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| Source: www.sodahead.com |
Let me first say congratulations to President Obama who has done it again. When I look at my facebook page, there are a lot of happy fans all AROUND THE WORLD. I even found myself getting a bit nervous last night with my eyes glued to the television set. I am not a big fan of political affairs but I am a keen observer and so today I would like to share those very observations.
First of all, it was the amount of Caribbean people who were involved in American politics, some even more than they are involved in their own home country politics. Was it wrong? Well I look at different persons views on facebook, some of whom couldn't see the big deal. Is it a big deal? I believe it is. In this global world or village, as we sometimes call it, the United Stated of America play a very integral role in the economy of Caribbean people and many other nations around the world. In other words, when there is a recession in the U.S.A economy, we feel it right at home. Additionally, the U.S.A is a haven for many Caribbean people. If we look at our migration rates, we will see that in terms of international migration, many Caribbean persons migrate to the U.S in search of greener pastures. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don't, but whatever the case we know that who is in charge of America is not only making decisions for Americans, but also us Caribbean people. If many of our illegal residents are sent back home, who will send the remittances?
My second observation has to do with politics on a whole. As I listened to CNN and other news station project the election results for different parts of the state, this is what stood out for me. Based on past elections, there were states that favour democrats and those that favour republicans and apparently were like this for years. I remember my own island with persons being able to tell which constituency is already won by ULP or NDP and right here in Jamaica, it repeats. Now I really do not think, and it is my humble opinion, that anyone should claimed to be a democrat or a republican, a labour man or a PNP man or a NDP man. At any election, we should approach it with an open mind so that you can be a democrat today and a republican the next day. It should be about the issues and who is best able to deal with them. Election should be so unpredictable that it keeps politicians on their toes knowing that the real power rest in the hands of the people. No man should say I am a democrat or republican until the day I die because my parents were this and my parents' parents were. I hear a statement in my own little island one election, "the ship is sinking and I am going down with it." I figure if a ship is sinking obviously something is wrong with it and if their is a rescue boat that is better, why not jump on it.
My main advice therefore to us is no matter what country, island or state you are in, when election comes, let politicians understand clearly where the power lies. I applaud those states that were once dubbed republicans but last night it was won by democrats. No one knows what next year holds :) And I applaud Florida, it was a close fight and it tells us that there are people there who are very much concern about issues and not simply the nature of being a democrat or republican.
Congrats again to President Obama and I wish you all the best in the 4 years. Remember us Caribbean people as we fight for our visas and our resident status :)
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