Political blind loyalty crippling the society

Popular radio personality Dale Enoch describes blind loyalists as sycophants.

A sycophant is a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.

Synonyms include yes-man, boot licker, lacky, doormat and brown-noser, to name a few.

Dr Morgan Job describes the political parties or institutions that these blind loyalists belong to as cults. His analysis of their behaviour is claimed to be abnormal and defying logic as people remain loyal to these parties even if their lives are not improving. Interestingly, a synonym for cult is denomination or sect exercising an obsession, fixation or veneration.

I tuned in to a political meeting on Monday night and was most disturbed at one point. Some members of the audience clapped and cheered when the speaker said “Trinidad and Tobago had become one of the most dangerous countries to visit in the world.” This is the kind of blind loyalty that plagues members of our electorate.

It seems as though the Opposition was celebrating the spiralling crime situation by applauding this unfavourable statistic.

We know that culturally we have heard calypsoes like “sailing with the boat, sink or float” from the Mighty Trini, which describes the thinking of a generation of people within our society towards country.

There is a statement made by some blind loyalists which says they will remain a member of a political party until they die, ie, sink or float.

Whether these people are sycophants or cultists is up for debate but statements like these demonstrate blindness and more than mild ignorance manifested as unwavering loyalty. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley demonstrated he is not a blind loyalist when he called out his PNM political leader in Parliament on allegations of corruption and so did Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj with the UNC. The Prime Minister’s “Conversations” meeting in Point Fortin was a good indicator that there are people who may be loyal but not blind and therefore they speak out when they are not happy.

There is hope in the fact that we have a growing segment of undecided voters who actually vote based on issues and for the party which presents the better strategy for national progress.

This group of independent thinkers is often the target by political parties as they are critical to winning an election.

Ask yourself which comes first for you, country loyalty or party loyalty?

RONALD HUGGINS St Joseph