July 11, 2011Dear Sir,A candidate who stands for election as the representative of a particular political Party is just that, a representative of that Party, its members and its political doctrine. In an ideal world, the voter should vote for the person who represents the Party which he believes will best govern Bermuda or, at least, will govern as the voter thinks best. That doesn't happen in Bermuda. Distrust between blacks and whites and between labour and management have twisted the way we select our Government. All of us know the history here but that's what it is ... history, the past. We should change the way we select the people who govern us. You can't solve the economic issues based on racial pigmentation; you can't restructure our schools and our hospitality industry based on whether we consider ourself a “worker” or a “manager”; and we can't solve any of the problems of today by living in the past.Craig Cannonier comes from a family of staunch PLP supporters but he obviously recognised that the way we were doing things and the way we were electing people to govern Bermuda may have made us feel good but it was a recipe for disaster in the 21st century. He clearly decided he didn't want to see things done the same old way any longer.The result is the One Bermuda Alliance. Whatever you may believe about change, you cannot deny that the only group that hasn't changed at all is the PLP. The fact that the OBA stands for certain principles is only partly the point. The real change is in who they are and how they will govern. When the OBA says it wants to be the Party for all of Bermuda, it means that it doesn't want to govern in favour of one group of people; it doesn't want to ignore the social needs of Bermuda; it wants to seek a real world balance between labour and management; and it wants to govern Bermuda on the basis of equality and the future — not division and the past.There can be few who will deny that the OBA has the people who can best solve the problems of Bermuda today (on the assumption that they are solvable !). The diehards will base their votes as they did in the past. Those in the middle, who are most affected by current circumstances, will hopefully understand that if you choose to allow the current Government to run amok with the social, financial and educational policies they seem to believe in ... then you will want to remember the refrain “In a democracy, you get what you deserve ...”. In the US, the UK, throughout the Middle East and in Europe, dramatic changes have taken place. Maybe it's time for change in Bermuda. Understanding the past is one thing; living in the past is another.HUCKSouthampton