thought leadership by Brian Dobbin Founder Citizens International & Elmsbridge
ANTIGUA’S SHINING FUTURE
aving lived on and off in the Caribbean for 20 years, with 15 of those in Antigua, I have never seen such a promising pathway ahead of this country. Growing up in eastern Canada, the word ‘Caribbean’ spoke of sunny days with clear green water sparkling behind a white sandy beach. But, beyond this physical appeal of the destination that Antigua has historically enjoyed, the country now additionally offers an international refuge for several 21st-century plights. These include medical lockdowns, rising authoritarianism, and an escape from tax-gathering governments that have been creating money for over a decade out of nothing and now need someone to pay their piper. Not the least of these plights is the West’s culture war on itself. Many of us who consider ourselves classical liberals believe that we won the major ideological conflicts of the 21st century. We fought successfully against and defeated imperialism in the first world war, fascism in the second, and communism in the cold war. Liberal capitalist democracy proved itself to be the leading ideology. And as the 20th century drew to a close and the 21st century rolled out, this capitalism helped bring over a billion people out of poverty worldwide. The number of people living in poverty in developing countries went from more than 50 percent in 1990 to less than 15 percent in 2015, thanks to the effects of capitalism. Technological innovation removed the need for phone lines and cables, and high-speed internet is reaching all parts of the globe thanks to Elon Musk and Starlink. Armed conflict has steadily fallen around the world, and the internet now
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THE CITIZEN