Mark Wignall | Do you know that politician?

Unless he was socially premature and thus not fully formed at the beginning, just about every politician is made with two essential major parts.

The first is the need to rev the ego while on turbocharged setting. The job is the needed fuel. The second is the more noble: the acceptance that the job of political leadership is one with a most awesome responsibility. Because of that, in time it becomes an almost unbearable burden. Worry lines, greying hair, little sleep, personal and private domestic tension. The most skilled leader is the one who best handles the balance.

Lessons from WWII are apt. FDR (US President Franklin D. Roosevelt) had to tackle the Great Depression, World War II, and debilitating health issues. He died fairly young at 63.

LBJ (US President Lyndon B. Johnson) acted against the racism of his own southern Democrats and ceded them to the Republican party as he brought in the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts. Add to that the horrors of the Vietnam War, which was politically maddening. Plus the increase in violent criminality in major US cities.

The burdens made him wisely flee to the sanctuary of his Texas ranch without seeking a second term.

Like them or detest them, most politicians come across as sensible rather than incurious and openly ignorant. Some are, in fact, quite bright and highly intelligent. At times, a few of us pundits wonder if we should sympathise with new entrants who ask themselves, should we best enjoy the game instead of trying to change the rules?

RARITY THAN NORM

It is more the rarity than the norm that a populist idiot is elevated to the top of a country’s political leadership. Having established his stupidity bona fides in the first term, it borders on cosmic impossibility that such a person could slip through the cracks for a second time.

In Donald Trump’s first term, he showed little interest in politics, policy, and especially, comity. He was forever stuck in schoolyard bully mode. But he saw the weaknesses of the Constitutional checks, and more by chance than design, he overpainted the old democratic pathways while crafting a new idiocracy with him in charge. With dangerous Stephen Miller by his side, he learned well how to game the rules of the system.

Of course, most are familiar with his racism, misogyny, and signature cruelty in his randomised policies. And his capture of SCOTUS and underqualified enablers making up his Cabinet. Add to that the spinelessness of GOP congressmen and a perfect storm was created for governmental chaos on the domestic front and war mongering abroad.

We should never forget that all elected politicians get there via votes in elections. I recently read that some American consumers (42 per cent) did not know that Lays chips were made from potatoes. If that is really so, it should not have come as a surprise when Trump, running for his second term, told Fox News in late 2023 that he wouldn’t be a dictator except on day one; and still they voted for him.

Trump low-information supporters laughed it off, and America is for the moment, stuck with a dishonest, obnoxious, and soulless vulgarity, hungry for endless admiration.

JAMAICA A REPUBLIC. WHAT THEN?

As much as I notionally supported and voted for Prime Minister (PM) Holness in the last elections, my world would not have suddenly collapsed had Golding won simply because neither of them scared me as I would be were I an American living in Trump’s America. Thankfully, Jamaica is, basically, in good hands.

I am not having much luck meeting Jamaicans expressing eagerness in having Jamaica become a republic. “People are just not interested,” said my friend, a retired JCF officer. “Seriously now,” he said, ” I did not vote in the last elections, but I support the JLP. I just want the roads fixed, and I know that there are enough poor people in this country to keep Holness busy with their plight over the next five years than me giving a @!** about Jamaica becoming a republic.”

I recounted to him about the referendum in 1961 where a mentally sharp, streetwise Bustamante of the Jamaica Labour Party outwitted the ‘gentleman’ founder and intellectual head of the People’s National Party, Premier Norman Manley, won it and proudly marched into independence. I was headed to my teens when Busta became our first prime minister at the dawn of Independence in 1962.

There was merrymaking, celebrations, and fireworks. A short-lived West Indies Federation (1958-1962) gave way to Independence, and now, in 2025, we are seeking to formally sever ties with Britain and the monarchy. That is the rage among the educated elites who ought to know that grass-roots Jamaicans are more interested in the fireworks and celebrations than documentary evidence of the status change to come.

When it happens, will it bring about a stirring inside of us to handle our garbage better? Will we drive better on the public roadways? Will we share info on the criminals in our midst? Will we feel better about ourselves as we awake each morning? Will we feel more prepared to lead our children and grandchildren into seeing better versions of themselves as they head to 2030 and beyond? Will we smartly demand a better-quality politician free from the taint of corruption?

Jamaica as a name and a place was never allowed to exist only locally. It is claimed and loved by many in the international community. The accolades will not come overnight, but if we are willing to invest the huge, added effort, we will eventually meet and surpass the 2030 objectives.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.