By Mario deSantis, January 28, 2000

In my previous article(1), I mentioned how the purposely managed economic system is driven by the written word(2), that is Premier Romanow's Rule of Law. The written word, just or not just, has become the premier economic tool to leverage our economic system on behalf of the few and privileged(3). In this autocratic environment, freedom of expression must be curtailed and dissenters must be muzzled. Therefore, when Karen Ponto, a Saskatoon nurse, expressed publicly the concerns of life and death problems facing nurses in Saskatoon, the health district acted immediately and had their lawyer write a letter and ask Ponto for a clarification of her comments(4).

Ponto and Rosalee Longmoore, president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, felt that this letter was not warranted and have charged the district of intimidation. Ponto has said "...If they think that a lawyer is going to muzzle me or any of the nurses... they're sadly mistaken..."

We must congratulate Karen Ponto and Rosalee Longmoore, they recognize that civil liberties are being suffocated by our public agencies and that our patients are at risk at our hospitals. This state of affairs must not continue, and therefore, we need more people speaking out against our political and bureaucratic Tin Pot dictators(5). In case you have difficulties in identifying a Tin Pot dictator here are some observations:

• a Tin Pot dictator tries to control the work environment and every person in it,
• a Tin Pot dictator makes all the decisions to the point where participation becomes nonexistent,
• a Tin Pot dictator acts so certain and sure about everything! that they soon , seem brittle, plastic not authentic(6)

Endnotes

1. Pat Atkinson, the Shortage of Nurses and the Rule of Law, by Mario deSantis, January 26, 2000

2. In the article mentioned above (endnote 1.) I have implicitly described the "written word" as a directive-just or not just-sanctioned autocratically by an authoritarian office.

3. Our leaders can't recognize an asset from a hole in the ground, by Mario deSantis, December 2, 1999. An excerpt of this article "...Again, our leaders shift the blame of their shortcomings to outside entities and in doing so they perpetuate a management philosophy of 'break and conquer' and utter confusion for the benefit of the few and privileged..."

4. Nurse, union, accuse hospital district of intimidation, CBC Saskatchewan http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Jan 26 2000 9:06 PM EST

5. Saskatchewan Tin Pot Dictatorships: Lack of Integrity is Lack of Leadership, by Mario deSantis, February 7, 1999

6. Control, control, control... Oligarchy Kills Leadership! Essay, by Robert Penman, MANAGEMENT GENERAL, http://www.mgeneral.com/3-now/99-now/119903rp.htm