Will we hear you?

So that's it. The polls are closed, the results are in, the people have chosen. Civic duty has been exercised, or so it has been said. Amazing that such an important 'duty' lasts for only one day. If you exercised for one day every five or so years, what kind of shape would you be in?

We have three political parties with very similar agendas, and the difference comes in how they propose to achieve these shared goals. But, the PNM is not socialist, the UNC is not green and the COP is not liberal. There is no ideological difference. There is, however, enough perception of a difference, and this is why the system triumphs. All of the podium speeches and the verbal battles through the mud work at achieving one thing. Trivializing real issues and giving importance to minor aspects. For instance, Manohar Ramsaran when speaking about Kelvin Ramnath who recently had heart surgery tried to convey the idea that Ramnath was not healthy enough to represent a constituency. Ramnath's response explicitly directed Ramsaran to ask his wife about Ramnath's health. To my knowledge Manohar Ramsaran's wife is not a member of the medical profession.

The witty comebacks on the campaign trail, displays of bravado and machismo by both men and women, get the attention of voters. This latest election proves that. The voters, the body of the electorate that exercised on Monday, November 5th, indicated satisfaction with the choices given to them.

And yet, almost 45% of the population that was eligible to vote did not. With everything that was spent on political rallies, newspaper ads, entertainers, what a spectacle. And still almost half of the nation was not satisfied with the choices available, which is significant. For another five years, we will be sitting in Trinidad. Five carnivals will come and go, five Christmas seasons, five birthdays, five years of marriage, five of our own years, however we choose to measure it, time will pass. As this time passes, do we forget about our civic duty or does it become a daily exercise? Is the choice of voting the sole manifestation of our right to democracy? Where is our voice?