When I lived in the Cayman Islands, I became friendly with a young businessman there largely based on our interest in Caribbean culture, personalities, social movements, etc. With my flexible schedule, I would drop by his office unannounced, and we would chat about whatever matters were currently on the regional radar. We subscribed to various literary publications, and we would exchange reading matter. I came to know Philip (not his real name) as an erudite Caymanian, and a strong nationalist, but one who would come to a subject with a balanced view, and indeed that latter quality was the basis of our friendship.
In time, Philip entered politics and won a seat, and it was no surprise to see him, in his second term, rising to be a Minister, but the surprise was to see, in our conversations, the almost immediate change in the man. In just a few months, he had become completely polarized spouting only the rhetoric of his political party and dismissing in one stroke anything or anyone from the opposing camp.
I was reminded of Philip’s transformation just this week watching an American writer, Mickey Edwards, on the Charlie Rose television programme, promoting a book called The Parties Versus the People, in which he bemoans the gridlock positions of the Republicans and the Democrats in his country.
Edwards noted the American founders’ resistance to political parties because of their divisional nature, and says his country’s current political gridlock is a consequence of ideology constantly trumping compromise.
He says, “The party position is they have an ideology and they are not going to
