Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

,

Utilizing Adult Suffrage

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

Submitted by Old Onions Bag

My neighbour’s daughter just turned 18 and as all first timers on gaining adult suffrage, is most eager to exercise her voting right. Having entered UWI as a freshman, and enrolled in political science as a first year option, she sought to trundle my ‘old loofah’ on local affairs and politico things in an all out effort to best ascertain an informed position.

Trying to be neutral with this loquacious junior, I pointed her to the internet, and that she should do searches on Four Seasons, speeches by both party’s reps. and the last two party’s manifestos. If this was not enough for the inalienable, she sought more.

Like a true innovate, I began with this thought provoking quote by E.F Schumacher. “We must do what we conceive to be right and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we’ll be successful. Because if we don’t do the right thing, we’ll do the wrong thing and we’ll be part of the disease and not part of the cure.”

The starlet’s eyes lit up, as she sought more, with more ifs whys and buts coming from all corners, with searching intonations. In the end I was placed in a most insuperable position to reply to most entangling questions. The obvious was to follow, ipso facto, this will be one shrewd first timer with her own conceptualizations of  who should run the next government.

Are you not glad  we had perceptive and discerning forefathers? Samuel Jackman Prescod, Grantley  Herbert Adams, Hilton Vaughn et al  comes to mind. Attaining that age must surely be a beautiful thing for a first timer.

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

17 responses to “Utilizing Adult Suffrage”

  1. Pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    Pieceuhderockyeahright

    @ Old Onions

    Having achieved such resounding success with this young lady much like Krishna did wit Arjuna tell me how you propose to deal wit the absolute connundrum of choices facing her like a veritable Red Sea in front and Egyptians behind her when she gets to the polling station and has to choose the likes of bumbling Todd or monotone dreary Sandra?

    I writhe in agony over the choices we present to this generation, gone are the stalwarts who could rise on a point of order and say “whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad” in Latin!!!

    When comes there a Rome like this again, me fears that such, like the moving finger, has moved on forever.

    Almost four score years, i am in the departure lounge, soon time to go into the plane

  2. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Crumbling Shale
    his young lady much like Krishna did wit Arjuna tell me how you propose to deal wit the absolute connundrum of choices facing her
    **************************
    That’s so simple Dr.Watson, Starlet went school and got her CSC (common sense cert.) first…sadly, unlike some on that side.She is now at UWI don’t forget, and heard only last week about the attempted “tango” by. Dr Frisk et al, of $150 Millions pledged money….here today gone tomorrow,”now that I got mine frig the rest ” syndrome….or the Fontabelle lad making marionettes. Being in Nat Sci…she would know such obtuse and asinine moves… Pythagoras would not dare attempt . But a secondary magician like yours truly concoct with razzle… only to back fire en face and ensuing back peddle. How could Starlet forget the rapacious DLP and its promises of FAMILY FIRST?
    She also read the newspaper of the previous weeks, and is well informed of the inexorable 9.9 acre River Bay for 19.9 Bagatelle Dumps switch.Or, she having a good forte for honesty …cannot help but to remember the Alexandra Tumble n Deeks and the $600,000 fed thru the ludicrous Machiavellian…to the burlesque of some of her past teachers.
    Yes my dear Watson…I don’t think Starlet needed to have gone the way of the Hill to gather adequate duke, for if Gearbox were alive, he also would have spotted the meretricious and be ready pencil in hand…..when tether gives way and sinew becomes loose……a time very near now..

  3. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    “Trying to be neutral with this loquacious junior”

    Onions who are you trying to impress? That young lady? You have ulterior motives so don’t try to camouflage it.

  4. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Islgal
    I was given this joke from an ole comrade and Cawmeerian while at the barber…..A student attending a special school for the deaf (now you mentioned loquacious), handed his Mom his report card at the end of term…it read under CONDUCT: Too talkative….

