The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The life of an MP begins with his or her nomination as a candidate,and anyone at the age of twenty-one can throw their hat into the ring which is democracy at its most grass rooted level.

You get involved in the process, feel the excitement of a campaign, believe in something and someone.

The parties want an open process, but only as long as it produces the candidate they want. So they encourage a candidate and discourage all the others.

Most of these parliamentarians when they are elected have no experience. They arrive full of excitement, stand for what their party stood for in the election, and they stand for what they promised their fellow citizens and neighbours.

Almost without exception, they have no idea what they are getting into, the impact on their families or how things work.

They come from various backgrounds, but most are known and well respected in the field and the community. They are used to being treated as special and are not used to being told what to do. They now belong to a party that stands for this and never for that.

MPs seem not to be able to accept this. It is hard to support a position you do not believe in. It is embarrassing in front of people you know. They do not like it when they have to decide with others, or when others decide for them.

On topics such as same sex marriage they may have held a strong opinion. If their party decides a different way, should they go with their party or swallow themselves whole?

Because of this they seek niches on issues they can make their own – in their own mind and in the minds of their colleagues and constituents. The end result is no matter how they delved, nothing changed. The government still did what it wanted to do.

BRYAN AC WRIGHT

Nassau,

August 25, 2014.