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Published: Sunday | November 20, 2005

POLITICAL partisanship is a democratic fact of life. Virtually every country that votes its leaders into office is plagued by party tribalism.

Perhaps because it has been holding elections longer than anywhere else, Great Britain seems to be reasonably free of this dreaded virus.

But even the United States, which likes to boast of being a democratic model to the world, is practically split in two between the Democratic coastal blue states and the Republican interior red states.

Few people there seem to be able to rise above this divide. Even the Supreme Court judges voted along party lines in the infamous 2000 presidential election.

By most accepted standards, American democracy is in terrible shape. As the September 24, 2004 edition of Economist pointed out, the incumbent re-election rate in the House of Representatives is 99 per cent, and more than nine in 10 Americans live in districts that are one-party monopolies in practice.

Meaning that the U.S. is even more 'garrisonised' than Jamaica although, of course, they use pork barrels rather than dons to 'run things'.

The great advantage of democracy, however, is that as long as all sides adhere to accepted precepts it self-corrects itself in the long run, as people get fed up with being manipulated and lied to.

America is the richest and most powerful country on earth and long experience has taught it to channel its tribalism into non-violent arenas. As such, its political ship of state is in little danger of imploding.

Unfortunately, this cannot be said for our unsettled little island.

When you consider how much can go wrong and how much has gone wrong politically in far richer and more peaceful countries, it is amazing really, that this country has been since independence one of the most stable democracies on earth.

We have held regular elections every five years or so, fully upheld the freedom of the press and the rule of law, and never suffered any major political assassination.

It is a rare accomplishment, especially for such a young, poor and violence-prone nation.

LIVING ON BORROWED TIMES

But sometimes you wonder if it has not been just a matter of sheer luck, and if we are living on borrowed time.

The media, in general, does a very good job of reporting the facts and our radio news shows in particular are the equal of any on the planet.

But it increasingly seems that to become involved with either of our main parties is to become incapable of rational thinking on politically-related matters.

For instance, before I tired of their incessantly one-sided hectoring, I found it amusing to compare the columns of Delroy Chuck and Dennis Morrison when any untoward political event occurred.

Ostensibly, they were discussing the same matter, but their respective takes made it seem as if they were talking about two separate incidents that had taken place on two different planets.

It is disturbing really to see obviously intelligent persons often completely ignoring facts and logic to bend events to their preconceived opinions without any apparent sense of intellectual embarrassment.

Of course, 'different strokes for different folks' is the lifeblood of any democracy. No one has all the answers or is right every time, and one man's meat is another man's poison.

This is why healthy political systems require a plurality of opinions from all parts of the spectrum.

SACROSANCT

Yet, it is crucial in democracies that all sides respect basic rules.

And there is no more basic rule than that the lives of elected officials are sacrosanct.

It is not that that they are worth any more than the ordinary man. But there is nothing more likely to send people heading for the hills with guns ablaze than seeing their leader violently killed.

And when one side makes naked attempts to grab power with bullets, not ballots, the other side usually has no choice but to do the same.

It is a slippery slope that has destroyed many democracies over the past 50 years.

Which is why I was quite disturbed by the response of some public figures towards last Tuesday's tear-gassing near Jamaica House of the Desmond McKenzie-led group of mayors.

NO JUSTIFICATION

Now, my views on the matter have nothing to do with party. I have little doubt that if the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) were in power and People's National Party (PNP) marchers were gassed, diehard Labourites would cry 'They were breaking the law and suffered the appropriate consequences!' while dedicated comrades would shout 'They posed no violent threat and the police clearly overreacted!'.

But, personally, I can't see how any objective person could justify what the police did.

For one thing, Andrews Memorial Hospital, Ardenne and Priory schools, and a nursing home for the elderly were all nearby, as were numerous motorists on Hope Road.

To fire tear gas in this vicinity when no one's life was being threatened was an act of the utmost stupidity. Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas' fearless even-handedness has so far made an excellent impression with the public.

So, I sincerely hope that those involved in this reckless endangerment of innocent people are appropriately punished.

Yes, the marching mayors were technically breaking the law. But as respected persons have pointed out, the law is not a mindless shackle. It is the spirit and not the letter that truly matters.

The right to demonstrate peacefully is a vital component of democracy which has been exercised by nearly all our national leaders at some time.

Our two most popular Prime Ministers, Alexander Bustamante and Michael Manley, were not coincidentally masters of the art of public theatre.

In fact, in the streets political grandstanding is something Jamaican expect to see periodically. A lack of organised demonstrations bespeaks a lack of democratic vigour.

OBSESSION WITH LEGAL NICETIES

If demonstrators become a danger to public safety, then police are naturally fully justified in taking any action necessary to secure order. But tear-gassing 50 unarmed elected representatives is akin to shooting a man dead for stealing a pack of cigarettes.

Seeing Mr. McKenzie collapse brought to mind last month's shooting of persons near Opposition Leader Bruce Golding in Tivoli.

What struck me about both incidents was the obsession of commentators with legal niceties and political implications, and the almost total unconcern at the fact that either, or both men, could easily have been killed. After all, bullets have no prejudice, and 10 feet to the left or right and Mr. Golding might have been another homicide statistic.

While Mr. McKenzie's life - and he is known to be not in the best of health - could easily have been ended by the directly fired tear gas canister which caused him to collapse and hit his head on the sidewalk.

Now, both seem to me decent men who, like all our elected politicians, whatever their faults, have dedicated their lives to serving the country.

WIDER CONCERN

But my concern over their safety is not so much personal - after all, 1,600 Jamaicans will have died violently at the end of this year and all deserve our equal sympathy - as national.

In Jamaica's currently supercharged atmosphere, the violent death of any of our well-known politicians would very possibly spark a murderous outbreak of chaos that breaks down all barriers and destroys our so far resilient but still fragile democracy.

We have hordes of rootless, ruthless young men walking around with high-powered weapons.

Give half of them a casus belli to unite around to which the other half will respond in kind, and 'dog nyam Jamaica supper'. And we seem to be edging closer and closer to doing just that.