    A real pedagogue….LOL laughed for weeks after that one

  5. Frustrated businessman Avatar
    Frustrated businessman

    the absolute connundrum of choices facing her like a veritable Red Sea in front and Egyptians behind her when she gets to the polling station and has to choose the likes of bumbling Todd or monotone dreary Sandra?
    …………………………………………………………
    And isn’t that the beginning and end of it right there. (no question mark on a rhetorical question 🙂

    In a previous post I used the ‘square peg in round hole’ simile. I’d like to modify that to ‘square toothpick in round chasm’ to better represent our current political moreass (deliberately misspelled). We have been disenfranchised by poor options. As long as our politics stays in the gutter, people who avoid such conditions will avoid the politics.

  6. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    LESSONS IN HISTORY…..the price paid for the right to vote
    Samuel Jackman Prescod
    (internet)
    Prescod began his political work in 1829] and it was on 9 June 1831 a major change took place that allowed coloured people the same rights to vote as white people. The new act passed by Sir James Lyon, the Governor, removed “certain restraints and disabilities imposed by law on His Majesty’s Free Coloured and Free Black Subjects in this Island.” Postage stamps of both Lyon and Prescod were issued in 2006 to commemorate this event.

    Although it was said that Prescod bore “no distinguishing marks of negro complexion” he was still subject to the racial discrimination endemic at that time. Even though he was well educated, a journalist and an acknowledged leader of the coloured community, he was thrown out of the Barbados House of representatives for observing the political process like any other citizen was entitled to.

    Grantley Herbert Adams
    (internet)
    Sir Grantley’s ascendancy to political greatness was born out of his insatiable desire to transform the conditions of his people, particularly the poor masses and unrepresented labour. His unrelentless battle with the exploitative colonial establishment to guarantee and preserve the rights of Barbadians was met with resistance by the ruling plantocracy. .

    Struggle for right to vote

    Younger Barbadians who would be understandably inclined to take so much of the Barbadian way of life for granted, would be surprised and even shocked to know that the right to vote in elections was not always possessed by all Barbadians and was won only after a long and hard fought battle by earlier generations. As a matter of fact, the right to vote by each and every Barbadian despite race, social and economic status and creed only became commonplace when the law was passed in 1950 establishing Universal Adult Suffrage for persons at 21 years old.

    Prior to this country-changing historic development, the right to vote was severely restricted on the discriminatory basis of wealth, thereby allowing a small minority of people to make the decision that would determine the political, social and economic future of all others. This all changed forever for the better with the first election on December 13, 1951 based on Universal Adult Suffrage. This election was won by the BLP. It was a fitting climax to the unrelenting campaign waged by farsighted, patriotic and democracy driven Barbadians led by Grantley Herbert Adams, at great sacrifice and danger to himself and family.

  7. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    HISTORY OF FREE EDUCATION…….
    Errol Walton Barrow, P.C., Q.C
    The Father of Independence & Social Transformation
    1920 – 1987
    Born in the parish of St. Lucy on January 21, 1920, Errol Walton Barrow lived a remarkable life. He served in the Royal Air Force in World War II, became a barrister-at-law and joined the Barbados Labor Party in 1951. In 1955 he formed the Democratic Labor Party with Cameron Tudor and notable others, bringing Barbados into a state of Independence in 1966!

    His initial period of Administration spanned fifteen years, first as Premier and then as Prime Minister with his reign ending in 1976 when Barbados Labor Party under the leadership of J.M.G.M. “Tom“ Adams won the election. Errol Barrow held the position of leader of the opposition until 1986. Often regarded as the father of free education, Barrow’s legacy stands.

    Education is provided free of charge and is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16, and attendance is strictly enforced. In 1997, the gross primary enrollment rate was 101.3 percent.

    It was reported that Barbados has spent roughly US$15 billion on Education since Independence in 1966. In 2006 during the inaugural Cecil F. deCaires Memorial Lecture at the Frank Collymore Hall, the former Central Bank Governor Sir Courtney Blackman remarked that between 1966 and 2000 successive Governments (of Barbados) had spent US$15 billion on education costs – “a remarkable investment for such a small state”.

