November 2, 2012Dear Sir,Some believe that the One Bermuda Alliance are a white pro-business party while other believe that the Progressive Labour Party are a black anti-business party. Neither view is correct and I believe that both parties want Bermuda and her people, locals and guests, to be successful and prosper. The United Bermuda Party ruled for 30 years and although Bermuda’s economy was still growing, the Government debt was a tiny fraction of what it is today and anybody who wanted work could have it, the wealth was not seen to be shared equably. The UBP had become arrogant after so many years in power and were rightly ejected by the electorate in 1998.The PLP, despite many fears from business, governed successfully in their early years and initially reduced the debt to less than what they inherited from the UBP. Bermuda’s economy was still growing but as the old guard died, the new leaders of the PLP were becoming arrogant, just like the UBP leading up to 1998. The new PLP knew it all, they wouldn’t listen to warnings, they introduced policies that drove business away from Bermuda and now we have a mountain of debt and more unemployed and underemployed Bermudians than at any time in our history. Those that felt undervalued in 1998 and rightly put their trust in the old PLP are the ones who are now suffering the most under the new PLP.Neither party has issued a manifesto. I would have expected the PLP to have had theirs distributed within a week of calling an election so we could see what they plan to do to turn around our economy, generate real jobs for our unemployed and underemployed and how they will improve public education so our children are prepared for the future. The silence from a party that has been in power for 14 years is deafening. All they seem able to do is criticise anything the OBA says but don’t seem to have any established plans of their own to get us out of the mess they created. The PLP were given a chance as an untried party in 1998 and did well until 2005. By 2007 the PLP had started us on the road to ruin, a year before the global recession started to impact the major economies. By and large our neighbours are recovering while we wallow in deepening recession and unemployment. Should you believe that after seven years of increasing misery that standing strong is the way to go, vote PLP. Should you believe that an untried party may have better answers to our self inflicted problems, vote for change and the OBA. The choice will be yours on December 17. You will have to live with your decision. General elections can be driven by divisive emotion, as we saw in 2007, but I urge all of you to look at the bare facts, not the spin, and try to suppress the emotionCHOOSE WISELYPembroke