Chasing Political Power

Socrates at Large – Chasing Political Power: Politics in its truest definition is an effort by a selected group to achieve remarkable governance to the development of a nation. I am happy that the present administration presented ideas and policies that on the face of it seemed to put people and their welfare first.  But on closer examination, theirs is nothing but narrow politics. Self-satisfying politics.

The government simply tapped into the emotions and the vulnerability of a desperate nation. A good part of the nation anyway. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to promise a financial ease or relief in a man’s pocket. Give him the impression you the government will be putting money into his or her pocket. One has to hand it to them. They crafted this idea in a very short period of time, didn’t do the math and ran with it.

Sadly, the nation didn’t do the math either. They just sucked it up hook line and sinker. When the word Prosperity was added it ran past Progress like Usain Bolt ran past  Gatlin. Even people who didn’t qualify for what was proposed jumped for joy. Indeed they were some of its loudest voices. Is it illiteracy of a people or we just lack the ability to think deep into things.? Ironically these people are now the very ones called on to DEFEND that policy that for them has not worked or helped them. In short, people didn’t read the fine print or looked at the side effects.

It is unfortunate that politics today is tainted with hatred, anger, slander, misunderstanding, and deception. In the pursuit of power, nothing is off the table. The ultimate goal justifies the actions taken. Whether ethical or not.

I would have hoped and I still hope that we elect government’s who pursue a noble political practice which centres on principles and values. Do political parties exploit the weaknesses of people? I would say yes.

Every society is divided into two neat groupings. Those with power and those without. Identifying who belongs in which group is sometimes very easy and sometimes not. The bottom line is, the pursuit of power when it becomes one’s goal is driven by an energy that is powerful beyond explanation.

That is not to say that all persons or groups seeking power mean us ill.  Along the way sometimes the end result becomes so important that it must be achieved by any means necessary. Such was the goal of the JLP.   The goal now must be to KEEP power. This is where the Yorker,  the curveball, and the Spin gets wicked. Are the people still vulnerable to whats coming? Of course, they are. In the absence of an effective opposition, the present government will win this 20/20 match in 9 overs.