A nation’s political trends are governed by several factors–the state of the economy, the vested interests of politicians and bureaucrats, the attitudes of the media, and many others. But the fundamental factor is moral: the beliefs people have about right and wrong, good and bad; their aspirations for their lives; the virtues they practice and vices they denounce; the responsibilities and obligations they accept; the things they feel entitled to; the standards that govern their sense of fair play; the ideals that shape their sense of what is worthy.
Source: David Kelley
In Barbados there is a lifestyle that represents a counter culture which is starting to pervade the island. It is a lifestyle which says that morality can be separated from politics. The schooled among us will table arguments which make sense in theory but then there is the intuition and the culture of our people which often times must be interwoven to represent the beliefs of a nation. All too often nowadays our politicians by their behaviour are not representing the standards of a majority Barbadian society which are still rooted in traditional values in the main.
In recent days and months the debate around the BLP leader in waiting Mia Mottley has had to suffer many knocks as a result of her much public lifestyle, and many Barbadians do not support her elevation to the highest office in the land. We subscribe to the view that our leaders must be people who project an image of stability and hold sacred to what the majority of our society wants.
Homosexuality and the liberal approach to how this group is embraced by Mia Mottley leaves an uncomfortable feeling among most Barbadians. The haste with which the Prime Minister relegated her to the background in recent months can be seen not so much as an attempt to protect her popularity but more so the BLP’s attempt to win the next general election. The Prime Minister has already indicated his strong interest to face the electorate for a fourth term, he knows very well that Mia Mottley is young and therefore expendable at this time. The recent Peter Wickham poll has provided Mia Mottley’s sagging popularity as fuel to many debates in rum shops as to whether her pre-determined track to be the first female Prime Minister has been compromised by her much vaunted lifestyle. We are of the view that the Prime Minister has allowed Mia Mottley to hang herself after giving her a very long rope.
His recent and passionate defense of Mia Mottley during the recent Budget debate appeared to be disingenuous at best.
The reality is that should the BLP win a fifth term, which is the time Mia Mottley will have to wait her opportunity will ultimately be determined by the parliamentary majority of the party she represents. By that time her colleagues may very well think that she is a liability which the party may feel inclined not to carry on its back. Barbadians in the main continue to be a conservative people and any leader must appear to conform to those expectations. It is interesting to juxtapose the Prime Minister’s recent change in his image which seeks to place family first because the savvy political strategist that he is, he knows that the popularity which he enjoyed before has to be reinforced given the tenuous state of the Barbados economy at this time which can impact his political aspirations at anytime.
If I were Mia Mottley I would seek to do the same.
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