Politicians—the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Sir Arthur Foulkes

It may appear to some that this is a not a very good time to be speaking out in defence of the art and science of politics and to be saying anything good about politicians. Last week’s quote from The Economist about somebody putting something odd in the water in Central Europe could apply just as well in the West, including The Bahamas.

It is to be expected that in the United States, where mid-term congressional elections are to be held in a matter of weeks, the pot would be boiling, but there are any number of pots boiling, and furiously.

The American people are beginning to face up to the realization that there is something wrong with the war in Iraq and so, three years late, the US mass media are beginning to examine the possibility that the nation’s political leaders may have misled them into that misadventure.

A corrupt lobbying operation has been exposed with a number of politicians and others being badly tainted and some going to jail. This has caused many Americans once again to examine whether corporate influence has corrupted their government.

On top of all this, an American politician has served up to the media what they like best -- a sex scandal involving powerful or well-known people. They had a field day when US conservatives went after President Bill Clinton over a sexual encounter in the White House.

It was not about sex, said the hypocrites, but about President Clinton’s lying about it. In the meantime they teased out and publicized every titillating detail of the affair. Then they campaigned on family values and the need to restore decency -- meaning sexual probity -- to the halls of government.

Now the conservatives are faced with an example of what they knew deep down all along: the complexities of human sexuality do not recognize the dividing lines of partisan politics, and conservatives and liberals are equally susceptible.

One conservative congressman is exposed as a paedophile predator prowling the hallways of the legislature and the internet in search of prey. He has resigned, but the questions now boiling the pot are whether there was a cover-up by his colleagues and whether young male pages need protection from others like him.

The mass media is not uninterested in the sexual aspects of this story but they have to be careful not to expose the identity of any underage victims. Mr. Clinton’s illicit but consenting sexual partner was 22.

In our own little – but to us very important – sideshow, the political pot seems never to stop boiling. The party now responsible for our government is stumbling from one crisis to another and seems not to have learned a very basic lesson in politics: trying to cover up a bad situation only makes matters worse.

Each and every one of them is Bahamian and each and every one of them would have heard from their parents that “he who hides the wrong he does, does the wrong thing still”.

Yet two of them who did a wrong thing went on the radio last week and attempted to do just that. Perhaps they thought they had, in the words of Lord Chesterfield, “dexterity enough to conceal the truth without telling a lie”.
But they only succeeded in making themselves look more ridiculous. By insulting the intelligence of the public, they deserve a punishment greater than they might have had they been forthcoming from the outset.

Then there is the case of the Minister who did a very special favour for a foreign friend and tried to pass it off as just an example of the efficiency he is introducing to a department in his portfolio! Astonishingly, he even got his Prime Minister to go along with this attempt at deception.

All of which tends to give politics and politicians a bad name. There are those, of course, who are eager to take this as confirmation that politics is a dirty game and that all politicians are worthless.

Even in the best of times, you can count on these pompous ones to hand down sweeping generalizations from their ivory towers. What is worrying is that some of them though still young are cynical, jaded and old before their time.

They affect an air of superiority while refusing to use their grey cells to examine things and make judgments. If they did, they may find that Peter is indeed a little better than Paul, maybe considerably so. They may also find that it is not always true that the more things change the more they remain the same. Sometimes things do change for the better.

Every class, group, profession or art has its share of charlatans but there would be strenuous objections if one were foolish enough to say that all car salesmen are crooks, that all preachers are sexual predators, or that all journalists are liars.

Politics, like every other profession in the world, attracts the good and the bad, the competent and the incompetent, the honest and the dishonest, the greedy and the generous, and everything in between.

Also, as in every other profession in the world, self-regulating mechanisms and even imposed disciplines tend to break down. When that happens, it is time to fight for reform and renewal, not to walk away mouthing foolish clichés. It is time, as the song says, to get involved.

The story is told about two friends discussing the religion. One saw the value of involvement but the other thought it was a waste of time because there were too many hypocrites in the church. To which the other replied: “There is always room for one more.”

