I can still hear my elementary school teacher telling me that ‘empty vessels make the most noise,’ and to this day, when I hear all the nonsense from the political pundits and the AUM party in general, that admonition of many years ago comes back to me. And nowhere were these empty vessels more evident than a few Saturdays ago, when the very same AUM bunch, dressed in their chartreuse outfits, brought their dog and pony show to the not so friendly confines of Island Harbour, the home of District One. I will have much more to say about this a bit later.
It was amazing if not downright disgraceful, to see that the AUM would have the temerity to go up to Island Harbour in the first place to roll out what I thought to be a farce, and I’m being kind, in the manner in which they did. In that this is an election year, one gets tired of all the politicking that’s taking place, knowing full well that we’ve heard this all before. So after all these years of hearing the same nonsense, we have to conclude then, two things: the first of which is that our politicians are woefully incompetent, and secondly, that they must think that we the people lack the political sophistication to know when we’re being had.
The world is constantly changing and it’s in our best interests to keep up with that change or suffer the consequences. We are already suffering the consequences of sorts from our inaction on different fronts. We have failed to properly educate our children, and as a result we have a generation that is woefully unprepared to assume the reins of government if and when the time comes. We have reverted to a plantation mentality where knowledge is power, and therefore without the knowledge we have no power. This government for far too long now has failed us at our very basic needs. We have lost the GE plant, we have seen the privatization of Angelec, the hospital and the list goes on. When will we stand up and be counted? Martin Luther King said that: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”
When will we leave our comfort zone? If we continue to seek refuge in our comfort zone, we may wake up one day and find out that there is no comfort left. A German priest, a nemesis of the Nazis during WWII, Martin Niemoller, concerned about what they were doing, captured the moment with this poem. “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I wasn’t a Socialist. Then the came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.” Do we want to stand on the sidelines as innocent bystanders and sanction another five years of subpar existence, or do we want to make a change? President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in his 1963 inaugural address admonished his people with: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” My fellow Anguillians, what are we doing for our country?
I’m afraid to say, not a hell of a lot. In James 2:18 the bible tells us that: “you have faith and I have actions, show me your faith and I shall show you my faith by my actions.” What actions have we taken, when we let our government trash our credit rating, let foreigners come in and take over our indigenous banks, when we let one man who is tasked with our welfare – when it comes to our hard earned money – just sit there and do nothing. Who are we, and just what is it that we stand for? We stood up for the rights of Indian nationals when they were being abused at the hands of Carillon, but for our own rights, we were missing in action. I get the distinct impression that in the eyes of our leaders we’re worth less than zero. If that wasn’t the case, we would have gotten detailed explanations as to why all of this happened, and that it wasn’t a spineless government’s way of exacting its pound of flesh from Osborne and Victor. Remember the old Turkish Proverb: “It’s not just the fault of the axe, but the tree as well.”
We have chosen a government that has been an abject failure on many different fronts and it’s all because we’ve not held them accountable. At times it has been hard to figure out on whose side they are. We’ve seen bills passed without following protocol and what was even more disturbing has been the content of the bills. It appears that our government, who I’m sure always has our best interests at heart, felt that they were doing the right thing when they gave ECCB immunity from prosecution should they engage in any questionable behavior. They could transfer all of our money to the bank in St. Kitts and we would have no recourse. How is that for looking out for our best interests?
One of Mr. Isaacson’s theses says that ‘creativity comes from collaboration,’ but it seems that collaboration is something that we’re in short supply of at the moment, and has been for quite sometime. We’re a high end tourist destination and we depend of foreign investment, but it has to be a win win situation for all concerned. We will bend over backwards to accommodate and patronize foreign entities, but when it comes to our own, we line their path to success with minefields the size of Texas. We have spent millions to accommodate foreign investors but for our own, that’s a nonstarter. We are presently courting Seaborne Airlines to come in, why couldn’t we have courted LIAT a bit more to make it worth their while to continue coming here? We will build an airport for American Eagle and have them leave, but we can’t utilize our local carriers like Rainbow and the like? We will give our native sons such a difficult time flying in and out of Anguilla, while every other island in the Caribbean welcomes them with open arms. The bible says, in Mathew 7:5, “You hypocrite, first you take the beam out of your eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Change is inevitable, and it is said that in life change is the only constant. Nothing stays the same, but change without constitutional and electoral reform, and all that they entail, are nothing more than lip service, for without these two we’re back to business as usual. When we started out as a young nation, our population was about half of what it is now. We continue to govern our present population, the same way we governed our previous population. We’re like Cinderella’s ugly sisters trying to fit their grotesque looking feet into the glass slipper. We know what happened there. The shoe would not fit. When a soldier crab outgrows his shell, he sheds it and looks for a bigger one. (It’s quite a process to watch, by the way.)
