At the beginning of the month, I stopped at Bright bakery for a coffee-to-go and saw a former official having coffee with a buddy. We’re friends, so I stopped at his table to ask if he was campaigning for AVP this year. You know, he said, we are family, then he rolled his eyes, I have no choice, I am expected.
So that is disturbing, that people are loyal when loyalty is no longer deserved.
I sometimes have that same flaw, I kept going to the same exercise class with a teacher that was torturing me, I was loyal, when loyalty was no longer deserved.
But politically supporting a system you no longer believe in, is detrimental to this country’s health.
Another story.
I get a phone call, last Saturday. It caught me at STR agriculture, at the market. What are the Raiz chances, asked the speaker, a Dutch-born entrepreneur, what do you think about their chances to survive the elections. Why, I asked. One of my friends, replied the speaker, is thinking about joining their ranks, going on the list. Do you think it will destroy him, he is Dutch, and has a business, and doesn’t want to get into financial trouble.
Is he a man or a mouse, I asked, a dish rag or a principled individual, with a desire to contribute? That is the question.
I read that political parties are facing difficulties in recruiting new blood.
Aruba needs new blood, young, dynamic, unstoppable people.
If quality people stay away from politics, the arena remains open to opportunists.
Opportunist who recognize the edge and the benefit, and go for it, at our expense.
That bothers me, that only opportunists, opt for a political careers while most good people stay away.
True. Our political system, the sacred Duality, that flip flops between green and yellow, does its best to keep newcomers out. It chews them up, then spits them out. Our archives are full of political failures and wannabes.
The green and the yellow are best friends, in that regards, preventing newcomers from penetrating their protective shield.
So why do newcomers fail.
I think for two reasons.
One. Because they present the public with multiple goals. Example, when Nigel Maduro showed up on the scene with No More Hotels, I totally agreed with him. But then he added Land Back, and I recoiled. Land Back to what? To Whom?
Curbing our rapid development is a good idea, but sending me back to the cave, is not.
He should have stuck with just one idea, and built a following for that.
Two, remember, why newcomers fail.
Because of their egos. We have now four/five new parties, out for the first time. Partido FuTURo, led by Gerlien Croes, Partido Lucha pa Reforma, LpR, founded by Rycond Santos do Nascimento, Partido Movemento Indigena Arubano, MIA, with Helena Croes at the helm and Partido Direccion Politiea, PDP, by a university student, Leonardo Figaroa, but he decided not to run, and maybe one more.
All these new voices, why cannot they get together, united to break the familiar pattern. Fragmented they will never succeed. Why do they all need a private party of their own? They must have something in common that can bring them together.
I my view they should all congregate around one idea, refreshing the political system on the island, getting rid of all geezers.
I am still resentful that after the last election, the three minority parties, Mas, Raiz and Accion21, did not manage to work together, I think it would have had better results.
