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Choosing which party to vote for on Election Day has always been easy for me and this year is no exception.

In fact, on December 18, 2007, I will find it much easier to vote for the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party than I did in 2003, 1998 or at any other election since I've been eligible to vote. I'm certain it's because I've gotten older and wiser. Today, I'm able see the forest and the trees and I know for certain that without trees, there can be no forest.

I believe that for any organization, political party, or business for that matter, to be successful, the leadership must first and foremost have a vision. From its inception in 1963, the leadership of the PLP has shown that they are/were visionaries, rather than reactionaries. This has been true since those five men met in a garage to conceptualized Bermuda's first political party, right up to our current leader, Dr. Ewart Brown. Almost immediately after Wilfred "Mose" Allen, Edward DeJean, Walter Robinson, Hugh "Rio" Richardson and Albert "Peter" Smith formed the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party, Sir Henry Tucker reacted and gathered a few white men and a few black men together and formed the United Bermuda Party. From 1963 until today, the UBP has been reacting to the PLP, and hence many of the policies and platform initiatives that Bermudians think have been spawned from the UBP think tank, are really progressive ideas stolen from the PLP.

In addition to being the first political party, the PLP was also the first political party to produce an election platform/manifesto.

In one of its earliest platforms you will find the following: "The programme deals with social measures such as housing and education; problems which must be resolved so that our people can live to the fullest and so that Bermuda's most vital resource, its people, can be developed."

For those who have tried to rewrite history, you should know that 44 years ago the PLP proposed an education system that would provide "subjects in the trades, arts, catering, sciences, management, and commercial subjects."

Forty-four years ago the PLP said "Our Department of Tourism will seek an increase in the number of visitors and ensure an even flow of visitors by encouraging conferences, business conventions, and cultural activities during the winter season."

Clearly, the introduction of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf was an important fulfillment of this goal.

The founding fathers of the PLP proposed a Ministry of Housing whose mandate would be to "build housing projects which would be maintained at the highest standard and made available to working class families for a reasonable rent". They also proposed that these housing projects would be built on "Crown Lands" and sold at cost to Bermudian families.

On Finance, you will read in this 44-year-old PLP platform the following: "Tax reform will be a major objective of a PLP Government. Bermuda's present regressive system of taxation must be completely replaced by forms of taxation based on the ability of the individual to pay. The Ministry of Finance will be responsible for determining monetary and fiscal policies for the purpose of maintaining a robust economy..."

Bermudians should know that the above proposed initiatives of the PLP were made long before Bermuda had a ministerial government. It is proof enough for me, and should be proof enough for all Bermudians to see, that the UBP has always been, and remains today, a copy-cat party.

If one compares the PLP's 2007 Platform "Patterns for Progress" to its first platform, it is blatantly obvious that the PLP has not strayed from the core values of its founders. Today, the PLP is led by another visionary, Dr. Ewart Brown, who, like the founders of the PLP, is not afraid to challenge the outmoded policies of the oligarchy. Partnering with our Premier is the Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance who is as fearless as the Premier and also a visionary. These two are supported by a team of men and women who, like the Leader and Deputy Leader of the PLP, have the integrity, intelligence and courage to move Bermuda forward.

For all these reasons, I urge Bermudians to vote PLP on December 18, 2007.[[In-content Ad]]

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