Your Vote

 

 

Personal, Private & Powerful!

The significance of your vote,

It carries a tremendous responsibility;

Fellow Barbadians, Take note!

 

There is one vote per person:

Only one belongs to you,

It is a personal vote, therefore,

You decide what to do.

 

No one can cast it for you

Hence, you must cast it in person,

And having cast your only vote

For you the matter is done.

 

It is really a private matter

And should be treated as such,

None needs feel they can buy it

It’s not a matter of how much.

 

Make no promises to any one

Your vote is not for sale,

And any who tries to coerce you

Report them without fail.

 

A vote is a powerful medium

In that it gives you a say,

It says that you are important

If only for one day.

 

It’s the power that you have,

Though in a moment it is gone!

Then you must wait for five years

Before you get another one.

 

Unless of course,

With a year and a half short,

The command from the General

Is a command to abort.

 

And so, you get a chance

To cast your vote again,

To elect a totally new Government

Or let the incumbent remain.

 

I am still quite baffled

As to why this election was called,

I heard what the PM said

But that cannot be all.

 

Given the huge vote of confidence

Only three and half years ago,

It is not making sense

But that’s just my say so.

 

A new mandate, in my view,

Was not necessary at this time,

Fulfilling one’s manifesto promises

Must be paramount in one’s mind.

 

Five years is an elected term:

Not one and half years short,

It is like kind of abandoning ship

Or something of that sort.

 

What will a new mandate change?

It is likely to be no change

And whatever it was that occurred,

Is likely to happen again.

 

I trust it won’t be thirty-nil

We can’t take that again,

Too much power in one party’s hand

Is likely to cause us pain.

 

So, B’s cast your votes

And D’s, you cast your votes too,

And all of the other parties

Do what you have to do!

 

And those who are undecided

That is your option too,

Do not let anyone ridicule you

If voting is not your view.

 

Personal, Private & Powerful!

The significance of your vote,

It carries a tremendous responsibility;

Fellow Barbadians, Take note!

 

Stewart Russell © January 14, 2022

Absolute Nonsense

There is sense in nonsense

But only in the word,

In day to day living however

That saying is absurd.

There is no sense in nonsense

It must not be excused,

From the youngest to the oldest

Such we must refuse.

It’s not the needle in the haystack

That you might find it by chance,

You can search all you like

Nonsense does not sense enhance.

If what a person says or does

Is replete with nonsense

Do not expect to find sense

There can be no defense.

If something is full of something

There can be nothing more

Hence if it’s full of nonsense

Of that you can be sure.

You must have been admonished

To pick sense from nonsense,

Of course that’s not possible

Because in nonsense there’s no sense.

A lesson you might learn is

Not to do what the idiot did

Like playing “hide and seek”

And finding me before I hid.

Closing one’s eyes so he won’t be seen

Is absolute nonsense you’d agree

But people do it all day long

In a moment I’ll help you to see.

It’s like you are driving

And someone deliberately cuts across

But feigns he doesn’t see you

So your vision too must be lost.

And if further along the road

You should him accost

His response would be, “Not me my friend

You could not have seen me, boss.”

Peter felt if he could close his eyes

To what Jesus had said

Then those who saw him

Would have been deluded instead.

There’s no way one can do nonsense

And then reason it is sense,

It’s like saying he’s neither dead nor alive

Instead he’s sitting on the fence.

All I am saying is

You can’t pick sense from nonsense

Even if you are a magician

And I am totally dense.

It is absolute nonsense

Some of the things we say and do

And then add insult to injury

With, “Others say and do it too.”

A high point of our nonsense

Is pointing to the majority

As though once the majority does it

That gives us indemnity.

Maybe you are wondering

Why I am giving you this caution,

It’s because politicians are out

And this is the silly season.

They will come prepared

With manifestos and notes

Trying to impress you

So they can woo your vote.

Don’t fall for their nonsense

And try to pick from it sense

Even if it sounds impressive

And appears intense.

Think with your conscience

Even if they ignore theirs,

Tell them you’ve made your choice

And in you mind it is clear.

Do not tell them for whom

You plan to place your vote,

Tell them you’ve been following closely

And you have taken note.

Tell them it’s an informed decision

And they need not worry,

They need not waste time with you

And to the next they can hurry.

Do not encourage vote buying

It will get you nowhere,

Your integrity is costless

And such politicians don’t care.

And even if you don’t support

The one who bought your vote

You’ve given him a promise

Upon which he can always quote.

A vote buyer is worse that a vote seller

That should be clear to see,

One has clearly lost all conscience

The other has lost his integrity

Some have advocated

If money sharing out get some of it,

I say act like informed electorate

Not like the dumb and illiterate.

