The Tribune

NEW YORK Times’ op-ed columnist Frank Bruni, writing an appreciation of Cassandra Butts, President Barack Obama’s appointee as US Ambassador to the Bahamas, noted that she had been waiting for more than 820 days for confirmation in her post and was still waiting when she unexpectedly died on May 25.

“The delay,” wrote Bruni, “had nothing to do with her qualifications, which were impeccable. It had everything to do with Washington. She was a pawn in its power games and partisanship.”

As we listened to the returns from yesterday’s referendum – a referendum, the object of which was to better protect the family unit, giving Bahamian men and women the same nationality rights in marriage, and securing Bahamian nationality for their children, wherever born – we questioned democracy. The defeat of an attempt to protect the family as one Bahamian unit was crushing. It soon became obvious that the voters’ intention was not to destroy the family, but, like the Butts’ case, the family was lost in the mounting anger and mistrust of the Christie government.

Shortly before entering an empty St Anne’ polling division 2 as 1pm approached yesterday, we were told by a young lady that until she read The Tribune’s supplement – “Time to right the wrongs” — she was in a state of complete confusion as to what all the fuss was about. After reading the supplement and understanding the suffering of Bahamian families, which had no law to protect them, she grasped the problem. She was now determined to vote — even for the much debated question No. 4, which had been wrongly interpreted as opening the door to same sex marriage.

Many going to the polls yesterday, marked their X in a cloud of confusion. Many, not understanding — and others, just acting out of political anger — voted “no” to vent their frustration with the Christie government.

Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and the right to vote however they think best. However, for those who had little or no comprehension, and just voted to spite an untrustworthy government, we questioned the true worth of democracy.

We were not distracted for any length of time with these thoughts as we recalled Sir Winston Churchill’s wise assessment. Said Sir Winston: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

As we were writing this our son received a call from an acquaintance. The caller was in a noisy bar room. The men’s voices were raucous as they celebrated an untrustworthy government’s defeat.

Apologising for what he acknowledged was an emphatic “no across the board” vote, and admitting that he should have voted “yes”, the caller quickly added: “I feel a little guilty, but damn, it feels good to spite dem no good politicians today.

“Dey lie to us ‘bout erryting. No jobs! Unemployment sky high; crime outta control and, sold the country to the Chinese. What a joke! They call it putting Bahamians first! I know I should have voted Yes, but damn, it felt good to tell them to get lost. We don’t trust the government to get it right! Full Stop…” and so he continued as he got louder and his language more raw. His chums in the background supported him as they celebrated the defeat of a government they could no longer support.

We were surprised at Prime Minister Christie’s statement Tuesday morning that he is “disappointed” that the Official Opposition, who “once stood shoulder to shoulder” with him on the constitutional referendum, had decided to “back away” publicly from supporting the vote.

Why should he be surprised. Has he so quickly forgotten the referendum of 2002 when he withdrew his promised support of then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on the same issue?

Wasn’t it Mr Christie who, after he and his colleagues had voted in the House to support the 2002 referendum on the same nationality question, announced that he had changed his mind? After having taken so long to agree not to disagree, having voted “yes” on all the issues in the House, he announced that if the referendum were not cancelled he would be forced to vote “no”.

Again to accommodate him, the sixth referendum question of which he had complained was eliminated.

“If I knew then what I know now, I almost certainly would have taken a different position on the bills,” Mr Christie told those attending his first town meeting. It was predicted that if that referendum were lost, so would the election which followed shortly after. The PLP, headed by Mr Christie, won the 2002 election. The same has been predicted for the 2017 election, which can only happen if the FNM takes advantage of its early convention to get its house in order and elect a more forceful leader.

But it is the gambling referendum that really destroyed the Christie government. Bahamians, supported by the churches, returned a resounding “No” to the legalisation of gambling. Despite the vote to close the web shops, the Christie government ignored the voice of the people — called it an opinion poll and not a referendum, and legalised gambling. With that betrayal the Christie government lost its supporters.

This was the referendum issue that confused Bahamians. The constitutional referendum, which was defeated yesterday, was one of several “entrenched” articles in the Constitution that once it got a two-thirds majority vote in both Houses of parliament and the vote of the people in a referendum could not be changed by the government. It was quite unlike the gambling “referendum” turned “opinion poll”. This poll was not necessary. It could have been settled in parliament at no cost. It was just that government wanted to duck the ire of the Baptist Church that parliamentarians thought it would be clever to let the people vote “yes” in a “referendum” to take the pastors’ heat off them. However, they were dropped in the scalding cauldron when the people voted “no” to gambling. It is assumed that deals had already been made before the vote, and so caught between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”, a “referendum” quickly became an “opinion poll” and a “No” vote was turned into a “Yes” by the Christie government. This betrayal is what destroyed yesterday’s referendum. A lack of trust. If they can betray us once, they can betray us again, so why waste our time was the grumble.

It is just a shame that more people did not understand the importance of a “yes” vote yesterday and saved their anger for the 2017 election when they would have felt even better with a worthwhile victory.