Politics of necessityMay 15, 2011Dear Sir,Now that the last rites have been said for the UBP, a post-mortem is in order. How does the political arm of “The House that Jack Built” die such an undignified death? The politics of personal destruction is not sustainable. Aided and abetted by your newspaper, the UBP cast the PLP as illegitimate, unworthy of governing just because of who they are. Issues became secondary to banner headlines about travel, car size and friendships of which you did not approve. For 12 years, the Opposition presented no alternative to the Government but just criticised their work just because it was the PLP. That is not a sustainable strategy; ask the Tea Party.The evidence of the failed strategy is contained in your own pages, sir. Premier Cox travelled to the Bahamas to receive an award, London for the Royal Wedding, Vancouver for RIMS and only just returned to Bermuda. Not one question has been posed about the cost of such extensive travel, who accompanied her, where she stayed, in what class she travelled etc. That means one of two things; either you didn’t notice that the Premier was abroad or you have realised that casting Premiers who travel as the devil incarnate has failed.The UBP has died because it is a spent force. The Party is amazed that their campaign of personal, character assassination over the last four years has just not worked. Their brand of politics has failed. This bizarre merger, which is really a homecoming, reeks of the politics of necessity and the voters will see it that way.The total disarray of the Opposition is an under served gift to this Premier who has yet to demonstrate anything other than a business-centric ethos in an era when her people cry out for empathy. The current state of affairs will do nothing to encourage younger, brighter people to enter the arena of political service but will entrench those on the Government side who ceased to be productive in 2003. Meanwhile, the opposition hacks whose stars are in the ascendant lack of cohesive political ideology and “doing what’s best for Bermuda”, Mr Cannonier, is not one. One more tantrum from you on ZBM or otherwise and I’m switching to Fox; at least the sound and picture are better.Rather than elaborate mergers, “apple pie” internal constitutions and the invisible Mr. Fahy’s press releases; these guys need to start by admitting that the politics of personal destruction failed and apologise for their part in it. Then attempt to find a political ideology in between “spend less” and “give international business whatever they want”.In the meantime, in the absence of a “none of the above” on the ballot next time, we’ll do what we always do, vote for the devil we know.AS SIMONSPaget