Once a central or federal government starts to exercise control over responsibilities of the local or neighborhood levels, at their expense but for the apparent gain of the country as a whole, that government is understood to be in breach of the values of liberty.
The local community of Great Guana Cay, which has stayed independent and self-sufficient for over 200 years and has evolved as a community to survive no matter what the external circumstances, now finds that a distant central government wants to take away its liberties and its primary source of employment: tourism.
Everybody who knows Guana Cay knows that the establishment of a California-style cookie-cutter golf course resort on about 2/5's of the island will devastate the tourism that the community relies on. People visit Guana Cay for its beauty, for its quietness, for its disregard of cookie-cutter California trash tourism.
By allowing an American-style development on Great Guana Cay, it's no secret that the community will face severe hardship. Tourists who have been visiting Abaco for years visit Guana for the natural, unspoiled environment and relaxed atmosphere of the village on the island. The Bakers Bay Club may bring in new jobs and some investment into the Bahamas economy; but it negatively impacts the economy of the people who settled and live on Guana itself, and offers no economic benefit to them whatsoever.
It is extremely rare these days for central governments to make decisions directly affecting locals without their involvement. But it is happening today in the Bahamas. People are outraged, but they have little voice.
In Harbour Island of Eleuthera, or Bimini, and in the town of Sandy Point: all across the Bahamas, local communities feel as though the government is acting like a shipload of pirates, cutting at their destiny in a risky gamble with Bahamas' future.
See a map of the current development scene in the Bahamas.
