Catspraddled for the second time
One thought, suggestion or piece of advice for every seat lost by the DLP in the 2018 and 2022 elections.
The smoke has now cleared on Barbados’ General Elections 2022. The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) pulled off another historic victory. To claim all thirty constituency seats in any election is a formidable task. To do it two times back to back, is almost impossible, for sure it is highly improbable, but it has been done. The people of Barbados have spoken with a clear voice. They made a choice. Those who support the other side, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), believe that the first time it happened, it was a mistake.
Thinking that a resounding decision might have been made by accident is indicative of the lack of logic and reasoning that permeates the losing side. On the very night of the election, a party supporter from the DLP stated that the supporters of the BLP would be shocked and surprised when the results came in. The level of delusion was so apparent by those supporters of the BLP that they did not need to respond, knowing that the outcome would speak for itself.
The DLP and its supporters seemed to believe that they would pull off a “sneak attack”, and that when the dust cleared, a party with no unity, no vision and no real leader would somehow be victorious. Those with even the most basic level of understanding knew that this was never going to happen. It has been said many times by DLP supporters that the reason that party lost the election was that voter turnout was low due to DLP supporters not going to the polls. Clearly, if those people were truly supporters, they would not have stayed home if they wanted the party to be victorious.
Yes, the voter turnout was lower this time around and a post by a DLP supporter suggests that this is a mark against the BLP without acknowledging its own 30/0 defeat and how many marks that must be against their own party. We are two years into a global pandemic, many people are turned off by politics as a whole, many others do not even understand what politics has to do with them. Many things could be responsible for the low voter turnout. However, if the DLP ever wants to lead this island again, rather than focus all its energy on discrediting the other side, it should consider the following:
1. Facts are not things that you can arbitrarily make up. Facts are things that can be proven. Simply saying something does not make it true and while those who support you may accept the stories you create as factual, many others will do their own research and find you not only wanting but lying.
2. Most people are smarter than we give them credit for. When you are being disingenuous people will see right through that. It is best to show your true self, you will either be accepted or you will not, but it will be you and people will see it either way.
3. Inferiority and mediocracy are not superior to excellence. This seems simple enough to comprehend but very often people confuse mediocracy with excellence but when the two are matched up, the result undoubtedly separates them.
4. When you align yourself with losers, you become a loser too. You can never be serious about winning if you align yourself with a group of proven and rejected losers.
5. The days when misbehaving, using insults and spreading propaganda were considered exciting and fun on a political stage have long ended. People in the twenty-first century want professionals of a higher quality to be leaders of their nations.
6. Not everyone with a Master’s Degree or a PhD is intelligent. While higher education gives insight into specific fields and should lead to critical analysis skills, this does not always happen. Often, people simply read and regurgitate enough to pass exams and write papers without developing any real understanding.
7. Politics is not for opportunists, it is for those who have a desire to serve! It is a life that is dedicated to others and not to self.
8. Not everyone that wishes to be a politician, can inspire or lead. Find out what you are good at and follow that path.
9. If you do not acknowledge where you went wrong, it is impossible to be forgiven for those wrongs.
10. Providing an explanation or a defence for a wrong rather than an apology is an indication of a lack of emotional intelligence coupled with an egotistical megalomanic disposition.
11. Change is the best indicator of growth. Self-awareness and assessment are vital components of growth.
12. When those who can impact your fate speak, listen. Rather than simply hearing what they say and dismissing it.
13. Any attempt to discredit the positive and great works of others is a stain on you, not on them.
14. All is never lost, all will only ever be lost if you stay stagnant and refuse to learn and adapt.
15. Whatever is within a person or an organisation, must come out. When one is genuine, they are seen as genuine. If one pretends to be genuine, they will be seen as a pretender.
16. Honesty, integrity and humility are worthwhile qualities that should be adopted by everyone.
17. A traditional belief that politicians must be immoral and corrupt does not mean that they must be so. The narrative can be changed and it is in the interests of all those seeking political office to recognise that such change is good.
18. Shaming anyone for anything does not motivate anyone else. Rather, it is more likely that others will have empathy for the one being shamed.
19. Condemning others for any individual trait when you are not yourself perfect is an antiquated concept that needs to be put to bed.
20. We must honour the history and the contributions of those who came before us but we need also to chart our own path and not depend solely on their legacy to propel us forward. They got us to this point and handed over the baton, rather than run it backwards, we must take it forward so that future generations may honour us as we honour those.
21. You reap what you sow. Thus, when things are not going the way you imagined they would, you should take a second look at your works. Remember that mirror image.
22. Stop trying to reinvent a square wheel; it is a failed design. The wheel has been invented; it is round and it rolls. Recognise the winning formula and adopt and adapt it for yourself.
23. Give Jack his jacket without the little jabs. Grace and honour are admirable qualities. Learn what they entail if you do not already know.
24. Let go of the false idea that you know what you are doing when the evidence that you don’t is glaring. None of us knew anything before we learned it. If you believe yourself to be beyond learning, you will fail every time.
25. You cannot leave people on a shelf for years and then expect to come back when you feel like it and find them there. You are not more important or valuable than the next person, therefore, respect people and treat them with dignity and there is a good chance that they will do the same for you.
26. You will be recognised, accepted or rejected by your deeds and not by your words.
27. Lessons come to teach us. When we do not learn the lessons in the experience, expect the experience to be repeated time and time again until we learn what that experience was meant to teach us.
28. No one wants to be led by people who are clearly not as intelligent as they are. We want our leaders to understand concepts that we do not understand and to have knowledge that we do not have.
29. Decision making should be left to the professionals who fully understand the decisions that must be made and the implications.
30. If you cannot trust yourself, it is unreasonable to expect others to trust you.
This is the third day following the general election and the president of the DLP resigned two days after the loss. A hard truth that many who supported her and the party will find difficult to accept, is that she was nowhere near ready to lead the nation forward. She lost and gave up. If her interests were genuinely in serving the people; win, lose or draw, no amount of losing would shake that resolve.
It is one thing to lose and keep going when we had a desire to win and another thing to lose and give up. Giving up brings into question what our motivation to win was in the first place. Was it that strong focus on beating the opponent rather than the objective of uniting the nation and creating better opportunities for every resident?
The DLP needs a thorough reevaluation of its philosophies and its vision or it will lose every election going forward in much the same way as it lost the last two. Until we come to terms with the fact that we have been doing things in the wrong way, we cannot expect to move forward in any positive or meaningful fashion. Self-reflection and self-awareness are very important factors if the party ever hopes to recover from the defeats suffered in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
Originally published at https://theeafrikan.substack.com on January 22, 2022.
