The Bermuda Sun columnists were firing on all cylinders today:
Is civility to be abandoned in the interest of scoring political points, no matter the damage that barbaric language and symbolism might have on our children and our community in general?Are we to have racial tensions further exploited from finger-pointing and hints of vengeance under the guise of "conversation"? Are threats and payback to be the way power is wielded? It's time to see whether the UBP has learned the lesson we taught them in 1998.
They now know, and we know, that we can take them out again if need be.
It's time also to remind the PLP that we don't want to spend the coming years in racial or diplomatic intimidation and turmoil.
Violence and vengeance, whether in words, deeds or spirit, are not what Bermuda is about.
The PLP leadership is forcing Bermudians back into traditional racial camps, from which no progress can be made. The UBP, meanwhile, has a detailed agenda for promoting equality and opportunity, while speaking with the respect and tolerance that a modern, diverse society requires. These are strange and disturbing times we live in, where the "progressives" are reactionary, and the "conservatives" are progressive.But our only choice next Tuesday is between the UBP and the PLP as we currently find them - not as they once were, and not as we wish they would be.
And that's why I'm going to vote this year for the UBP.
Those old tactics of scare and scatter that worked so well from 1963 to 1998 are now unlikely to work as they once did. Now they might even work in reverse. This new electorate is more discriminating, more thoughtful, more knowledgeable, and far less fearful....
In 2007, every voter knows that on December 19, 2007, that " lucky ol' sun" will simply rise on another new Bermuda day with another set of Bermudian faces newly responsible for ongoing Bermuda government. In this election, despite strong efforts to paint black majority Bermudians as victims in their own society, despite strenuous efforts to conjure up new 'boogeymen', most intelligent people know that 'boogeymen' are not real.
