It’s not even, so much, about national unity.
It’s about defending the GROUND that makes us a nation.
And this is when partisan politics needs to be retired -albeit- temporarily, in the interest of protecting and preserving the nation’s borders.
To lead – at the time when the nation is potentially under invasion – with some tempestuous political posturing is not just reprehensible but petty and speaks to the caliber of inherent leadership that the moment demands.
Decoupling partisan differences from national defenses should be reflex, especially if patriotism was the driver behind your political career.
And we’re, in no way, suggesting the that ruling arm of government is some iconic reference for patriotism.
The manner in which the responsibility of dispensing elected leadership is effected, is also a measure of patriotism.
Politics is framed by the nation’s Constitution. The Constitution defines both the welfare and well being of the nation’s citizens. The governance of leaders has the Constitution as the underpinning of policy and practice.
Adopting this as the governing chassis does not only show respect for the people who look to government for leadership but respect for the enshrined tenets of the Constitution, by those who have been elected to govern by its guidelines.
And we have never been shy about citing times when there appeared to be flagrant disregard for this governing mold, in deference to partisan politics.
We’re now at the moment when the nation’s military is threatening its citizens against voting for an enemy sponsored – Venezuelan– election that could increase hostility and potential for incursion.
This affirms that, there is more probability than not, that there is a segment of Guyanese that is disenchanted enough to sell out.
And, no, we’re not proponents of the thinking that a repeat of the 1969 Rupununi Uprising is part of regional DNA.
Instead, we’re wondering what real political outreach has been done, since then, to establish a permanent framework of inclusion and accountability by the major political parties- and not just the election season gift- bearing visits, accompanied by the trite slogans and impractical promises that end, when campaigning ends.
To submit, at this critical hour, that bruised political feelings are matters to be addressed is to underestimate the need for national cohesion in the face of impending external invasion. The embarrassing frivolity cannot be overstated.
That complaints by the Opposition of their “requests for emergency consultations…ignored” is current basis for political division – when the enemy is literally amongst the electorate – is the kind of political tit for tat that scores points for the Party and loses them for the nation.
When a country is in conflict, the enemy is at war with the nation, not a Party. And war is not foreign adventurism; especially for Guyana which is really not war- ready for the Bolivarian Army.
And those local warriors, who have already sicced parts of America’s military on Venezuela, had better awaken from whatever revelry they’ve transported themselves to.
Commander in Chief, Trump, has designated Guyana amongst the ishhole countries. And if the local warriors have been swooned by the threats of Marco Rubio , whose political ambitions are much taller than he is, they’d better re-calibrate.
The US Army is not Trump’s personal band of brigands. It can only be deployed by an act of Congress.
And Guyana, its oil and Exxon, will never match up to the oil – immersed Middle Eastern Countries that have now become Trump’s gift -bearers.
He once called El-Salvador an Ish Hole country. Now it’s his offshore jail for exporting ‘illegals’.
He once accused Quatar of sponsoring terrorism. They just offered him a hand-me-down jet and now he’s singing their praises as protectors of the Middle East.
Room for Guyana here, you ask?
Can you compete for his transactional affection to the tune of fighting your war?
The deployment of America’s military is often premised on the installation/restoration of democracy.
And Guyana’s democracy, like its American counterpart’s, especially under the Trump Administration, is an amorphous guideline that re-shapes with the circumstances and the desired effect for the moment, is our opinion.
America’s military is wearing thin, per experts, with waning enlistment and mounting debt as malefactors.
And their installation/restoration of democracy often comes with occupation and decimation of cultures…Afghanistan, Iraq…for those dreaming of liberation.
This brings us back to the declaration of the elected Opposition … “we cannot cooperate with an oppressive government”… offered as some sort of salve on the eve of national crisis.
If the usual political choreography of stock phrases and put downs are the selected weapons, of this elected arm of government, to combat fear and anxiety of a possible invasion, we should all pray for two primary things.
The first is for Party members to see this as more than a vanity challenge and demand that it’s leadership steps into its national role, collaborating with the ruling Party, as this moment requires.
The second is for sustained interaction by the two Parties because, functioning as disparate entities does nothing but a disservice to the nation, as the two elected arms of governance show partisan contempt for their obligation.
Hopefully, this tense moment in the nation’s history will force the collaboration unilaterally removed by each Party, which runs its own agenda in contravention to the Constitution, for partisan and not national gratification.
Wars are Party neutral.
Their goal is your country.
We shouldn’t even have to say it.