Silly Season in Full Swing

Every time I consider hanging up my writing hat for some reason the urge to speak on a topic overwhelms me. This time it is the fact that we are currently in what I consider the most farcical election campaigns that I can remember. There is so much blind allegiances that I wonder it if makes any sense candidates campaigning. The most prevalent parties now aren’t political but more about what artist will be appearing at a rally. I have no idea who stands for what but I’m being bombarded already with tasteless name calling and slander. Full page advertisements laced with drivel and innuendo now occupy space in the newspaper that could be better used for more comics. At least Garfield’s humor is actually funny and tasteful as opposed to what is being spread.

From young I remember sitting and watching results come in. 1994 was particularly interesting for me because we had 4 candidates. Eventual winner Rommel Marshall won a hard fought victory over Derek Alleyne. The NDP’s candidate was a distant 3rd and Independent Candidate Reverend Gordan Mathews even collected a few votes. This election was interesting because it came on the heels of the 8% pay cuts and strikes. Also I knew that Social Studies for Class 4 would be about what ministry is ran by which minister, I was a nerd as a child so please excuse me. I also couldn’t figure out why a reverend would be involved in politics. There were issues all around to be seen and discussed.

The following two elections were less spectacular in nature because under the incumbent administration the economy appeared to bloom. Enter 2008 elections and the beginning of what we see today. The economy was in a decline due to a global recession. The opposition party capitalized on this and pushed the catch phrase of time for change to the masses. They believed that the then administration had been there too long and as such had gotten lazy and weren’t fit to rule anymore. The use of the most popular artist in the island to sing this jingle rang clear. I dare to say that this endorsement is what pushed the opposition at the time to victory. I listened and read many arguments about why the ruling BLP should be voted out and it felt as if 75% of those who argued for the change simply said “they’ve had enough time, give someone else a chance.”

We fast forward to this election and what do we have now? The same artist who sang for the DLP is now singing for the BLP. No manifestos have been launched yet but I’m bombarded with ads via all the forms of media and my social media site are awash with endorsements for each party. Social media also shows me the farcical and ignorant nature of many voters as endorsements aren’t coming based on points of issues. Issues such as someone’s sexuality or previous time in power are being put forward. What about the plans for healthcare reform? What about the plans to help sports and find us another World Champion or an Olympic Champion? Do plans for pension, education, job creation not matter? To me it seems like many votes will be cast depending on who holds the best fetes or who has the most money to spend on buying supporters.

The buying of supporters is nothing new as we know that many people cast their votes in hopes of being rewarded for it after. this has always been funny to me because you can't see in my voting booth so you have no idea if I did vote for you or not.However the amount of cash I saw or heard about being spread around during the last campaign and already for this campaign is staggering. It's even sadder to think that this money is from the parliamentarians pockets in some cases which means that this is the money that i as a tax payer have paid you in the last 5 years. At least you're giving it back to the people right?

In closing I will give up on caring and put my vote up for sale like everyone else. I’m not greedy all I want is an Alicia Keys concert and piece of land. I will just apply to Urban Development and have them build me a house since I voted for the right party.