The power you wield

For quite a few weeks now, I've been thinking of what it means to elect people to form a Government. The more I thought, the more questions kept coming into my head. Questions which needed to be answered. The source of my answers were primarily Google searches, byut also from various other websites and some books.

I am not saying my research is 100 percent accurate, nor am  saying I am satisfied, because it seemed to me that soon as I found one answer to satisfy me to a particular question, another question arose. And the more I found out, the more scared I became. I won't deny that the fright comes from the subtleties I realise that a Government is capable of, because I am quite sure no one in Trinidad and Tobago will stand for an open take over of the country.

But back to my questions and my answers.

I started thinking of what is going on in the country, and then naturally started to wonder WHY... and how.

As I pointed out several times before, PM, President, MPs etc are behaving as they do because they CAN. This is not a fanciful thought. We have seen ample proof in terms of spending money, bypassing lawful entities by creating other entities that do not answer to anyone, arrogance to reasonable requests etc.

They can get away with this behaviour because we, the people, allow them to. There is no accountability, and this is why we are heading down, not the path of 2020 World Status, but more down a path of a third world dictatorship (though I hate the world as it does not adequately describe the nuances of a polite takeover).

We, the people, have the power to stop this. How? Not by protests. Not by resistance. Not by violence. Not by lawsuits and court action.

We can stop it by simple thinking, and moving our finger an inch of space on a poll card.

We the people, have immense power in that decision. Behind that decision, and that subsequent action, lies perhaps the most important decision you can make in your life. Think I am joking?

Let's look at this: When you vote, you are selecting and electing one person who may or may not represent a party, but more importantly, you are selecting a person whom you think can 'serve' you in providing your voice in the Government, a voice that ought to be heard in making laws; spending your tax dollars; making decisions, treaties, trade agreements with other countries; providing services from roads to health care; education programs, and certain level of employment etc. A very heavy responsibility bears the MP, but we have never seen that, have we?

Once that person is elected, s/he has total control over your life. Total control. What about your rights you ask? Parliament, in which your elected MP votes, makes the decisions that affect your rights. It makes the laws.  The laws control every aspect of your life, even if you live in a lawless state outside the rules of society, what if you are caught? Then these rules and laws come into play and you are incarcerated, your freedom shackled. So to give power to people to control your life, that of your spouse, children, parents, friends, relatives, neighbours... is a heavy responsibilty and the most important you may make.

To not vote is to give this power to others, people who are in effect deciding your fate.

Don't like the parties, and don't want to vote? You give them power over you. Think both major parties are inadequate, evil and arrogant? That may be, but if one party remains in power too long, as we are seeing at present, you give it more power, more arrogance and you make it more powerful, more in control.

Now we are seeing one party has so much power, so much control, it simply rewrites a constitution to make itself even more powerful, and may even become untouchable.

As I pointed out some paragraphs before, this is a gradual process, so that we hardly notice. We concentrate so much on our daily sufferings that we barely have time to look up and see what is going on, to plan, to foresee, and to act. Perhaps it is the master stroke of those in charge, to have fiefs in the field and to remain in power by controlling the suffering, as did the kings of old. Only now, there is more tact in doing it. No whippings and floggings but the idea is still there.

No matter the calls for people to make the change, to try something new, I have little hope that there will be any more to see reason. My hopes dwindle each day. And I have to ask, is this the world we want our children to be born and grow up in? Maybe its time you ask yourself that too.