The recent January 28th boycott of the PLP’s gambling referendum begs analysis. And the first observation that must be made and which it seems hard for either the church or the government to acknowledge is that this was not a victory for the prohibition campaigners; it was an out and out rejection of the process by nearly 100, 000 registered voters. I believe this is the first time in our nation’s history that so many have decided to discard their franchise. It speaks to an extremely high level of disgust and pessimism; the blame for which rests squarely on the PLP’s leadership; on Christie, his strategists and his complicit cabinet. How quickly one falls out of favor with the electorate!
Anatomy of the No Vote
Even this is being misrepresented. There are those who voted No out of a righteous sense of repugnance at the thought of legitimizing a racket they feel rejects faith in God and makes a god of chance; a racket that fleeces the poor. But then there are those who voted no, not because they don’t believe people should be free to gamble but because they didn’t want to be seen to be going against the damnation-promising pastors who led the no campaign. Then there are those who voted no, but are in fact gamblers; gamblers who don’t want to see their winnings diminish under regulation or genuinely feel their behavior is morally wrong even though they engage in it. The last large grouping would be those who on the advice of persons such as Hubert Ingraham, Hubert Minnis, Bran McCartney, Steve McKinney, Raynard Rigby and others, decided they were confused, or decided they were somehow being duped, and thus voted no. Now to be fair, some “no” voters just felt insulted by the crude tactics or brazen conduct of the yes campaign and the fake impartiality of the PLP, so they decided to reject both proposals to demonstrate their disgust. Some resented that the matter of casinos was being stubbornly ignored by Christie as well.
The Christie Legacy
Our Prime Minister seemed poised to silence all the naysayers who questioned his competence. He staved off challengers to his leadership while in Opposition for 5 years. And with a landslide General Election victory and a bi-election trouncing of the FNM both under his belt, one would have expected 2013 to be a banner year for him. The 40th anniversary of Independence seemed like the perfect staging ground for honoring forgotten heroes, inspiring new visions of our future and re-thinking our constitutional framework. Hopefully we would win CARIFTA too. After that there would the opening of Baha Mar in 2014, the creation of the University of The Bahamas in 2015. And he would have been able to also say he was the man who ended discrimination against Bahamians in casinos and regulated the numbers industry. Instead, the PLP, less than a year after its victory in May 2012, has lost all its momentum and now appears to be a band of bungling circus performers. Christie tried to appease the numbers lobby and safeguard his support from the church; he will soon discover that because he tried to abdicate his responsibilities as leader he will alienate both. He tried to force Bahamians to do his job for him and instead they have made his job that much harder. If he had simply gone to Parliament and amended the Lotteries and Gaming Act he could have shown everyone better than he could ever tell them, how it was possible to control the indigenous gaming industry, protect the vulnerable, increase national revenues, create new jobs, and reduce money laundering, prostitution and political corruption. Instead he is now feckless and frozen. His handling of this whole affair was either arrogant or foolish, take your pick—it was probably both.
Prohibition’s Consequences
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: prohibition doesn’t work. Keeping numbers illegal will do absolutely nothing to stop determined gamblers from gambling. We are somehow content to call something a crime if a black Bahamian does it but not if a white foreigner does. And why is it criminal for Bahamians to gamble? It is hard for us to find reasons to criminalize gambling other than it is regarded, by some, as an immoral act. However, it makes no sense to criminalize every immoral act. Fox Hill Prison couldn’t hold all of us, for all of us would belong there. So how do we determine which immoral acts to also deem criminal?
We had an opportunity to bring this game into the light of public scrutiny and government regulation where it would exact less of a toll on us collectively. Keeping it in the shadows allows it to continue to run rampant with no one being accountable for the end results. A group of fundamentalist Christian leaders chose darkness instead of light. Ironic.
Make no mistake though, there will be serious ramifications for this debacle; ramifications that many boycotters and no-voters may not have considered. I believe the Bahamian electorate is hard wired to reject the powerful rather than affirm them. One could argue that every election in this country in the last 50 years has been about rejecting those perceived as wielding power. This particular action on the part of voters is historic. It was a rejection not just of power but of the process. Those who hope to see constitutional reforms that would limit the powers of the prime minister, create a fairer electoral system, address gender discrimination or improve citizenship laws may regret their defiance of this plebiscite because it has given the enemies of the PLP new life when they were previously down and out.
Hold no illusions: our politicians care more about power than progress; I might go so far as to say they define power as progress. Politicians also hope the electorate forgets but they themselves never ever do. The FNM will repay the PLP drop for drop for their betrayal of the constitutional reforms they in fact voted for in Parliament in 2002. I expect none, absolutely none of the changes to the constitution the PLP will propose to be supported by the FNM or by the people of The Bahamas. All because this bid to legitimize numbers failed and failed miserably. I’d love to be wrong but I doubt I am. The reckless governance of the Christie administration will set this country back another 10 to 15 years.
The Death of Progressivism
Here as elsewhere in the world, the voices of conservatism shout down the voices of tolerance, progressivism, even moderation. Where is the progressive voice of the church? Where is the progressive voice of the rest of civil society? Marginalized? Intimidated? Professionals, to preserve their sense of respectability, refused to contradict certain pastors, refused to call them out on their fallacious arguments. And which political party in this country stands for progressive politics? Surely not the PLP. The party’s title should be changed. It has in fact become the conservative party, held hostage by the right wing church leaders who have swallowed white southern fundamentalism whole hog and brought it to the Bahamas. The party that fought for women’s right to vote and majority rule has been compromised; something which probably happened because it was forced to defend the indefensible: 25 years of one man rule. It was this which transformed the “progressive,” “liberal” party into the fear-peddling regressive conservative party. And in this situation, the party born of the unholy marriage between discredited white power and black dissidents, the FNM, has become moderate. In light of their historical stance on the environment and immigration and gender equality under Ingraham, you can’t call the FNM full blown conservative, but even they allow themselves to be bullied by the big-mouths who want to keep us in a world where women knew their place, gays were tucked away in the closet and we pretended people didn’t gamble. The DNA came along and immediately showed that it was prepared to be the ultra-conservative party Ingraham wouldn’t let the FNM be all these years.
So where does that leave those of us who seriously want to see political reform in this country; who seriously want to see a balance of powers and an acceptance of our lived diversity? Where does that leave true liberals in The Bahamas? I’ll tell you where: without a horse in the race.
By Ian Strachan
