Trickle Down

 

Two basic strategies

Well, maybe three,

Determine how the poor fares:

To eat or stay hungry.

 

Barbados, a two-party system
Now basically one,

With two thirty-love drubbings

One is almost gone.

 

A hand-up recently

Seems not appreciated,

A cross-over appears to be loved

But also hated.

 

Vehemently both ways

And thus, a split,

A cavernous split in my view

Where foes won’t quit.

 

Before the death throes

Of this famous party,

It was an alternate Government,

Hale and hearty.

 

Now it struggles daily

So much from inside

That it seems particularly bent

On political suicide.

 

A mere trickle of life

A defector from the BLP foes,

The second in a real sense

Adding to the DLP woes.

 

 

Double party leaders

Both from the other party:

One just a few years back,

The other recently.

 

A trickle down from the BLP,

A hope for more to follow

But this hope seemingly dashed!

Too much to swallow.

 

A BLP/DLP in the making?

Don’t ask me!

Better ask the Prime Minister:

Mia Amor Mottley.

 

If infiltrators or not

She would probably know

But there is some trickle down,

That’s for sure.

 

 

Talking ‘bout trickle down

It’s an economic strategy,

Practised for a very long time

By the BLP.

 

Take care of the employer

And the employee will eat

Crumbs from the master’s table;

Isn’t this neat?

 

Grantley practised it

And so too, did his son Tom,

Owen halted it for two terms

And then continued on.

 

It was taken up by Mia

Particularly so recently,

Everybody’s against the consumer:

BLPC, the PM and FTC.

 

More than likely, though,

Trickle down will trickle back up,

Under a BLP administration

This is the poor man’s cup.

 

 

Barrow’s DLP was different

That insignia long gone,

Ever since its founding principle

The DLP has moved on.

 

Take care of the poor

And the rich will get their share,

From the rich the poor have to buy

So, the rich won’t have a care.

 

Trickle down trickles back up

It’s so obvious to me,

It was so with Grantley and Tom,

It’s so with PM Mottley.

 

I said two basic strategies

Well, maybe three,

And I guess you are wondering

What that third one be.

 

Well, it is welfare-ism:

Line them up for handouts,

It was revisited during COVID:

A BLP ploy without a doubt.

 

From the masses up

Or, trickle down,

When either is handled poorly

The poor is less strong.

 

Put money in their pockets

Then send the taxes sky high

Or trickle down that doesn’t reach

And they will still die.

 

Two obvious practices

By two distinctive parties,

Now that there is essentially one,

Who will fight fuh we?

 

 

Ronnie versus Ralph

With the BLP running free

Well, except for the Marcia Weekes Show,

Dem fighting fuh we?

 

I wish I could hear

Another nine have crossed,

Twenty-ten would be just right

To temper the boss.

 

A BLP/DLP party?

Anything is better than this,

A vibrant Opposition in Parliament

Is what I miss.

 

A repeat of history

Re a parting from Grantley,

Why can’t we have it again?

This time from Mottley.

 

Stewart Russell © May 13, 2024

  

Still the Best Choice

 

 

Of the thirty in the House

She is the best,

She is most definitely a leader

Unlike all of the rest.

 

If she were to go

Tell me what would we do?

Do you know who would lead?

Tell me, do you?

 

With her in charge

There is semblance of hope

But when her two terms are up

Can the others cope?

 

Let’s start with the AG:

Attorney but not General

Unless we mean generally out of focus

As in the case of most people.

 

I like the Deputy PM

Though I can’t tell you why

But to lead this young republic

This I must decry.

 

She seems a little timid

To take on the job of the PM,

And the rest chomping at the bit

Creates a big problem.

 

There is another attorney

That deals in home affairs,

He had hit the ground running

But is now running clear.

 

He cleaned up the South Coast

And the smell and filth gone,

Yet this Minister was suddenly removed

And replaced by another one.

 

Another attorney

Was in charge of our nest egg

But when the liners had to line up

He was removed as the head.

 

 

 

It was given to a female

Who is no longer at the helm,

She did not do any better

Than any of the men.

 

She took over at a time

When there was no tourism,

COVID had everything locked down

Like we were imprisoned.

 

“Cart before the horse”,

Mia has sometimes slipped

But “trick or treat” often becomes

Just simply tricked.

 

A plethora of lawyers

But Constitution reform is struggling,

Most of it is finished, as I speak,

Please excuse the bungling.

 

Opposing stalwarts combine

To represent a charged MP

In spite of a high-level command

That this should never be.

 

Two cream of the crop,

Legal luminaries, I mean,

Are fighting on the same side

In spite of Miss Supreme.

 

A most recent MP

Is talking a great fight

And though shootings are isolated

Ours is a woeful plight.

 

 

Meanwhile Mia is rising

On the International scene,

Rubbing shoulders with big ones

Regal and supreme.

 

Viewed rather favourably

Across the Caribbean,

She is perhaps the greatest leader

Barbados has ever seen.

 

Rhetorically speaking

There are few her equal

And I am speaking both regional

And International.

 

If for some reason

A general election had to be called,

With her at the controls

She would take them all.

 

The DLP, as we can see,

Have not pulled up their pants

And even after two 30-0 drubbings,

Are yet to advance.

 

Caught with pants down

In an out of season election,

The DLP have virtually suffered

Total rejection.

 

 

And while many rejoiced

And also jumped and waved,

We are now facing a dire situation

That is particularly grave.

 

So, if not Mia,

Who will manage this country?

If not the BLP

Who else would it be?

 

Some are desperately hoping

She will change her mind

Regarding only two terms in office

To which she was inclined.

 

 

She may have lost ground

But so too have the DLP,

I pray they get their act together

And that they do so quickly.

 

Mia is still the best choice

As far as I can see

But presently I don’t see far

So, you tell me.

 

Stewart Russell © September 16, 2023