Vexed Bermoothes is taking me to task for allowing my interest in local politics to decline:
"Our complacency is.. what allows Bermuda politics to become the comfortable bastion of the self-interested and the vicious."
When I was running A Limey In Bermuda I used to chide those members of my family who kept silent about Bermuda's governance, for the same reasons. Now here I am, doing just the same.
Vexed is right. Governance in Bermuda will not improve until people demand change. By tuning out of the local political scene, I'm no longer doing anything to help make things better.
That said, I'm no longer doing anything to make things worse, either. My writing on LiB sometimes veered towards the shrill or self-righteous, and my attempts at humour were often misunderstood. Some Bermudians reacted badly to this, and my message was lost as a result.
In that respect, I think that Vexed is a better writer - his posts, while pointed, are usually temperate - the kind of thing you might read in a leader in The Economist. In many other countries, I'd say that would give him a better chance of improving things. Unfortunately, I don't think most Bermudians respond to that style of writing, be they black or white, PLP or UBP supporters. Loyalty here is tribal. It's not about doing what's right. It's about supporting your side.
I don't see how any individual will change that. I still think that the only way to achieve such a huge paradigm shift is for both the PLP and the UBP to die. The UBP had a golden chance to precipitate that change after the last election, by disbanding. Instead, they flunked it by focusing on how close they were to winning office. But that's not the point. It's no good having the UBP in power if the mindset in Bermuda stays the same.
I'm not complacent. I know the risks of letting our leaders do as they please. I just don't have the energy to worry about it any more.