And bear in mind this little quip:

Nonsense is sure to return to haunt

Even the wise and ignorant

When ostensibly such they flaunt.

Stewart Russell © April 2018

Vote Buying

 

If vote buying were right

It would be for the rich,

It could not be for the poor

Some couldn’t buy a stitch.

Remember a time long ago

When the poor couldn’t vote

One had to have land

Or its value in notes.

For me that was vote buying

Money had the say

The poor didn’t have any

So the rich had their way.

Now that has changed

Do we want to go there again?

I say no, not on your life

That would be insane.

But look at what we are doing

My vote for the highest bid,

Of such shameful behavior

I thought we had been rid.

Once corned beef and biscuits

Had held quite a sway

With Mount Gay or Alleyne Arthur

And that made our day.

But from that we’ve graduated

And we ask a higher price

It’s Grantleys: one, two, three, four

Oh, five Grantleys would be nice!

Silly season is upon us

And the promises are rife

Another vote buying strategy

We fell for all our life.

Governments are the best

At the next one I shall tell

Like timing the sweets pot

We all know that well.

During an entire term

Some things cannot be achieved

But on the eve of an election

Tax returns, appointments and title deeds.

Before, the treasury was empty

But now it’s been replenished,

With elections pending

There are things to finish.

So things are looking up

And the joy has returned,

This sophisticated vote buying

Must also be spurned.

Vote buying is an insult

I don’t care who does it,

We as intelligent electorate

Should detest this habit.

Vote selling is unconscionable

For whatever reason we choose,

It cheapens who we are

And it engenders abuse.

It doesn’t matter the level

Or how much we get,

If that’s our mirror image

Then we’ve much to regret.

On each and every life

God has placed infinite value,

Such was demonstrated

When Jesus died for me and for you.

To vote is our civic duty

But to sell our vote is not,

It’s time we tell our leaders

Vote buying must stop.

Treat vote buying and selling

As you would treat any crime

Have the perpetrators arrested

Then fined or confined

Stewart Russell © April 2018

On Your Mark, Set, Go!

 

Well the bell has been rung

Not for school I mean

But for the elections

The most contested ever seen

Some seven parties, I’m told

Will woo the electorate

And which ever is successful

Will govern the state

The DLP, the incumbents

Will try in earnest at a three-peat

The BLP, the main opposition

Is planning for their defeat

Along with Solutions Barbados  

There are BIM and the UPP

All vying in a desperate bid

To be the next governing party

Realistically I would say

It’s between the main two

Most persons will vote DLP or BLP

That’s traditionally true

But especially regarding the UPP

The BLP should be concerned

There’s a distinct possibility

That their effort could be spurned

A number of these candidates

Were recently of the BLP

But a major falling out

Inspired the formation of the UPP

One candidate in particular

Became one of two independents

But then she joined the UPP

And strongly voiced her intent

Much of the UPP’s attack

Has been targeting the BLP

Providing a chance for the DLP

To be the winning party

  

I recall as a matter of fact

The PM had given her his blessing

When she attended her first session

Before the House began discussing

There are some who believed then

His welcome was two-fold

The BLP had lost another MP

And her constituency the D’s could hold

In the event of the elections

While BLP and UPP fight each other

The DLP could sneak right through

And win with much less a bother

You might have noted in verse 12

“Another MP” was used

You would recall a former PM

The BLP he too had refused

He had resigned his membership

From the party he once led

Citing his difficulty with an MP

That currently is the head

There is a lot of criticism

Regarding what the DLP has done

But given the challenge of the UPP

They could yet win this one

It is not likely for a third party

To upset either of the traditional two

But I look with anticipation

At what a certain independent will do

Having given up her vocation

She has also joined the fight

And from what I have been hearing

Many believe she is right

Some have pledged their support

She can expect to get their vote

But to win that City seat

Is still too much to hope

She too will divide the votes

And maybe give the D’s a chance

At pulling off a victory

And their number of seats enhance

By May 25 we should know

Whether it will be the D’s or the B’s

And in addition to that

Whether it will be two parties or three

I will not attempt to speculate

Regarding who will win a seat

But should a third party win the election

That would be quite a feat

Well they are off and running

But the electorate will decide

And as the judges in this election

By their decision all must abide

It’s the time they have the power

To bring big-ups to their knees

As they woo and beg and plead

“Can you give me your vote please?”

There is talk about vote buying

But that is nothing new

When needs are met before elections

That is vote buying too

So go and vote if that’s your wish

And let’s have a peaceful campaign

Whoever the winning party is

We’ll have to live under their reign

And in the final analysis

Regardless of who our leaders are

Unless they get our firm support

Our country won’t get very far

Stewart Russell © April 2018