Campbell's Commentary - UNCLE TOM OR UNCLE SAM, WHO GETS YOUR VOTE?

 By Aubrey Campbell

NEW YORK, NY. Tuesday, August 25, 2020 – Folks, the year is racing away in front of us and I bet your bottom dollar that because of the COVID 19 overload, you are not even paying attention. And what if I tell you, that’s just how the powers and super-pacs want it?

How ironic is it that Jamaica is holding general elections on Thursday, September 3, two months before the US Presidential elections on Tuesday, November 3?

While monitoring the news from ‘yaad’ last week, I came across a comment from a reader, comparing the prime minister of Jamaica to the president of these United States, and of course, such a comment caught my attention for the little I know about local politics.

Then, again, all politics is local.

Comparison aside, the reader opined that Andrew Holness is behaving like he is God, leaving me to conclude that Donald Trump is behaving like he is God. As bad as he is, he is not there yet!

Are you with me?

The thought I offered in passing is that it is not a fair comparison, because here in America, while you cannot indict a sitting president, quite a few of his henchmen have been hauled off in handcuffs, to prison. And so, by association, the Commander in Cheat, is guilty, as charged until proven otherwise!

Not so in Jamaica, where Duke Street is the home of the new game of musical chairs, captained and quarterbacked by corruption, nepotism and cronyism.

In Jamaica, nobody goes to jail because all you need to do is to commit the crime and then ‘ply’ the best lawyer in your political party to lay out the hurdles and do the legal dance, that will frustrate any functioning justice system, let alone one that is woefully broken and inadequate.

Like Trump, Andrew wants a second term in office, but again, the comparison stops there. While Andrew may have a case, Trump has none, absolutely, positively. Then again, that is easier said than done!

So, while the US Presidential election date is not left to the whim and fancy of the president, Andrew was left with no choice but to ‘fly the gate and announced the date’, when he did. Any sensible leader would.

Mind you, that’s not my opinion, rather, the conclusion of persons who do this ‘political party gazing’ thing for a living, those schooled in the science of politics!

You need to listen when they are talking with me in the public space, on Sundays. Here, I will say that if Jamaica’s politics was scholarly, we would not be in the position we are n today, 58 years after independence.

This is why I find Julian Robinson’s whining out of character. How could he righteously sit there and say that the government, meaning the JLP, is putting party before country and the health and well-being of Jamaicans, in calling election at this time!

So disingenuous.

Elections are due by next February, a matter of five months. You tell me, which government in the Caribbean is going to wait on that option and not look for that ‘golden opportunity’ to ‘call it’, in their favor!

That’s the history of Jamaica’s politics and that’s why it’s so bad. Top, bottom. Left, right and in the center. Orange or green!

For every party that’s been in power, it’s all about the next five years and so, after all these years, all we have to show, is some regurgitated stuff, nothing of substance!

If Andrew thinks he can get a second term on the perceived success of his government’s initial handling of the COVID 19 pandemic, so be it. The PNP, had they been in power, would do the very same thing. Why wait for a spike in the virus to change the mindset of a sympathetic yet extremely partisan electorate?

Julian, that’s not how it works. Find a way to convince Jamaicans at home that a PNP government, if elected to office, will not try to outdo the JLP in plundering the national purse, but bring the perpetrators and culprits to justice, real justice, even if it means the declaration of ‘Marshall Law’.

Six a one, half dozen a dih oddah! In beautiful Jamaican speak. Tek dat!

From this distance, I feel it for the Jamaican who would prefer a third-party option in going to the polls on September 3, an option to vote not for a party or a personality but for programs to uplift and empower.

That’s where we are falling short.

These two parties are for each other, just waiting their turn. Just watch, come September 4, different day, same ‘P’.

LMAO!

The question I want to ask is this. How come your closest associates are being hauled off to prison and you are treated as if you are an untouchable?

The Donald has no respect for decency and decorum, which are hallmarks of a dictator, and that’s why he has to be removed from office, by any means necessary. His desperation to hold on to power can be seen by his attempt to tamper with the postal service, an institution that is the bedrock of this country.

Think about it like this. It’s a federal crime to tamper with someone’s mail, in this country!

Notice also, that I have refrained from harping on the selection of the female senator from California as the vice-presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket.

How-ever the system works, be reminded that you can win the popular vote and still lose the election, and I do not need Hillary Rodham Clinton, to explain that to me, either! I will go ahead and borrow Don King’s line…’Only in America’, because where I come from, you win the popular vote and you win the election…that’s a no brainer, no Electoral College needed!

 So, as you reimagine. Readjust and refocus in this pandemic, the charge is to turn adversity into opportunity.

Remember, you have one vote. Be responsible and use it wisely.

I thank you.

You now have the floor!

 

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Editor’s note: Aubrey Campbell is producer/host of TCB Fridays, Fridays, 12 noon – 2.00 pm, airing on Inspire Radio, WNYH, 740 AM, and streaming on the Wee Radio Network at; www.weeradioonline.com, and the Caribzone Network at; www.caribzone.com.