• Redefining our national character (i.e. new national symbol)
• External growing national debt
• Energy deficiencies

The above issues are of national strategic interest to the stability of the Republic, and the electorates have the right to know how each candidate will address these problems. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us (Progressives, Nationalists, the Clergy, and Patriots) to bring these issues to the attention of our various preferred candidates.  One of these candidates will be president on October 12, 2017. We want to know that the president-elect is ready to grapple with these pending portentous challenges.  One way to guess how the president-elect will address these issues is to challenge his candidacy about them before the election.

Let Us Challenge The Candidates Now To See How Well They Can Articulate These Issues.

What is your take? Please post your comments below: