Millsy's Mind - I want to vote the illusion of choice for generation f

By Claude Mills, Youth Writer

I WANT to vote in the next general elections.
I have grown a little tired of seeking refuge in Clever Clever Land, looking at things from the fringes and sniping at Jamaica's political system, laughing at its faults and inadequacies. Playing the snob who sneers at the system by holding it up to the light of his intellect only to go 'hmmm' will not cut it anymore.

Generation F (25 and younger) cannot continue to play the fence-sitting game, waiting on the fringes of the system for change. We must get involved. Now.

We cannot continue to sit back and allow others who are often less capable to dictate the political future of this country, or to use their votes as grease to oil their two-dollar dreams. Get involved!

I want to vote in the next election. I have to play an active role in deciding the political future of my country if I am going to live here. But I need choices.

I am still waiting to be engaged by the political leaders of this age ... still waiting to detect some heart, some heat, some passion that will wake me out of my indifference.

Face it, these guys are boring!

It's always the same tired cocktail of characters, that is, no new colourful candidates for the race for Prime Minister -- I am tired of the Seaga or Not-Seaga decisions each election year.

The 'Lifelong Heterosexual' has the personality of cheese, and he can take the 'consultative and participatory democracy' crap and shovel it. The man is saddled with an administration defined more by its inability to escape the persistent whiff of scandal than by its meagre achievements in over a decade in power.

The Opposition Leader has made little effort to counter the 'Blinds' alter ego of a dictatorial hardliner with a vested interest in his own agenda. Hyacinth Bennett, the leader of the NDM, is just trying too hard. To me, she comes off as a neophyte who has not quite grasped the nature of our political beast.

The only choice is whether to snore in or snore out.

I am saddened by the vacuum of leadership that now exists in this country. The ancient philosopher Epictetus said: 'It is not events which disturb the minds of men; but men's judgments of events'.

And there comes a point where lives have to stop on a fulcrum to glance back and mark the progress of events, and given the macabre run of murders since early July, this is one of those times. Our judgement is seriously messed up.

I've heard of all the flaws, but I feel that there must be some way to make this all work. I can't sit idly by, fold my hands and wait for some miracle to happen along. I need to get involved. But before I can go in for the fingerprint identification stuff, there has to be some sort of trust developed. I need a leader I can believe in, one I can forge a relationship with and entrust my dreams for a better Jamaica in this century.

We do not need leaders who are capable of missing any of the first three questions on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. We need intelligent, motivated individuals who are willing to forego the political tribalism that has created a generation of fatherless children and grief-stricken widows.

Show me such a leader, and I will show you my X.

You can e-mail me at cmillsy@yahoo.com

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