ALBERT Einstein the genius hinted that people who did the same thing always the same way and expected different results were idiotic. It would seem therefore that Jamaicans who support the idea of keeping the JLP and PNP as the nation’s only viable political parties are not being smart because those two parties have failed miserably since Independence to move the nation to prosperity.

More specifically, Jamaicans who are now badmouthing, second-guessing or refusing to support the New Nation Coalition party organised by Betty Ann Blaine are being myopic or disingenuous. There are pros and cons to this idea of the NNC which must be logically explored, but Mrs Blaine’s attempt to help lift Jamaica from its current political chasm is not to be ridiculed or slighted. The number one reason why Jamaica needs a political party like that proposed by the Blaine group is that the JLP and PNP have become hopelessly “garrisonised” and tribal so they both should be tossed out by all well-meaning Jamaicans. The political babies of Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley have become so tarnished that they must be tossed out with the dirty bathwater. Jamaicans gave Orette Bruce Golding the best chance to push the JLP and PNP into oblivion where they belong when they supported his National Democratic Movement but Bruce became bifocal and reneged on his promise to effect meaningful political reform, thus returning Jamaica to the old JLP-PNP “politricks”. The result was a record murder rate in 2009, with 2010 on course to lower the murder bar closer to hell.

In addition to the Jamaican rationality suggesting that “wha gone bad a mawning cyaan come good a evening”, it is simply commonsensical to “haul and pull up” when a horrible start was made. It is up to the Jamaican masses to force political reform by withholding their support and votes from the JLP and PNP and turn their allegiance to the NNC, striking while the iron is hot. Jamaicans in the diaspora and at home should be rushing in droves to help Mrs Blaine accomplish her goals of forging a new nation, that is, a safer and more prosperous Jamaica. It is hoped that Blaine did her homework and consulted with national and diaspora leaders whose support she will need instead of simply launching out by faith alone. Hopefully, she did publish a manifesto to coincide with her party launch. Her close alignment of the NNC with Judeo-Christianity is both a blessing and a curse because 21st century people know much about the atrocities of that and other religions. Yet the contributions of churches to Jamaica’s emancipation, independence and development are well documented. Blaine has already authenticated the “coalition” in her party’s name by signifying that everyone is welcome. Both JLP and PNP strongly utilise religion as their recruiting tool, as they must do in Jamaica, the most religious country in the world. No political party should be strictly religious, but the NNC would do well to adopt the good morals of religion so that the people can cast it off, if it becomes as failed and hypocritical as the JLP and PNP.

A strong NNC can give Jamaican voters that viable, fresh alternative that they need, similar to the US practice of allowing voters to register as Democrat, Republican or Independent. Third parties are not entirely wasteful since some countries do form coalitions of several such parties to rule when no major party harnesses the majority popular vote. In times like these of national economic and security crises, the JLP and PNP should have already joined forces to form a coalition government to get Jamaica out of the rut but their garrison mentality rules. Private sector businessmen who are genuinely concerned about Jamaica’s prosperity should give the NNC their support, and media houses in Jamaica should be welcoming this effort and lending their impartial support to the NNC in the spirit of “nothing tried, nothing done”.

Many diaspora Jamaicans have wealth and skills that they should now offer to the NNC which it is hoped did confer with experts in Jamaica’s institutions of higher learning, churches, charity groups, professional associations and other entities whose support they must have to be viable. It is understood that some individuals are called to be politically independent but they too can help the NNC to help Jamaica. Nothing short of a revolution can save Jamaica from its current murder mayhem and economic indigence, and it might be better for a group like the NNC to lead the transformation than for the masses to revolt. Despite the deep roots of the JLP and PNP in the psyche and practices of the masses and in spite of the historical failures of third parties in Jamaica, the NNC can effectively present hope and direction to this rudderless nation.

This writer would hope that the NNC in its freshness can tackle the question of whether foreign forces like those that destabilised the Manley government of the 1970s and 1980s are responsible for the current runaway murders in Jamaica. Evidently, the JLP and PNP have become so compromised that they either cannot or will not face that issue which is very closely tied up with their garrison constituencies. Although security forces and civil servants must be loyal to the government, the NNC as a bona fide party should meet with their leaders to discuss plans to make Jamaica better. Such negotiations are much better than military coups d’état and violent uprisings. The NNC offers a timely opportunity for concerned Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora to unite to save Jamaica. Public reactions thus far suggest that Betty Ann Blaine and her group have a lot of hard work to do but not an impossible mission. Where are all the Jamaicans that love Jamaica? Here is an opportunity to do something other than just “talk” to help save the nation. Come 2012, patriotic Jamaicans should embrace the NNC while saying firmly to the JLP and PNP, “thank you, goodbye and good riddance”.

INMerv@hotmail.com