It’s one of the eternal verities, an almost always reliable rule of thumb: being able to immediately identify the true man of vision because his ideas, no matter how commonsensical or necessary, initially inspire near-universal hostility.

New approaches and new proposals which threaten to not just challenge but overturn a long-established status quo — even the most conspicuously failed status quo — are almost invariably met not just by scepticism but by fear, suspicion and sometimes unrestrained anger.

This may be particularly true in Bermuda, a generally conservative community where tradition has been known to straitjacket remedial action on any number of fronts over the years. Such resistance to even the most long overdue change is not just the default position of those vested in maintaining an existing business, political or social system.

While it would be convenient to classify all such foot-draggers as self-interested, backward-looking reactionaries, such a generalisation would also be entirely wrong. Wrong and self-deceiving.

For the fact is there are also those who opt to cling to obsolete ways because even the illusory comfort provided by continuing to follow old routines is often looked upon as preferable to the temporary discomfort of adapting to new circumstances. And this is a category which most of us fall into from time to time, fear of change being as much a part of the human condition as the capacities for love, creativity and self-reflection.

In recent times Sir John Swan has run afoul of some of those most eager to compromise with, or worse, entirely ignore the new post-recession Bermudian realities. One of Bermuda’s most successful real estate developers, his well-known interest in resuscitating the City of Hamilton — and, by extension, the Bermuda economy — has spawned trite but predictable accusations that his motives are self-serving rather than intended to advance the public interest.

Less predictable have been the arguments made by a few of his more professionally obnoxious critics to the effect the former Premier is pursuing a utopian agenda which follows its own mad logic, not a realistic, pragmatic strategy for achieving a sustainable economic revival.

These more strident voices overlook the fact Sir John was not only present at the creation of the modern Bermuda economy in the 1980s, he was one of its chief architects. He presided over the Island’s decade-long transition from a fading resort destination to a blue-chip international financial centre in such a seamless and gently incremental manner that Bermuda adapted to this seismic shift of economic emphasis without experiencing any significant cultural or social aftershocks.

And the stewardship he provided along with Finance Ministers Dr Clarence James and Dr David Saul in the early 1990s, when the twin hammer blows of global recession and the abrupt closure of the US bases could have technically collapsed the Bermuda economy, remains a textbook example of prudent fiscal management.

Sir John is not infallible. He has certainly been wrong about a great many small things over the years. But, upon the whole, he has been right about the small number of great issues Bermuda has had to contend with in recent decades. And it’s upon the whole that such things must always be judged. He is not only asking all of the right questions when it comes to the economy but attempting to provide at least some of the answers; his ideas merit serious consideration and discussion, not flippant dismissals and vulgarity.

It’s been almost 20 years since Sir John held public office in Bermuda. Frankly, he is old enough, wealthy enough and accomplished enough to sit in his office polishing his legacy if he so chooses, to entirely withdraw from current affairs. That he instead attempts to try and stimulate dialogue about a topic which should already be of surpassing interest to all Bermuda residents speaks to both his restless curiosity and his first-hand knowledge that lofty rhetoric about achieving great ends is useless unless accompanied by suggestions for the concrete means of achieving them.

This is something too many of the current crop of politicians on both sides of the Parliamentary aisle fail to appreciate. Far more is needed to end Bermuda’s economic stagnation than just fine words and good intentions because another imperishable truth is that reality doesn’t simply go away when you refuse to engage it.