The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune. IN A LETTER published in today's paper, a writer opines that sooner or later the Bahamas will be "caught up in something", because the interests of China and the United States will eventually clash, and at that time we will have an epiphany. He also states that we will have a choice to make at that time; I beg to differ. We have already made a choice, we have chosen to play the two Super Powers against each other in the name of "progress" and jobs. I agree that we will have an epiphany but it will be about how to survive in this drama that we are creating for ourselves. The politicians who are making the choices seem to be clueless about our situation; and this cluelessness is inclusive of those in the FNM, PLP, and the DNA. The only persons who are going to survive this event are those who own something tangible and have not allowed themselves to be sold the lie that all we have to do as Bahamians is "believe in ourselves", "vote for the change you want to see", etc; etc; etc. Realistically, there is nothing wrong in belief or change, but we have made the awful mistake of having persons with very questionable agendas, redefining what belief or change means every five years; and the tools of fear and distrust are used to sell these subjective definitions. We have to blame ourselves, we have not held ourselves or the persons who lead us as accountable as we should; and what is strange to me, is that in spite of all that is going on, this nation is on a precarious "even keel" because the present Prime Minister has chosen to hold himself accountable. Even this reality seems to be problematic as we look at what those who would like to replace him and his party are saying. Is it enough to want to change a government, because your pay increase did not come on time? Is it enough to believe that persons who have no track record of getting things done can be elected, and when they are able to get things done because you have given them another chance? Forty years into it, it is going to take more than words or subjectively entitled utterances of what it means to be Bahamian, to guide us into "this" promised land, because the ground we are now treading bears no resemblance to the one that we were promised. Even the group that brought us into this "land" more than forty years ago, now find themselves in a political wilderness, looking to Madison Avenue and international public relations firms for a definition of who they are or how they should present themselves. I will not be able to close this letter, without comment on the Atlantis issue. Should we entertain comments from agenda driven persons, who though qualified choose to paint a picture that brings attention to their personal political biases? Atlantis is having "internal problems" but should those problems be expressed in such a way that makes a person planning to visit this nation, think twice about their decision? We must concede that the Dubai foray was ill-advised. Two billion is a lot of money, but it is not enough in that market and the head Arawak could have used his time in the spotlight to give the Bahamian public an objective view, but he chose to let his politics frame his presentation. Politicians and myself do not get along, but whosoever is going to speak for me is going to be held to a standard that has nothing with "subjectivity", and even though we are going to have some pain when hard decisions are made, it is only the objective exercises and views that get us through, regardless of the onslaught of perceptions we are being bombarded with, by all and sundry. Right now, especially for the under-sixty crowd, "it is what it is" and there is no time to be playing games or going down a road that refuses to put things in perspective. It is 2012 and the world is coming to our door to see what it is we are doing on the 21x7 plus. Let us fight in such a way that makes us stronger and better, 'cause after the smoke clears in May 2012, there will still be a lot of work to be done. We may get discouraged even when we do good, but this is how we are going to get through. EDWARD HUTCHESON Nassau, February 2, 2012.