March 23, 2011Dear Sir,For quite some time now I have been giving politics in Bermuda a great deal of thought, especially the notion of improving it for the benefit of the electorate. My conclusion is that Bermuda and her people would be better served if it did away with party politics as this form of politics has proven to be extremely divisive and this was never more evident than in the lead-up to the last election when the PLP did not present an election platform per se, it instead focused its campaign efforts on using race to retain the seat of Government. Surely I am not alone in expressing a grave concern over the fact that any party can win an election in this day and age simply using race. To hear PLP candidates state that “A vote for the UBP is a vote back to the plantation” with no repercussions is absolutely sickening to me.You will get no argument from me that race is still a factor in corporate and social Bermuda and that is shameful, but when the “leaders” of the country use it for gain that is a major embarrassment. My father has expressed to me the race problems he and my mother faced in the 1950s and 1960s as a mixed race couple. Employers would refuse to hire my mother because she was married to a black man, my father having completed his apprenticeship at the Portsmouth dockyard in the UK as one of the Dockyard Apprentices, was denied employment in certain sectors of the economy, particularly the Government sector, because he was a black man. Details of this certainly brings forth the emotion of anger but we are now in the 21st Century and race problems that Bermuda once experienced are now in the rear view mirror although they should never be forgotten. Many of my generation and those that have followed have claimed to have been hindered by race, claims I will not deny. However, for the most part it is work ethic, or lack thereof, rather than race, that hinders one’s success. The reality is that those of my parents’ generation that stood up to racism are the reason why today racism is not what it once was and why today, as long as one is willing to educate, not necessarily tertiary education but on the job education as well, himself and put in the effort there is no reason he cannot be as successful as he wishes to be, this reality applies to both blacks and whites in Bermuda.The past, while remembered, should be left in the past. We should learn from it and we should be able to grow as a country and a people because we should be able to acknowledge the past and leave it there. During the last election campaign it sickened me to hear members of the PLP try to take us back to a bygone era simply in the name of garnering votes. Now that is out my system let me focus on the topic of this letter. Party politics is simply divisive, if it is not racial division it is ideological division and both cause hard feelings and distrust. There are many persons within the Bermuda society and economy who would be true assets in public service to their country but they choose to exclude themselves from public service because of the divisive nature of party politics. If a black professional offers himself as a candidate for the UBP he is labelled by many of his peers as a “sell-out” or an “Uncle Tom” and the same applies to any white person who chooses to stand as a candidate for the PLP; his white peers ask how he can associate himself with such a divisive party. Clearly this means that Bermuda is not necessarily attracting the best people to public service. My solution for this is to do away with party politics and move back toward a Parliament made up of Independents.How do I propose this system should work? Firstly, the benefit packages of Members of Parliament must be comparable to those in the private sector so that those who we would like see step forward are not economically disadvantaged by entering public service. Secondly, for the election of these Independents there would be no constituencies. Instead all members of the electorate would choose via ballot the slate of Representatives and the Constituency representation is handled via elected Parish Councils. Thirdly, the creation of a recall system would be implemented which means that if an elected Member or Parish Counsellor is not performing, the electorate can bring him back to the polls to fight for his seat between General Elections.Some may say this is going backward as party politics in Bermuda came out of an Independent House of Assembly. I firmly disagree. What we have now is not working, it does not give the electorate a true voice and it certainly gives the electorate no opportunity to remove a non-performing MP between elections. An Independent House of Assembly would have no interest other than doing what is best for the people of Bermuda, votes cast in Parliament would not be cast along political lines and it removes the “Us vs Them” mentality as the mentality becomes “We”. Matters deemed to be “bigger” than the House of Assembly are to be put to the electorate by way of referendums. Examples of these “bigger” issues are Independence, SDOs, etc.Any move toward an Independent House of Assembly will have to be driven by the people of Bermuda as none of the political parties would try to take us down this road since it defeats their very existence. Let’s face it, political parties exist because those who are involved want to hold the seat of political power in the country. I have yet to see a political party make key decisions without taking into consideration the views of its support base, which may not jibe with what is truly best for the country.Clearly this letter is not intended to fully describe how the system should be implemented or how it should be structured, it only just scratches the surface, but I would hope that those who are at least open to an improved political system will begin to consider its pros and cons and perhaps a National Dialogue on it can be initiated. It is time to get Bermuda on a path where everyone has a chance to participate and not have to support the Government of the day in order to have a chance of success.GUILDEN M GILBERT Jr