December 5, 2013

Dear Sir,

I’m a private person by nature and prefer to keep my opinions to myself unless I’m asked to do otherwise. I also like to stay out of other people’s business, politics or religion. My focus is strictly on faith, family, work and football.

So it is totally ironic that my lifelong “partner in crime” since kindergarten is now the most popular politician in the country, Marc Bean. This is the one person in public life who would likely share my private views, especially when they were first taking shape as we came of age together.

Now I find myself repeatedly being asked to comment on everything that Marc has to say — and we can all see that Marc likes to speak his mind. I think this contrast in our personalities is what made us instant friends, but it also now puts me in the awkward position of being in his political shadow. So let me now follow his lead and officially go on record with my opinions about his new status as the “best man” in the House of Assembly.

At the outset, however, I should make a few disclaimers:

Firstly, I have to state that I am not a part of Marc’s inner circle. I never entered the political arena with him because my interests and activism were directed at cultural, social and youth development. I don’t have a crystal ball and I am not a mind reader, but I am not at all surprised by Marc’s political actions. I know Marc as someone who deals directly with his truth and always speaks his own mind without fear or favour.

Secondly, I think that Marc’s spirituality and intensity have endeared him to many of his supporters. What you see is truly what you get. This is a rare quality in Bermuda politics. From my experience working with various Ministers on different government projects, most — if not all — of our politicians seem to have an ulterior agenda. They tend to say what they think you want to hear — or saying nothing at all — rather than deal with truth and facts.

Lastly, I believe that Marc is the nearest to what would politically be deemed to be the face of a new generation of political talent that is emotionally, psychologically and economically detached from the era of official segregation. This means that he is going to explore the boundaries of parliament with a more detached mindset — like someone at the scene of an accident, rather than in the midst of it. He may have sympathy for the victims or condemnation for the perpetrators, but he has not directly suffered the trauma himself.

With all these things being said, I think it is a healthy sign that neither of our leaders in government or the opposition are allowing themselves to be caught up in the results of the latest polls. My specific concern is that the youth of Bermuda — particularly in the “hard core” part of our social structure — need clear and decisive leadership on basic issues like respect, integrity and love. These are small words that cannot be measured in dollar signs, statistics and flow charts but only by the attitudes and actions of real people in real life situations.

I stayed clear of party politics because, too often, I have found this area to be far removed from these common sense concerns. To Marc’s credit he entered into this dubious world of campaign warfare with his eyes wide open and has been able to emerge at the top of the pile. But my main concern for Marc is that the system is so entrenched that he will find his approach to the future defined more by personal compromise than by institutional practicality.

His predecessors had the benefit of a public expectation that positive change could be achieved from within the political process. But today, that viewpoint has been largely erased — especially in the minds of the youth. Youths today tend to show far more open contempt for the system. We see this on the news in various parts of the world, and Bermuda is no different. More generally, we also know that people of all ideological stripes are increasingly taking the law into their own hands, and party politics have been relegated to the redundant status of the typewriter and the fax machine.

At a grassroots level, I witnessed firsthand how the 2012 general election was decided long before election night itself. The politics of personal indifference had become so ingrained that it was second nature by the time the polls were opened. Even worse, there was outright animosity to a system that has left voters with no real options for positive healing. Our pursuit of democracy has instead been reduced to a siege war for political power and the voters themselves are being treated as the “collateral damage” of this institutional masquerade.

My free — and albeit unsolicited — advice to Marc is that he owes his new political career as Opposition Leader to the perception that he is removed from the widespread forces of ideological decay that lead to the original demise of the UBP, the emergence of the OBA and the eventual collapse of PLP at the last election. This perception will only last so long given that we have yet to come to terms with the depth of our present political challenges.

Speaking as the person that was privileged to be the best man at his wedding last year — and who was also privileged to have him serve as my own best man several years ago — he needs to remember that there is no best man in politics, just a hopeful chance for the best people to do the right thing.

EUGENE DEAN