Edward Hutcheson
As May 7th approaches, all registered voters and people who we think are registered will be faced with a common problem. Someone is going to tell you how you should be voting. PLP, FNM, DNA or Independent.
It really does not matter, someone’s representative or even the candidate is going to get in your face in an attempt to have a one-sided discussion with you, based on their overly informed opinion. I would implore you to have the discussion, and, listen carefully to what they are saying. Those who would be fair will give you their opinion and not try to “win the argument”. Those who would try to win the argument will be coming from an environment where discussion is not really allowed, a place where persons dressed in the same colours are routinely slapped down for expressing views that are dissimilar or not as radical as they should be.
Those who speak to you must be qualified to speak, and their speech should be such that they can have a discussion and walk away pleased that they had an opportunity to speak to a person who did not get all “yuck up”, because something was said that they did not agree with.
There are winners and losers in each election, but the real winners are the persons who can look over the fence or May 8th and say, ”Good morning” to their neighbour, sincerely.
We have to realize, that no matter who the winners or losers are, there are still couple of days left in that week, and those days are the beginning of another five year period where the colour of your flag or T-shirt has nothing to do with the routine responsibilities of life.
If you do not see it this way, you may have to find a Pastor, psychiatrist or liquor store, if things do not go your way on May 7th.
April 21, 2012
If only the premise of your advice was true, we should all anticipate with bated breath, our political encounters in the coming weeks.
However, it is too bad and oh so sad that come Monday, 07th May, we in The Bahamas will be faced with what, effectively, is a non-choice, that is one merely based on personalities in our political arena.
This is because regrettably, we have a political class all cut from the same political cloth and which has demonstrated consistently no differences by which they can be judged in any of the following:
** Political philosophy;
** Political economy;
** Size of Government;
** Level of Government intervention in the economy;
** Separation of Church and State;
** Coherent monetary and fiscal policies;
** National security;
** A vision for our country!
My list could easily run to double the above number but my point is made. If members of our political class start to express themselves clearly along the above lines, then perhaps we would finally be facing a real choice amongst differences in our political landscape?
For the time being, we must be content to add colours to our choice of personalities.