There is often ugliness in the political arena, but politics, democratic politics, is still the only way to ensure orderly and stable governance and to continue the march of humanity towards a more civilized state.

That is why people who do not enjoy the benefits of politics walk many miles and risk even their lives once given the opportunity to vote. They know all too well that the alternative is oppression, war, strife and bloodletting.

Mohandas K. Gandhi, who liberated India and hastened the collapse of the British Empire, understood how the effective use of politics could bring about great changes. But he was also aware of this occasional ugliness.

When he was asked why he got involved in politics, the Mahatma replied: “If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics today encircle us like the coils of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish to wrestle with the snake.”

An 18th century American political leader, Andrew Oliver, said: “With all the temptations and degradations that beset it, politics is still the noblest career any man can choose.”

More recently, American writer and broadcaster Bill Moyers added: “There is no substitute for the effective use of political skills to advance the cause of a great idea. Arrows are great ideas, but there has to be a bow. And politics is the bow of idealism.”

And our own Sir Etienne Dupuch used to repeat: “A people get the government they deserve.”

One great thing about the Bahamian people is our keen awareness of the importance of politics and our involvement in the process. Many Bahamians up and down the country have more sense than the pseudo-intellectuals, cynical manipulators and ivory tower dwellers who would try to tell them otherwise.

That is why we have a tradition of registering and voting in numbers so high that they put to shame the people of many developed countries. This is one positive aspect of our culture that we should jealously guard and nurture.

It would be a great tragedy if a more educated Bahamian population should become like those complacent millions in other countries who do not bother to register and to vote and who thereby put at risk the great freedoms and privileges they take for granted.

Comments

[EB Christen]

Sir Foulkes:

Brilliant point about the vibrancy of the vote in the Bahamas - it is something that many take for granted. It is a great thing and I love my purple thumb on election day.

Having said that, the problem in the country right now centres on the fact that when the (necessarily good) leadership is not prepared to call the bad and the ugly amongst its ranks into check, then trust and faith in the the politicians and the political process erodes. This was the situation of the Bahamas in the not too distant past. Edmund Burke, in the 18th century, famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I think the inaction of our Prime Minister is precisely such a failing, and, if left unchecked, will continue to erode the limited transparency and accountability that currently exists in Bahamian politics.

Also, many allow for the current failure of accountability in our democracy by pointing out that the United States is currently not much better off. This view is terribly flawed and should be battled vociferously. We are small, but because of that we should be dynamic, transparent proactive and highly adaptable - not reactive and regressive.

Keep up the great work.

[Arthur Foulkes]

Mr. Christen

Amen to that, and thanks.

AAF

[Rick Lowe]

Good stuff Sir Arthur:
I beg to differ on a couple points however.
All car salemen, lawyers etc as you say are not alike, and neither are politicans. On this I can agree, but they are all tarred with the same brush in conversation and in the written word. There is a not so subtle difference with Politicians however. Politicians - or more clearly defined - Members of Parliament.
I bet that the overwhelming majority of bills/acts that are presented to Parliament are supported by the vast majority of MP's if not all of them.
In fact, you are forced to vote in favour of legislation or the party's position most of the time. In other words, you cannot vote your conscience.
Another point comes to mind - the financial reporting requirements of the Constitution and other legislation is ignored year after year by politicians.
Consider the personal asset reporting requirements. Isn't this ignored by every single MP?
You see, from my vantage point, politicians want all citizen's to be fair and transparent, but do not hold themselves to the same standard.
Why am I wrong?

[EB Christen]

A Freedom of Information Act that would force government accountability and transparency - especially with 'perk' expenses like cell phone minute use and gas consumption - would be ideal. That would only be the tip of the iceberg, but that level of transparency is precisely what is needed now. I think that the Bahamian citizen would be dumbfounded if they were to discover the amount of 'wastage' of taxpayer dollars that goes into lifestyle perks. A developing country shouldn't be helping its politicians to develop - they are supposed to be helping to develop the country.