The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune..

Mr Christie and the PLP have a golden opportunity.

A golden opportunity, you say? That's right, no pun intended.

It was suggested to me on Tuesday, that the May 7 poll won by Mr Christie and the PLP with a landslide presents them a great opportunity to prove their doubters wrong.

They will inherit a modernised infrastructure - water, roads, airport and harbour and more so they can concentrate on improving education and the myriad of other problems with services provided by the government and, of course, reduce government spending and borrowing. Not to mention the fact that they can blame their predecessors for increasing the debt and having to borrow even more to finish off their projects.

I'm hopeful Mr Christie will want to leave a clean and admirable legacy so he will not appoint some of his former Cabinet colleagues that caused him so much embarrassment during his last stint as PM (2002-2007). He certainly has some good talent there in his new M.P's, like Dr. Andre Rollins, Mr. Khaalis Rolle and Dr. Danny Johnson to name a few.

In the final, the public policies the PLP choose will be what helps make The Bahamas a better place for future generations or help push us further along the Greek and Italian roads to economic ruin. One thing we need to get under control in our politics is what Dr Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute calls "The Systematic Organisation of Hatreds".

Dr Higgs writes: "In politics and government, however, the institutional makeup fosters hatred at every turn. Parties recruit followers by exploiting hatreds. Bureaucracies bulk up their power and budgets by artfully weaving hatreds into their mission statements and day-to-day procedures. Regulators take advantage of artificially heightened hatreds. Group identity is emphasised at every turn, and such tribal distinctions are tailor-made for the maintenance and increase of hatred among individual persons who might otherwise disregard the kinds of groupings that the politicians and their supporters emphasise ceaselessly."

Hopefully it will be different going forward.

RICK LOWE

Nassau,

May 8, 2012