Political CPR... (Time to Change the Game)

Barely two and a half years since we fired the last administration over widespread allegations of corruption and mismanagement we are once again facing the real possibility of firing this administration over more or less the same thing and the people have to be wondering what do we do now? Evidently pulling down governments out of time is having very little effect on behaviors and clearly some changes have to be made if our democracy is going to survive. Many learned commentators agree that in a country this small the size of the electorate makes corruption far too easy as there are not that many degrees of separation between the leaders and those led. Perhaps the time has come to review certain aspects of Westminster to see where we could tweak what already obtains to try and shorten the leash as nothing else seems to be working. I firmly believe that the first steps to any corrective measures must be the addressing of the political party system and unregulated campaign finance. These two items more than anything else requires the most urgent attention as nothing else allows for the almost viral spread of corruption through our nation's highest offices as these do.

Benjamin Franklin is noted to have said - 'When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic,' and whether we like it or not that has been pretty much our experience since independence. Political parties in Trinidad & Tobago have become nothing more than gangs organized to extract the most from the most for the reward of the invested few. Make no mistake, these organizations will do anything, say anything to achieve their objectives and it is this gathering under one banner that has reduced our politics to 'who dares wins who vex loss.' It is my view that the absolute best thing we could do is outlaw political parties altogether as they are making a mockery of our people's freedom to choose and are damaging our nation's future by pandering to thieves instead of promoting a vision to develop the people. If that proves undoable then perhaps we need to have them declared public institutions, tax all donations, subscriptions and fees to encourage transparency, and limit all donations by any one person or organization to one hundred thousand dollars. Further, all advertising for and on behalf of the party should by law be limited to the party exclusively and paid for with party funds to prevent the set up of fake organizations to end run these controls. To further dilute the stranglehold political parties have on the process, registered individuals and independents contesting elections outside of the established parties should have no 'deposit' to pay and should benefit from campaign funds from the general fund so as to encourage a deepening of the representation of the people through increased choice. Perhaps if we could achieve a majority of independents in the House we could finally see the turning of the tide.

Dealing with campaign finance is a little trickier as business people tell you up front they do not give anything for nothing. Their contributions are seen as investments in future benefits that they expect to accrue once their party is successful, and if that is not a perfect definition for legal corruption I do not know what else could be. Deep pockets win elections because hard cash is needed for everything from focused marketing and advertising strategies to outright brainwashing techniques and 'gifts' to be given out at rallies. We need to change the game. We need to legislate and create a 'public' type fund for all political contributions to be paid into and shared equally among all candidates and contenders. We need to also limit each candidate to a set personal fund for discretionary spending purposes with everything above that limit billed to the public trust for transparency. Advertising agencies and party financiers would baulk at this idea, but this one change alone would herald the disconnecting of our governments from bag men and political speculators.

Change and exchange could only go on for so long before the whole thing fails and I would like to suggest that we move away from the jammette politics and begin the serious discussions required before it is too late. This is as good a place as any to start...