The Similarity

Perhaps because it represents the main destination of Dominican emigration, the United States has become the main reference for the public agenda plan and for developing political or corporate speeches about the economy and society.

That model has been so influential that the previous president, Dr. Leonel Fernández, promised to turn the urban environment into a “Little New York,” in reference to the benefits offered by that American metropolis where more than one million fellow citizens live.

Because of its vertical real estate growth, tunnels and elevated passageways, and because of Santo Domingo’s metro, it can be said that the Dominican capital is seeking a profile somewhat similar to the famous “tower of Babel,” with chimerical disproportion maintained.

Every resident on this island has a relative or associate who tells him/her about how fascinating it is to live “in the first world,” where all basic services, including Social Security, are guaranteed, although we recognize that every story is related with a proper dose of fantasy.

It will always be beneficial for a community, or citizens in particular, to identify successful references like the north, even more so if it is a nation that in fewer than 200 years became the world’s leading economic power.

It would be a serious mistake to try to emulate this nation in terms of its enormous consumerist ambition, its devastating military power, or any expression of the sickness it suffers from, dubbed as “wild capitalism” by Pope John Paul II.

The United States is big — not because of the Pentagon, the White House, Congress, the CIA, or the FBI, but because of its political constitution and its justice system that works almost perfectly, which allows all of its citizens to know and enjoy their rights.

When all Dominicans are equal before the law, when the state constitution is fully respected and the justice system is applied against every offender, regardless of social or political status, that day, the Dominican Republic will be very similar to the United States.