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by Dr. Veronica C. Evelyn
The whirlwind elections have come and gone, resulting in a predictable victory-by-default. The negative swing in the BLP vote was also predictable.
Democracy in Barbados is alive but, as evidenced by the thunderous silence of over half the eligible voting population, it is not at all well and it will take more than a snap election to heal what was perceived as ‘disunity’ afflicting the country.
In fact, the calling of an election in the context of a 2021 Barbados, though it may have been a brilliant political strategy, may only have intensified the divisions and aggravated the disgruntlements at ground level.
Polling results suggest that although the electorate was reluctant to vote for a party with which some had become disenchanted, they were determined to keep at bay one that had subjected the country to an inglorious period of misgovernance, and were hesitant to entrust an ailing country to embryonic third parties and independent voices crying in the wilderness. For the second time in 8 years, the country was confronted with an electoral Hobson’s choice.
So where do we go from here? The issues which divided the country pre-election, continue to exist so there is a great need to cover our elected leaders with prayer for physical, emotional and spiritual fortitude to lead this country in a manner pleasing to the One True God even where doing so is at the expense of losing favour with ‘the modern world’.
Along with prayer, a good start might be to recognise the need for national cleansing and renewal, as Hungary did in the preface to its 2011 Constitution: “We hold that after the decades of the twentieth century which led to a state of moral decay, we have an abiding need for spiritual and intellectual renewal.”
Another step in the right direction would be, like Hungary, to officially declare the country a family-friendly country and further, to promote marriage and family as critical investments in a resource scarce – society where human capital is of utmost importance.
Sexual rights issues remain a sore point and must be addressed head on because they persist across social, economic, political and spiritual dimensions, pitting national allegiance to the modern world against allegiance to the eternal God.
The bottom line is, will we follow the science and act out of an abundance of caution when the modern world presses in with increasing sexual rights demands? The current administration would do well to re-evaluate its pre-election orientation towards contemporary sex/gender mores and values.
It can continue to seek favour with the ‘modern world’ or, like countries such as Hungary, Singapore and Ghana, it can choose to reaffirm longstanding cultural values regarding human sexuality.
The country – at least, the 45 per cent that voted – has elected its government. This Government must now decide whether Barbados will take its place among the nations that are rejecting God’s blueprint for marriage and family (Psalm 2), or whether it will proactively reaffirm, in the post-Republic Constitution, that even in the most intimate matters of sex and sexuality, Barbados remains a nation “founded on principles that acknowledge the supremacy of God.” May God grant the PM and her Cabinet the vision, understanding, wisdom and courage to do so.
