Paul Burke
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/i-was-misrepresented_202697?profile=1234
Paul, the lack of political education is abysmal. However, the form that 'education' is going to take is crucial. My eyes and the eyes of the average person start to glaze over when you start to talk about these things and constitutional reform. There is no traction at the grass roots for that - inside and outside of the PNP. Most people are just desperately trying to survive. The rot has already set in. Any contractor will tell you that when there is rot, you have to break some boards, tear things apart. Stretching a metaphor, if you want to wait to convince the homeowners (us) that you need to educate them about rot and the chemistry behind it before doing the work, you will be waiting a long time. There are a lot of us. However, those who control the levers of power in Jamaica know what needs to be done. Those who control the levers of power: the private sector, the public sector, the churches, the unions, the lawyers, the media, the army, the police association, they know what needs to be done. Constitutional reform, political financing reform, legal reform, all these things have been studied to death. The reports and conclusions sit on the shelves. Dem politicians samfie wi. The challenge is who is to lead the charge? Who is going to quarterback this and unite the holders of these various levers to steer the political establishment, the Brogads in the direction we need to go - Vision 2030. The 'political education' can continue - for those who are interested but what we need now is leadership and I am not talking about a 'Brogad'. Unlike you, I no longer believe that the PNP should be the vehicle for this. The PNP served its purpose but it is time for us to move on. Why should we waste time trying to resurrect a morbibound corrupt institution just to add to the one now in power? The JLP is just going back to the status quo - feeding at the trough so don't even think about it just do an end run around them. I know it's hard to leave the orange womb but it is time for us to develop a new way of politics which eliminates these issues. Go straight to the levers of power. A person of your intellectual brilliance and ability should now be working to organize the whole of civil society, including we in the diaspora to form some kind of political consensus going forward, some kind of Government of National Unity, a coalition - whatever you want to call it. I will not quibble with semantics. It happens in some Territories in Canada - no parties and the sky doesn't fall...The Manifesto: Vision 2030! The politicians alone will never do it voluntarily - limit their power and create true oversight over themselves? Yu Mad! Dat ain't gonna happen so don't waste your breath. Dem tek wi fi eediat but most of us do know what is going on.... Like how we came to a consensus on being fiscally responsible, we can come to one about being politically responsible but only if we, civil society, force the politicians to do so. People talk BS about we need an 'Opposition' in Parliament. Actually we don't. We have not had true democracy in Jamaica for decades. Most of us don't even bother to vote anymore because we don't like the rules of the game. We dress up what we have and put the British Crown on top of the pile of crap but we are only fooling ourselves. What we currently have is not a democracy - not if you define democracy as the governors having the consent and support of the majority of the governed. What we currently have are two corrupt, rabid political tribes led by grinning kin teet conmen along with their relatives, friends and cronies in the private sector who have hijacked our democracy and they are raiding our treasury. Wake up, smell the roses and stop sounding like some naive idealistic maiden who has had her feelings hurt. Corruption is so deeply rooted in our society, it is seen as normal - even in the media. You just experienced that. Most of the best reforms in our history have come about not because we have one of those tribes in 'Opposition', they have come about mostly through societal pressure and media focus. For example, the reduction in the voting age to 18, the reduction in political violence came about because civil society demanded it - not because the politicians suddenly had an awakening on the Road to Damascus. The same thing with the little electoral reform we have had. Left to the politicians, political violence would still be raging. Left to them alone, ballot boxes would still be being stuffed by their thugs. Now, we have much more random violence but that is a topic for another time....
So Paul, will you be able to take off the orange shirt for awhile? I know the orange Kool-Aid is powerful....
Comments
Post a Comment