Edward Hutcheson
The doors are being knocked on and the porches and front rooms are getting kind of crowded as the lives of us normal folk suffer from the invasion of political foot soldiers putting forth their reasons and opinions as to why their party or man should lead or represent us for the next five years. No one has stopped at my house yet, but a party leader did catch me on the line at Wendy’s and we spoke long enough for me to build up an appetite. An appetite for politics is something that Bahamians seem to be born with.
Recently, I have been thinking about the political definitions and the process that we go through to define who we are as “political beings”, and it has occurred to me that this very personal process has been hijacked, sullied, and messed over. There was a time when siblings and older family members took every opportunity to inform me as to how I should be voting, when I disagreed, there was usually an argument that did not last very long and about five years would pass before we got into that discussion again. The formulation of an opinion based on empirical evidence seemed a distant exercise for most of them.
For a time I wondered if I was being disloyal to them, but that changed when some of them began asking me to write letters to the Tribune and Nassau Guardian on their behalf, expressing their opinion on a particular issue, and, to sign my name to those letters. This was the “okay!” moment for me. Few of us have the courage to get into trouble for ourselves and others so I became a coward and decided that I would only sign my name to letters that reflected my opinion.
The reflection of a citizen’s informed opinion is what politics should be about. Nationally, we could be doing a better job of informing ourselves about the issues, but it has gotten so bad that laws have to enacted to protect us from the misuse of information that some claim to be public.
Have you listened to Members of Parliament, Pastors, Political Wannabees and pundits in the House of Assembly and Talk Radio, deliver a whole sermon that was prefaced by “something they heard”? And, there are Pastors, Political Wannabees and Pundits in the House of Assembly. So what about the definitions? The definitions have nothing to do with a five year cycle and they are applicable to all sanctioned beings, PLP, FNM,DNA or UBP.
The definitions are for all Bahamians and they are not cancelled because of “political change”. The definitions embrace the reality that even if your party does not get in you still have to go to work. If your affiliation to a political group changes because they have not done something special for you, you are nothing but a prostitute who is prepared to lay down for anybody or group who is prepared to “give you something”.
The definitions are grounded in the idea that you will put your country and the well-being of your neighbour before the demands of your political party; no more, no less. Can we do that? If we are able to this nation would be the better for it.
March 30, 2012
Having stood for Principals based on the rule of law, signed my name on the dotted line I can tell you this much:
Beware the cliff!
There seem to be three groups of people, those who would wish you to stand for their point or opinion, those who would seem to be with you as you approach the cliff but run at the first sign of trouble, and those who will push you right off it when your head is turned!
I have been approached dozens of time by those who, having unloaded their gripe about issues not connected to me directly, then promptly want to know what I will do about it!
Who put me in charge?
The second group are quite simply cowards, usually ignorant of the fact that the laws of the land are there to guide but also protect us.
This group would rather seek protection from personalities that display power, and use it.
They just want to be on the winning side, which does not lend itself to consistent behavior or positions.
The third group, perhaps the word Vapid suits, as they sek nothing more than a bit of blood lust, caring not that they are an integral part of the problem.
Collateral damage is their calling card, but they’ll not be found around for the clean up.
If you keep pushing decent responsible lawful informed people of the cliff, there will be none left to contribute decently to the debate or be a part of solving any given problem.
We keep following Einsteins theorem, Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, if one looks around, how could any other national outcome have been expected?