    In 2009, Ronald Jones as the Minister of Education and Human Resource Development said the Barbados government spent $290 million to upgrade the schools with information technology. Given this Jones said the ministry would be entering a grading processes for schools on their usage of the technology using a scale of 1 to 6.
    *****************************************************************

    WHY WOULD WE WANT TO GO BACKWARDS …..after such noble achievements….if not for free education. Will this not be a backward step…. only those who can afford will get the go ahead in life?

  8. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    The DLP should consider this before digging up late GHA and EWB legacies…..what are they are planning is nothing short of class- ism and fostering further disenfranchisement….the crux of the founder fathers movement in that day. AWAKE DLP……you sleeping so hard now ya snoring….

  9. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    I just watched my TV and listened to Chris unfairly and in compulsion attacking the growth and intake of students at the UWI over the last 10 years.If the economy was growing Chris would you expect a retraction or plateaued statistic? No Chris…. educating the future generation of leaders in good times…. so they don’t make the mistake your present team has made, makes good sense. The problem was that you guys never believe the ‘sweet life and big spend’ on coming to office,(as you were so advised by the BLP) was nearing an end….Now you become the scissors men, axing left and right and still cannot make ends meet. No tourist coming and international business waning, you take to crucifying Cave Hill…Its sad Chris don’t you think our alma mater….. unjustly poisoning the dog who provided for ya…I know you had to sound good….but it will be remembered.

  10. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    When Onion man talks to himself they say he is a madman BUT when he is answering himself he is really in need of mental care!

  11. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ ac
    Listening to Brass Tack, it was of somewhat of a surprise to hear, a list of about 40 hotels or more and places of attractions…. that have gone out of business since 2008…..Now I can partially accept ac’s offer on this one… that most of this decline can be attributed to Global Recession ( but not all)….Another caller pointed to other Caribbean countries, such as St.Lucia recording 20% increase on its tourist arrivals, (while we have been regressing).
    Mr. Barney Lynch pointed to a fuddled marketing strategy by BTI….and a wastage of scare MS funds. We have slipped and slipped till we can slip no more. Can anybody say that there was any formidable contingent marketing strategy implemented, in that our NUMBER ONE revenue earner has been in crisis since 2008, …to tackle the oncoming head on?Just as with Agriculture, there has been many and frequent post by Mr. Loveridge et al on BU but to no avail ….. ac, I fail to understand in all fairness, your supported party’s logic and approach to these things . It is as if nobody listens.

  12. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Mighty Gabby….”one day comin soon, the people gine wake up ”

    People are suffering like hell
    Don’t know daily, where to turn,
    Juggling bill fixes, no money to shop,
    Holding on frailly, tethering every earn,
    Tis all due to a bad choice of TERM.

  13. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Hey all you young ones out there…..COME OUT and exercise that first time right……Hi Jan Jan..see what I mean….Bland picture post if ever there B 1..does nothing for the thread…..note also the numbers who visited….get the point ?

  14. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Based on what was said on CBC TV News last night …a clip of Chris Sinckler balling out the youth…to come out and vote…..and what we have also observed …the youth vote going be hard to get….”to whom much was expected…nothing will be given”..Did I get that right? Amm am..

    BLP convention is on n poppin gran dad….

  15. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    …………Starlet baby, I am so sorry if you feel disillusioned…….I too hang D ole onion in shame……..this was not how things normally go

  16. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @old onion bags I met an 80 year old man at the river today. He waiting till April or may to fish because his fingers get numb in the cold.

    I hope you still fishing too.

    I taking next week off to fish for Rainbow trout. You should go catch some cavallys. If you using sprats you might even hook a barracuda in the surf.

    Fishing will tek yuh mind off politics for a while.lol

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @old onion bags the front page of BarbadosToday will also tek yuh mine offa politics too.

    Shanique is a beautiful nubian princess that could raise the dead.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading