A Comic's View: Watch out, it's silly season

As of Friday, October 23, 2020

By INIGO ‘NAUGHTY’ ZENICAZELAYA

Whether some of you realise it or not, “silly season” is upon us again and the three major parties, FNM, PLP and DNA are already jostling for position.

VOTER BEWARE

Not to be outdone by their respective parties’ machinery, incumbents are boisterously scurrying to protect their seats all the while past political failures, some dripping in scandal are resurfacing from their political graves in a bid to reclaim their seat on the PLP political gravy train.

In addition to all of this anticipated and expected madness from the “Big 3”, a whole new band of political “activists” and “independent” candidates with political aspirations, (delusional in some cases, but aspirations nonetheless) have arisen.

These political attention seekers are continually working social media, half the time regurgitating stale political talking points at nauseam and the other half spewing half facts on a myriad of political topics, with zero solutions or positive suggestions to rectify the problem they are ranting about.

Finger pointing and innuendos at its finest

All of it strategic to suit their end game – which is social media “clout chasing”, as the youngsters say.

It’s all about the number of “followers” one has.

Obviously the “spotlight” has hooked another batch of addicts.

Last time I checked though, if one isn’t monetising a vast following it’s all for naught.

Like my late mentor and one of my closest friends Richard Bethel would say: “If it isn’t making money, it isn’t making sense.”

Maybe that’s another part of these new breed of activists and independents’ end game, to turn a quick profit by inciting the masses and muddying the political waters as if the “Big 3” aren’t doing enough of that already.

Further proof of the dire need of a Freedom of Information Act

Watch how quickly all their routines would change for the better, starting with the “Big 3” right on down. No more “fake news” – pertinent, factual information at our fingertips.

Sadly that is where we as a voting populace go horribly wrong by enabling these political “wannabes” with their hidden agendas and ulterior motives their 15 minutes of fame, by entertaining their “conspiracy theories” and half truths blindly with not one grain of salt.

All to suit their aforementioned end game – there is absolutely nothing to do with genuinely and realistically creating positive political change on multiple levels to benefit the nation and all of its citizens presently and into the future.

Nothing of substance, just posturing and endless pontification.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, freedom of speech and to have political aspirations and dreams, but respect the protocol that comes with the political process.

Spewing half truths and half facts just to garner attention and lay some social media “clickbait” to deflect from the latest poorly organised and attended political demonstration (or should I say get together due to the paltry turn out) serves no purpose.

It does, however, reveal the true intentions and motives of some of these “overnight” activists and independents, which have been questioned on several prior occasions.

Always consider the source during “silly season”.

FrustratedBusinessman 4 years, 2 months ago

The FNM still has until May of 2022 on their mandate, they would be remiss to call an election in this current political climate. This isn't an Andrew Holness situation where they are going to cruise to an easy landslide victory, believe it or not, most Bahamians probably are fool enough to vote Davis in. The best thing that they can do now is control COVID as best as possible, finish as much as they can of what they proposed in their manifesto (ie. term limits, FOIA), and hope the vote splits the right way. They are going to lose seats no matter what, the only thing to determine is how many.

The FNM colossally screwed their chances of reelection when COVID got out of control following the reopening of the border in July. If the cases would have remained as low as what they were pre-opening, they would have had a perfect opportunity to emulate Holness and Rowley to win another 5 years. The subsequent lockdowns have wreaked twice as much damage on them politically than raising VAT or the issues with the Grand Lucaya deal. Most voters have very short term memories, especially in the Bahamas.

trueBahamian 4 years, 1 month ago

Covid-19 finished them off. Hurricane Dorian was another disaster for them. This was a huge problem that nations much greater than ours would be challenged to address. However, there are failures that are unique to how this government handled and is still.handling this situation. The increase in VAT was not a bright idea. Don't think a poor man going to the store every day will forget he is taking less food home than he did before. There are other solutions to addressing our financial shortfalls than an increase to VAT. Keep in mind those with little, add little to.the economic pot. It.makes better sense to increase taxes on those that have more. No one wants to pay more taxes. But, for some of us it is better to give a little extra so the little guy can survive.

The PLP isn't the solution. But, neither is the FNM. The landscape has to change. We have no real leaders. Just hit air and arrogance masquerading as men.

FrustratedBusinessman 4 years, 1 month ago

I would not be quick to put the FNM out of the race yet. Remember, all a party needs to win a seat in the FPTP system is a plurality of votes, not a majority. If the vote splits 45% FNM, 30% PLP, 25% other, the FNM will still take the seat by virtue of how our electoral system works. They are very much still in the game depending on the actions they take between now and the bell being rung + how the vote splits.

Hurricane Dorian, VAT, etc. would have been rendered unimportant if they would have been able to keep a lid on the COVID cases. Rowley faced dim electoral prospects in T&T as well prior to COVID, but his excellent handling of the situation enabled him to win another majority while only losing 1 seat. Holness was a different situation considering that the PNP has been wrought with internal fighting following their loss in 2016, and he would have probably been reelected prior to COVID anyways, however, the victories of the BC NDP, New Zealand Labour, and other incumbent parties that handled COVID well show that it is the most important issue for voters during this pandemic. Bahamian voters would have probably been able to forgive the FNM for prior errors if they could have kept a lid on the case count, especially considering the weak opposition that Minnis would have to run against.

Abaco and Grand Bahama are interesting situations to look at. I recently heard rumours that the Constituency Commission is looking to eliminate the North/South & Central seats for Abaco to be replaced with a single at-large seat for the entire island. It makes sense considering the population loss + the fact that the FNM would like to hedge their bets and risk losing one seat, compared to two. Assuming that they keep two seats for the island (and do not change the boundaries), I can see the PLP taking the North (North Abaco is the post-Ingraham era has always been competitive thanks to Dundas and Murphy Town, plus turnout may be low enough to have the PLP repeat the 2012 by-election), while the South & Central seat would be a pure tossup. The FNM is still hated by most in the South & Central for their poor Dorian response, but the PLP will need to run a conchy joe in that constituency if they want to be taken seriously. This may be the one time in the history of the earth that Gary Sawyer could win a race there lol. Another thing that will complicate the South & Central seat is the fact that it seems Roscoe Thompson will run as an independent. Roscoe put together a great campaign as the DNA candidate for the constituency in 2012, but he learned the same lesson that Edison Key did when he was with the PLP : the South and Central will vote for a dead dog if there is a torch next to the name, at least before Dorian. All in all, the FNM could potentially still win the seat IF the vote splits the right way.

FrustratedBusinessman 4 years, 1 month ago

Continued...

Grand Bahama is much more interesting. I have heard a lot of good things about Michael Pintard (hearing anything good about an FNM MP these days is a good sign for them considering the unpopularity of this administration). He could potentially keep his seat. McAlpine's fence sitting may help him in Pineridge as well. The other three are unknown in my mind. East Grand Bahama would probably never vote for another party in a typical election (same thing with Central Grand Bahama), but this administration is so unpopular right now that the FNM could potentially be threatened in those seats (it will be a major wake up call for the party if they lose in those constituencies). There is still some time until the FNM's mandate expires, so we will see what happens until then.

I think the biggest question mark facing the next election will be how the vote will split. The DNA cost Ingraham reelection in 2012, and it is important to remember that the 35-4 FNM victory in 2017 was not representative of the people at all. The PLP were still able to pull in slightly less than 60,000 votes for all of the foolishness that the Christie administration did, they are only likely to gain more supporters after they hit rock bottom.