On the Liberian national symbol thingie, it says “Love of Liberty Brought Us Here.” A shining piece of evidence of what a lack of freedom the country its founders were fleeing – The USA – embodied in the late 1800’s. And then the history books and wikipedias tell us that the republic was doing great up until 1980 when there was a coup and everything went to shit and now unemployment is at 80%. 80%! That’s alot of people just hanging out, trying to survive without an income.
And so the man who put the W in warlord, president Richard Taylor, ran off a year or so ago and is hiding out hoping the world will forget about him much like they’d long forgotten Liberia. Now they’re having elections, and despite not being a citizen of Liberia, never having been there, and not having to live there afterwards, I like the two main candidates in this election:
In this corner, from the slums of Monrovia, international soccer (or football depending on what english you speak) star and all around national symbol of success – Former FIFA player of the year and huma nrights advocate, Mr…. Geooooorge Weah.
and in this corner, direct from Harvard where she got her masters degree in economics (i think). The pride of the World Bank and City Bank where she made a name for herself, former exile and political prisoner, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
As of this moment it’s a runoff and the results aren’t clear. The word is that the voting has been pretty good, transparent, and hey – considering the state of democracy these days – thats pretty good. I’m pullin for George. Though Id love to see the continent’s first female prez, I don’t dig her banking background… last thing we need in this world is citybank pushing credit card debt on more of us. 😉