Thomas Paine writing in his “Common Sense”, “origins and design of government in general with concise remarks on the English Constitution,” argues that: “If a colony continues to increase, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never form to themselves and interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often; because as the elected by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months…This frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, depends the strength of government and the happiness of the governed.” So there you have it, when have we mutually and naturally supported each other?
In politics, it is essential to collaborate in order to get anything done, but at the same time one has to be very discriminatory with whom one chooses to collaborate. As you all know, the AUM had one of their rallies about three weeks ago in Island Harbour, and one writer of a letter to the editor of this paper, described it best as “pretentious Unity.” Anyone who was there knowing our history, has to be asking themselves, AUM seriously? My people in district one, my father Walter Hodge, and several other members of my family, put their lives on the line for our beloved Anguilla – and to watch Hubert Hughes and his travelling circus come to town to announce that he was anointing the next CM in Dr. Lorenzo Webster was nothing more than a shameless attempt to garner votes.
It is sad to see that Dr. Webster, who is family, allowed himself to be used in the manner that he is. Hubert now realizes that the AUM, elected on a false premise, is in trouble and the good doctor is supposed to be the knight in shining armor riding to the rescue.
People in District One, are we that blind that we can’t see through this farce? Think of all the young men who risked their lives while Hubert and his ilk supported Bradshaw, and in so doing opposed us every step of the way. This is the guy whose party you want to keep in power, the guy who has insulted Ronald on numerous occasions and now wants to capitalize on his name? Are you kidding me? Let me play devil’s advocate here for a moment. Let’s say Lorenzo actually wins the seat. Do you for a moment think that Haydn and that group will actually let him become CM? Do you remember how they looked down on us coming from Island Harbour, how they actually turned up their noses to indicate that we smelled, that when they wanted to close the Island Harbour School their reasoning was that the kids were going to be fishermen anyway, so why bother? Lorenzo, you have made a pact with a man who only knows us now because he wants our support, and joining a marathon at the halfway mark in hopes of getting to the ribbon first is dishonest to say the least. Let us not be disillusioned here: Hubert Hughes is not our friend.
We have come too far and to stand around and listen to the crap that came from this party, and it makes me – and all who fought for the cause – sick. On Election Day, let us send these charlatans packing. A vote for Hubert Hughes and the AUM is a slap in the face of District One, and all of Anguilla for that matter.
We can’t allow ourselves to be fooled by the shenanigans of those in power. It is clear that after all these years that we keep sending the same people to represent us and that they don’t know what to do. Let’s ask ourselves: Do we want more of the same, or do we want to turn the page? Let us show them that we mean business and the first order of business is to permanently retire the AUM. Let us show Dr. Webster that there are consequences for his actions. If you need a reason to justify your vote, against the AUM, let me give you a few: start with Angelec and the high cost of electricity, GE water plant, high unemployment, cronyism, nepotism, crumbling infrastructure, indigenous banks, education, constitutional and electoral reform and the list goes on. What fools these mortals be?
We have to make a path for our young college graduates to come back home and be the innovators that they can be. Remember: ‘vision without execution is hallucination.’ Let us help them execute their visions and not wait around hallucinating. Let us not listen to the empty vessels of which there are many this time around, but let us educate ourselves on the issues and vote with our minds rather than our hearts. Let us select those candidates who possess the will, the intestinal fortitude, the intellect and the courage to make the tough call that will put us back on course to be the Anguilla that our forefathers envisioned for us. So, until then, may God bless us all and may God bless Anguilla.
