As I said in the first part of this topic, I think Jamaica is pretty much devolving instead of evolving (note the word devolve may or may not be made up). It seems that for some strange reason we just dont believe in ourselves enough to think we can progress anymore. Instead we try to go as far as back as possibly into slavery days as possible... or maybe thats just my opinion. Anyway previously I touched on some social issues such as language, education, and the acceptance of lawlessness in having gained Internal Self Government abolished the Council of Ministers and this was replaced by the Cabinet headed by the Premier the Hon. Norman Manley and 11 other Ministers chosen by the Premier and appointed by the Governor. The position of Parliamentary Secretary was also introduced. The our society. Today I'm gonna switch up the tone a bit to get to some political issues. Essentially Jamaica has alot of problems politically so much so that I can actually make about 3 parts based on politics alone, but I dont think anybody would want to sit around and read a 3 part article on one topic so i'll try to spare you the frustration and cut it down to fit into one part.

The first issue I'm touching on is kind of 2 pronged. It involves the 2 party system that we currently have and also the garrison politics that we practice. I say this is a 2 pronged issue because one really lead to another, this is so as garrison politics really started in the 70's when the two parties in Jamaica in a fight for power began to arm whoever was willing to be given arms and basically told them to go shoot at each other. This arms race basically meant that whoever could win this war would then have what was more or less free passage to become the ruling party. Of course over the years this continued to massive proportions which ended with Jamaica being in the situation that we are currently in right now... Alot of guns, and alot of political violence at levels that nobody seems to be able to control.Yet its something that we allowed to happen and we have allowed to continue till it grew to its current unprecedented levels.

With regards to the whole 2 party system being a big issue one has to take note of the fact that having two parties is what has caused all of this. I mean have you ever considered that the last time somebody not tied to the PNP or the JLP has ever won a seat in office is 1944... thats before we gained independence. Am I to believe that the only people who are worthy of leading our country are tied to either the JLP or the PNP? The problem has grown to such levels that even the recently created NDM was treated as a joke by the electorate despite the fact that we know that currently neither the PNP or the JLP is fit to rule the country. I have heard people debating and absolutely no one has ever considered voting for the NDM, not because they dont have the political ideas or the people to lead, but because they aren't PNP or JLP. When I ask these same people why not try the NDM the best answer I've gotten is "because we dont know anything about them", and I ask, why not try to learn something about them, or at least give them a chance?  This is met with stutters and blank stares, so ingrained in our thought is the two party system that voting for a third seems to be too far out of our reach. Is this the thought of a forward moving society? If A doesnt work try B, if B doesnt work try A.... ignore all others. Seems pretty silly when you think about it doesnt it.

The other political backward thought that we have is the first past the post electoral system. This system means that essentially who wins the most seats may govern the country. Well that sounds pretty fair right? Well consider this imagine a country with a population of 5 million people, where there are 11 constituences. 5 of those constituences have a population of 3 million people while the other 6 constituences have 2 million people. There is an election held where party 'A' wins the former 5 constituences outright winning 3 million of the votes, while party 'B' wins the latter 6 seats which means they won 2 million votes. Under the Jamaican system, party B will then be allowed to rule the country, despite the fact that the voting majority clearly voted for party 'A'. Does that make sense to you? I thought it was the majority that ruled in a democracy, the mere word democracy is derived from the greek meaning people (demos) power (kratos). Most educated younger Jamaicans understand this and its one of the reasons why you will find that the voting population of young Jamaicans is so small. We just dont see the point. It would make more sense for Jamaica to switch to a system where the majority rules and where we can vote for a party outside of the 2 that exist without having to worry about our lives being threatened.

The last thing I'll be looking at is brought on by the recent activities in Jamaica... specifically our Prime Minister Bruce Golding. You may remember that after it came out that Bruce Golding was lieing to the country and no longer has the trust of various sectors of the country, most people called for his resignation. People simply wanted him out of power after he's obviously corrupt and a lier. However to put it frankly Bruce Golding and his party simply said "no". He will not resign and Jamaica will return to the status quo... What?!?! Why didn't we impeach the Prime Minister.... oh thats right Jamaica has no impeachment clause anywhere. In 2003 Seaga even called for a policy to be implemented and Bruce Golding then leader of the NDM also shared a similar view. How can we allow our ministers, senators, and leaders to do anything they wish without having to answer to any higher power? Thats not smart is it? We can't even force our Prime Minister to resign, he has to actually resign himself. In the end, he will also receive all the pensions and benefits that every Prime Minister is entitled to. Despite the fact that he has lost the trust of the country and has lied to us. The Prime Minister could essentially do anything he wishes and walk off with nothing more than a dirty look by the people of Jamaica.

Really forward thinking dont you think? Look at other countries, in the USA, Clinton faced impeachment because he lied to the country about cheating on his wife... we cant impeach our Prime Minister because he lied to the country about PROTECTING A CRIMINAL! If that isn't backwards behaviour I don't know what is.