Politics is about choices and choices are based on contrast. Elections require making intelligent contrasts of existing options that allow for the best selection of political ideas and for choosing the most capable politicians to promote them. Otherwise useful time is wasted. In Anguilla if the wrong choice is made — then five years are wasted. That is why to make the right choice by the people of this island is of immediate importance. We cannot afford to waste time. Look around and take the BVI as a comparison. Look at where they are; where they came from; and who runs things there. Be fair to rational analysis. Do the people who live there have anything to do with it? Then consider the progress made there as opposed to here in Anguilla over the same time span.
What makes politics a tough endeavour is that it is not an abstract concept. It deals with people, and dealing with human nature is not an easy chore. Some political scientists accept that proposition and further agree that people deserve the Government they get. Yet others believe that the majority can sometimes make mistakes. Ordinary people here in Anguilla easily concede that they are disappointed with this Government’s behaviour and say that the results and the way the vote went at the last election were a mistake. Hopefully they will correct it this time.
That is why we have to consider and take a long look at where to place the “x” this time. Our choice this time is not just to vote because it is a personal right — but because it is time to do the right thing and to vote for a chance for Anguilla. It is not hard to be fair to yourself or to push the garbage and propaganda aside and then to vote your conscience. However, there is the need for input to help to make the decision. Therefore, the quality of input will determine the type of election results we get every time and that seems to be the stifling issue for us all the time. We are not properly informed most of the time.
So if we want to move forward it is necessary to examine the sources of the input for capability and reliability. Are they articulating proper issues? Do they have what it takes to advance higher-level arguments, or are bogged down in simple and subversive gossip? “Garbage in garbage out!”
Yes we want to move forward they say! But that is a contradiction because if you keep on doing what you are doing now — nothing different will occur. And we are now behaving in the “same way” our forefathers did many years ago. When we look over fence we notice our neighbors property changed — but they first had to change their thinking because it is through the thought process that it all begins. The BVI have changed tremendously. Based on their natural and human resources, how did they do it? Perhaps by progressive thought and concentration or the important issues that caused the change.
Are they at a readiness curve at which we have not yet arrived? Because in his 2014 budget address the CM still continued to feign and flounder about the decolonization of Anguilla as if we are fools. Meanwhile Dr. Orlando Smith, the Premier of the BVI under the same political status as ours, signs MoUs with international giants like Disney World in the USA; with the City of Shenzhen in China; and Hong Kong. On the other hand, our CM continues to talk about Cap Juluca and Cuisinart like they “just come”. For whose benefit? The Disney World contract promises to bring some 250,000 cruise ship passengers yearly to BVI and the China Agreement will impact the entire BVI economically as well as socially. What have they got that we haven’t? We got the wrong people in the Choir and they are singing the wrong tune accompanied by worn-out instruments.
Is it that a large part of the answer rests on the issue of not having the right manpower in place in order to cause things to happen? The BVI are not begging — they selling! They are putting in place long-term sustainable relationships that will advance an entire population. They are not sitting around arguing about a status that will serve to benefit the powerbrokers and no one else. Neither are they waiting for somebody to give them “a lil’ something”. They are going after it. That is what you got to do to improve the standard of living in these countries and to create wealth. It has to come from somewhere because we don’t have it. Most developing countries recognize this. So to move forward economically we need to acknowledge the pro and cons of this thought process and, like the BVI, create better chances for economic take-off.
Therefore new leadership is pressing. It is pointless for us to fight with old hotels when in fact we should be searching for new or other kinds of investment opportunities. But we need people to do it. The fact that Premier Ralph Oneal, an Oxford University Graduate of Economics, was defeated in 2011 elections by Dr. Smith, signals where the bar should be set for persons seeking high political office in BVI and probably Anguilla as well. Obviously, the interaction of ideas from men of this calibre would raise the bar and would create a new thesis for which followers must compete. As a consequence the bar will be incrementally and constantly raised.
Undoubtedly, in an ever-changing world we must also change. We cannot limit or hold ourselves back. Why elect people who propose ideas that will not improve the future of our descendants? It makes no sense especially when their actions forewarn us that Anguilla will not go forward. Today, in Anguilla, lives a man born of and on this soil of humble circumstances. However, he was able to migrate to England and has now returned after being Mayor of Bambury, the historic town of the “cock horse” nursery rhyme fame. It shows the attitude that we require is to reach for the top. Yet, now with our own hands, we are stifled by ignorance and egotism of our leadership. We know that this does not make for good government. And as long as this Government remain in power we will continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel. By their word and action they have committed us to that status, since the only idea advanced so far is Independence with little improvement in human or natural resources. Yet, through it all, the CM says that it is for love of country. Some Country! Some Love! Choose ye who will serve us best and forget the rest! That is what is necessary, and it can be done within the next year.
