Dear Editor,
Our country is one of contradictions, a satirist's paradise. One doesn't have to conjure up tales strange and bewildering, if not downright hilarious, as daily our news is packed with them. It would be delightful if only it all didn't impact so directly on our daily lives and the very future of our country.
Here, we have the People's National Party (PNP), which has formed the Government for the past four years, doing everything that makes it deserving of being booted at the next election, but convinced that despite its party's implosions over candidate selection and masochistic displays of just how not to govern, is hell-bent and convinced that it deserves to be voted back into power at the next election.
On the other hand, we have an Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that has worked feverishly to ensure that it is never voted back into power in the foreseeable future. It is leaderless, without a vision or direction.
So the PNP works to be out, but is convinced it should be in, while the JLP does not want in! Where does that leave Jamaica? We are left between the proverbial rock and a hard place, I suppose. There is no effective third party, and independent candidates have never traditionally done well at national polls.
The despair is deepened when hope for the future is dashed and when the young and aspiring candidates appear to be as tribal in their politics as their aging forebears have been. The new breed, however, come with an added ingredient called arrogance. The thought that they could be the people's servants is, based on attitudes demonstrated, infra dig. Given the chance, the new Turks would soon form themselves into an elitist club at Gordon House, where they conduct the business of Jamaica as they see fit, without consideration for the people whom they serve.
To the majority, I suspect, it is a case whereby the people are not deemed smart or clever enough to make decisions regarding their country and so anything that is dished out to them has to be accepted. In fact, there are some things the "natives" must not be made aware of as it might "not be in the interest of national security" that they should be, for instance.
These past three weeks I have been baiting the younger politicians of both parties on social media. This has been a confirmation of my position, but nevertheless a shock. A shock because I could not believe that they could be that arrogant and self-centred publicly. Their responses to questions go unanswered, and when they do respond, if there is a hint of criticism, the tone becomes aggressive and dismissive. It may be that these politicians view social media as nothing more than a platform for propaganda or unpaid commercials. I now know what constituents have found so repulsive and, as a consequence, their rejection of some of the existing young members of parliament offering themselves to the electorate for consideration for continued service.
As neither of our political parties appears to be sincerely interested or competent at representing us, let us use the next election to protest that we require better by spoiling our votes. Turn out in large numbers, but let the spoilt vote be large.
Colonel Allan Douglas
Kingston 10
alldouglas@aol.com
Spoil the votes!
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Our country is one of contradictions, a satirist's paradise. One doesn't have to conjure up tales strange and bewildering, if not downright hilarious, as daily our news is packed with them. It would be delightful if only it all didn't impact so directly on our daily lives and the very future of our country.
Here, we have the People's National Party (PNP), which has formed the Government for the past four years, doing everything that makes it deserving of being booted at the next election, but convinced that despite its party's implosions over candidate selection and masochistic displays of just how not to govern, is hell-bent and convinced that it deserves to be voted back into power at the next election.
On the other hand, we have an Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that has worked feverishly to ensure that it is never voted back into power in the foreseeable future. It is leaderless, without a vision or direction.
So the PNP works to be out, but is convinced it should be in, while the JLP does not want in! Where does that leave Jamaica? We are left between the proverbial rock and a hard place, I suppose. There is no effective third party, and independent candidates have never traditionally done well at national polls.
The despair is deepened when hope for the future is dashed and when the young and aspiring candidates appear to be as tribal in their politics as their aging forebears have been. The new breed, however, come with an added ingredient called arrogance. The thought that they could be the people's servants is, based on attitudes demonstrated, infra dig. Given the chance, the new Turks would soon form themselves into an elitist club at Gordon House, where they conduct the business of Jamaica as they see fit, without consideration for the people whom they serve.
To the majority, I suspect, it is a case whereby the people are not deemed smart or clever enough to make decisions regarding their country and so anything that is dished out to them has to be accepted. In fact, there are some things the "natives" must not be made aware of as it might "not be in the interest of national security" that they should be, for instance.
These past three weeks I have been baiting the younger politicians of both parties on social media. This has been a confirmation of my position, but nevertheless a shock. A shock because I could not believe that they could be that arrogant and self-centred publicly. Their responses to questions go unanswered, and when they do respond, if there is a hint of criticism, the tone becomes aggressive and dismissive. It may be that these politicians view social media as nothing more than a platform for propaganda or unpaid commercials. I now know what constituents have found so repulsive and, as a consequence, their rejection of some of the existing young members of parliament offering themselves to the electorate for consideration for continued service.
As neither of our political parties appears to be sincerely interested or competent at representing us, let us use the next election to protest that we require better by spoiling our votes. Turn out in large numbers, but let the spoilt vote be large.
Colonel Allan Douglas
Kingston 10
alldouglas@aol.com
Spoil the votes!
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