I should begin ideally with an appropriate salute to our Great Republic, because on this, the 36th anniversary of its founding, the mood should be patriotic and celebratory.

Its citizens should be in locked in praise, as they assess the state of Trinbago against those age-old ideals of democratic government, such as justice, order, responsible leadership, and the good state, which Plato laid down some 2,000 years ago in The Republic – a foundation work in western political thought.

Given the events of the past two weeks, citizens in many quarters are claiming to be ashamed as they look at state of our Republic; they say those events have driven them more into distrust, and systemic cynicism.

On call-in radio, there are expressions that our young Republic has been violated, dis-respected, and abused — voices indicate how far away governance has fallen from those Platonic ideals, and the inherited Westminster tradition.

In the market, an unidentified shopper approached me to enquire whether the country should continue to address Cabinet members as Honourable.

His argument was that after listening to the Prime Minister's Address to the Nation last Thursday, he discovered that there are "different truths" — half-truths, limited- truths, and out-of-context truths.

As I walked away, I recalled to myself that Plato, in The Republic wrote of the "Noble Lie" — the untruth the elites in Athens told knowingly "to maintain social harmony", as they advanced the agenda of the oligarchy.

Of course, that differed markedly from the "Big Lie", which was advanced, according to Joseph Goebbels, by Hitler himself.

Hitler, it is said, believed that a political lie must be "so colossal" that no one would believe that someone "would have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".

The political lie, he advised, must always carry "a force of credulity", even though the masses are corrupted by their "emotional nature, and primitive simplicity".

He advised that "expert liars, and all who conspire in the art of lying" must remember that even when a political lie is nailed down, it must always leave traces behind. Frankly, I do not believe the events of the past two weeks surrounding Clause 34, was all about lies, or diluted truths.

Rather, I interpret the matter in which the Prime Minister claimed that the ex-justice minister had mis-represented himself to Cabinet as just another of the People's Partnership Government's daily dose of "mis-steps" to the Republic.

Responsibility cannot be borne solely by the ex-minister Herbert Volney, not when the Attorney-General, the Cabinet's Legal Adviser, who holds final responsibility for legal matters, attended the decisive Cabinet meeting.

I also have difficulty understanding the Prime Minister's statement on Thursday evening that she spoke with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, who assured that the Attorney-General had nothing to do with Clause 34, being sent to the President for proclamation on Independence Day.

The Chief Parliamentary Counsel (CPC) reports directly to the Attorney-General. Does the PM expect us, in the Republic, to believe that the CPC by-passed the Attorney-General and went directly to the President, with an un-signed Proclamation Order?

If so, the Prime Minister, in firing the Justice Minister, should have announced that the CPC had been reported to the Public Service Commission.

And what now of Mr Volney? Did the Prime Minister, in her address, establish, at least, a prima facie against him for mis-behaviour in public office? Will the Attorney-General be referring Mr Volney to the Director of Public Prosecutions?

Mr Volney is not known to be a team player, and outside the corridor of power, he could be an un-guided missile directed at the heart of the People's Partnership Government. Reports from St Joseph say that the missile is already being fuelled up.

Then there is National Security Minister Jack Warner. His dismissal is equally deserving of a PM's Address to the Nation. Unfortunately, for the PM's Government, Warner remains an untouchable, just like the FBI's late director, J Edgar Hoover, who held up his bag of secrets over American presidents, and politicians.

Warner's assault on the President of the Republic, and the Anglican Dean last week were sufficient reasons, for a PM, sensitive to political traditions of the Republic, to announce his dismissal, alongside the ex-justice minister.

Last July, the PM claimed that Warner was "a man of action"; he in turn, trumpeted that he had "the answer" to the Republic's crime problems, which would be released "within two to three weeks" in his personal crime plan.

Today, the only "benefit" that has come to the Republic is Warner's lip — un-zipped, and loose.

So where are we this morning, a week after the march of discontent? The Opposition Leader's political stocks are riding high at this time. He has articulated the instant with the energy and verve it demanded.

Now it demands that he translate that discontent, strategically, into another phase in which those people can articulate their power peacefully, again.

Nonetheless, Great is our Republic!

• Keith Subero, a former Express news editor, has

since followed a career in

communication and

management