There are three events planned over the next five days that involve groups of people getting together and expressing their views regarding certain public projects and the general state of things in Cayman. We believe these public events – two set for Saturday and one for next Tuesday – show two things to be true:
1. Democracy is alive and well in Cayman
2. The 2013 general election just got under way in earnest
The first of these proposed events, a planned march in East End Saturday morning, was advertised as non-political; people were asked not to wear colours associated with either local political party during a march in opposition of the East End Seaport project. However, an opportunity is not to be missed in politics and our savvy politicos have jumped at the chance to capitalise on the groundswell of strong public feelings to host their own events, one on Saturday afternoon at Public Beach and another in George Town at high noon Tuesday. Neither event said anything about not wearing party colours, by the way. What we are witnessing appears to be, at least in our view, the start of the upcoming general election campaign some 23 months prior to when one might expect the vote to be held in May 2013. Even by our modern standards of party politics, that seems pretty darn early. By comparison, the United States presidential election – set for November 2012 – is about 17 months away and one of the two major political parties at least has no idea who their candidate might be. Here in Cayman we are facing no such uncertainty, and despite what organisers of the East End event might say to the contrary, by the time the shouting and soap-boxing is over we will have the same old situation with essentially the same players we have seen in local politics over the last decade. People on one side will still believe that they are being led by a government that just isn’t operating in their best interests and those on the other side will say that the country’s overall success is being threatened by parochial and xenophobic interests. Those left will wonder whether the flagging elements of the “Cayman economic miracle” are being sacrificed on the altar of personal aggrandisement and political ambition. Let the election begin.
1. Democracy is alive and well in Cayman
2. The 2013 general election just got under way in earnest
The first of these proposed events, a planned march in East End Saturday morning, was advertised as non-political; people were asked not to wear colours associated with either local political party during a march in opposition of the East End Seaport project. However, an opportunity is not to be missed in politics and our savvy politicos have jumped at the chance to capitalise on the groundswell of strong public feelings to host their own events, one on Saturday afternoon at Public Beach and another in George Town at high noon Tuesday. Neither event said anything about not wearing party colours, by the way. What we are witnessing appears to be, at least in our view, the start of the upcoming general election campaign some 23 months prior to when one might expect the vote to be held in May 2013. Even by our modern standards of party politics, that seems pretty darn early. By comparison, the United States presidential election – set for November 2012 – is about 17 months away and one of the two major political parties at least has no idea who their candidate might be. Here in Cayman we are facing no such uncertainty, and despite what organisers of the East End event might say to the contrary, by the time the shouting and soap-boxing is over we will have the same old situation with essentially the same players we have seen in local politics over the last decade. People on one side will still believe that they are being led by a government that just isn’t operating in their best interests and those on the other side will say that the country’s overall success is being threatened by parochial and xenophobic interests. Those left will wonder whether the flagging elements of the “Cayman economic miracle” are being sacrificed on the altar of personal aggrandisement and political ambition. Let the election begin.
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