Our primitive party system sells us all short

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19: Elections seem always to bring the gut reactions and base feelings out of people.

For that reason even the soundest of logic and proposed political strategies are generally trashed at the polls.

For that same reason also, thousands of years ago the great philosopher Socrates penned: “Would that the kings of the earth were philosophers (thinkers) or that the kings of the earth were given to the spirit of the philosopher. When power and wisdom become attached and when the baser (lower) things that beset men and cause them to rival one another are caused to be put aside...then and only then will we experience true freedom then and only then will we ever begin to see the light of day”.

The effects of successive general elections in which we have followed our guts have landed Bermuda in a quandary. Being angry with the PLP is no justification for another party or a formula for success. Just as seeing the failure of the UBP was no stamp of virtue for the PLP.

Having a clear vision of what the country needs is the only vehicle upon which any political strategy can be truly justified.

The role of the intellectuals of any country is to rise above petty gut feelings, loyalties and emotions and lead the people towards a true and more beneficent destiny.

The problem is not party politics but rather party construct. Neither party knows how to get out from under the constructs whose legacy haunts us and whose practices betray the majority of the populace.

They need help to get out from the systemic trap blocking them from being effective people organizations. Look at the empty primaries with 30 and 40 turn-outs — the winners boasting democracy has spoken, with only 20 votes as evidence.

Dig a little deeper and question how many candidates could not even reach the starting blocks to contest the precious 40 votes?

I have consistently called for national primaries; a certain date when the issues of who gets to run for whatever party is decided by the entire electorate and not a few party faithful or an expedient bunch grabbed or paid for at the last minute.

Too sophisticated

Bermuda is too sophisticated to have such a primitive party system. The ideals we used to tout can no longer be claimed as we hold on to obscure methods of retaining political oligarchies and elitism.

The only way is for members of the parties to recognize that democracy will always be denied until and unless the current malaise is interrupted and the voters of Bermuda join a mass strategy to overhaul how the parties function and the parliament is constructed.

The people of Bermuda want participation up against the reality that there will possibly never be an end to party politics. Notwithstanding, the role and weight of the parties can be altered to ensure individuals have more rights. It should be that individuals define the parties and not how it is currently, where the parties define the individual.

It may take some independents that are committed to reform to swing the balance of power towards reform. It is not enough for a party to stick into its platform fixed term elections, blah, blah, blah, unless the imperative is to empower the rights of people to stand and is coupled with other reforms such as national primaries, the ability for an electoral constituency to recall an elected individual at any time and a voters’ bill of rights which amongst other things gives the right for voters to raise items for national consideration and referendum.

The thinking conscious members of the parties, including many parliamentarians, do want a better system but they are hampered by tradition and blind adherence to an outdated system.

Loyalists, of course, view my words as apostasy but that’s part of the nature of life. Forgive them for they know not what they do.