There is no doubt that Bahamians have always had a deep interest in American politics. After the general elections in the United States where Donald Trump won a second non-consecutive term as President, many Bahamians fell ill and questioned the intelligence of the American people given the criminal convictions of Trump. After all, it is the first time in the history of that country that such a candidate has the audacity to even be considered or nominated for the position. Now that the dust is settled, the people spoke clearly and even Bahamians have to live with it.
An essay in the November 2nd edition of the Economist quotes a speech in the campaign by former President Barack Obama which could also describe the level of politics in The Bahamas. He said, “our politics have become so polarised these days that all of us across the political spectrum seem so quick to assume the worst in others unless they agree with us on every single issue.
“The vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that’s bitter and divided. We want something better. We want to be better.”
Unfortunately, in The Bahamas there are too many people who decide on who our governmental leaders should be based on old cultural issues or on the politics of a bygone era when people voted on the colour of the candidates’ skin and not on their philosophy. Negative partisanship is the dry academic term for the fraught, emotional and damaging phenomenon that Obama describes afflicting American politics and Bahamian politics as well. It is the inclination of people to vote not for a party in which they believe, but against another one that they fear or despise. This way of doing politics has seen a marked rise in democracies around the world since the end of the Cold War, a rise that has accelerated noticeably over the past decade. It is a bad thing.
The politics of being anti is a tactic. It is not focused on a set of issues, nor does it draw on a political philosophy. It is available to the right and left alike: although the right may be more susceptible to it, it can frequently be used to the benefit of the left. Mainstream voters feel hostility to the extreme right more often than to the extreme left.
Most academic studies of negative partisanship look only at the United States. But, although America has caught a pernicious case of anti-politics, it is far from unique. Focusing on America alone conflates what is fundamental across democracies with what is particular –for instance, the effect of American States and counties sorting into monocultural Republican and Democratic strongholds.
No matter which country it is, a study by the Economist says, “when voters believe that politics creates economic and social gains in which everyone can share, regardless of their party, they feel more warmly towards the other side. By contrast, when they see politics as a fight over a limited set of resources, they are susceptible to campaigns that set them against each other.
“When people think their government is effective, they tend to feel better about politicians. Likewise, if they expect to thrive in the coming years and if they feel good about their lives then they tend to look on political parties more systematically. In all these cases, the improvement in voters’ sentiment is greater towards rival parties than their own.
Across the world’s democracies, the task is to restore faith in politics. If voters believe that politics can be fair and for the common good, they will be less angry. If they think about policies instead of heroes and villains, they are more likely to treat both parties as legitimate. People need to believe that politics is not just about deciding who gets what, but making life better or worse for everyone, and that the outcome depends on their own choices.
It surely counts for something that, whatever the merchants of grievance pretend, voters’ choices do in fact make a difference. Politics is often denigrated as cynical and dirty, but as Mr. Obama argued in Chicago, it doesn’t have to be like that. Bernard Crick, a political theorist, celebrated politics as a sublime human achievement. It enables complex societies to settle their differences and allocate scarce resources for the common good without resorting to violence. Compromise in politics creates the stability for people to be uncompromising In chasing their dreams.
In our own country we have to look at the common good and have some continuity in governance. What apparently is the habit of changing the government every five years is certainly not in the best interest of The Bahamas, although it is democratic.
