No independence vote for seniors

Martin writes to express his unhappiness with the suggestion of Charles Jeffers, former chairman of the National Liberal Party, that people over 55 should not be allowed to vote on independence:

"As I enter what Charles Jeffers calls “my twilight years”, I accept that certain things do not function as well as they used to. I will spare you the details, but sufficient to say that my brain is still functioning reasonably well. At least I think it is.

One of the most precious individual rights we have is the right to vote and, through that vote, to influence the direction of one’s country politically for the coming years.

It is a right that has been fought for and for which people have died. To suggest removing a section of society from the right to vote on the basis of age is sloppy, arrogant and plain silly thinking. Our older citizens bring a breadth and depth of understanding and experience to the ballot box; something younger people often do not have.

In addition to being silly, such thinking of course is also harmless as the idea could never fly. Or could it?"

Comments

[RedOnion on 19.03.06 at 11:56]

Many of the voters over 55 are the very people that got this island to the point where we could make a decision on independance. To exclude these people from the voting process is outgrageous. I truly hope that this idea does not go any further and is not even considered by whoever it will be that decides on who can and who cannot vote for independance. The Premier wants us to decide on independance by way of a General Election, are we to deny seniors the right to vote for their party also?

And yes, I am over 55 and cannot for the life of me figure out where Charles Jeffers got this ridiculous idea from. I'm sure he used some form of logic in his thinking, perhaps he will explain it after the seniors have finished verbally bashing him.

[census on 19.03.06 at 13:33]

Although I do not agree with his suggestion to disallow persons over 55 the vote, I think I know why he made the suggestion. Polls show that support for independence is highest among that age bracket. Young people who are just starting out in their careers and are understandably fearful of the effect independence would have on their career plans are generally against it. Not all, of course, but some poll or other I saw posted either here or in the Royal Gazette indicated this was the case.
Also, the older generation are apparently more inclined to be in favour of independence because they still carry the painful scars of segregation and are the most easily influenced when opportunistic members of the Government make false promises of a better world with independence by stirring up existing racial tensions instead of working to defuse them. The younger generation are not so easily influenced because they do not have those memories to exploit.

[NoVote on 19.03.06 at 14:04]

Ridiculous idea, but fairly straight forward to see where it came from.

Either: Over 55's are most likely to vote in favour because they are the ones most susceptible to the emotive arguments being used by the pro-Independence members of government (sorry - big generalisation, I know).

Or: Over 55's are least likely to have to live with the long-term consequences.

I guess that ignores the fact that people over 55 will still live with some of the conseqeunces...and might possibly have an interest in what happens to the younger generations.

Personally, I still think that Independence is not even worthy of a referendum in the first place.

We already know that there's no popular support for it, so what's the point in asking people to decide whether they want it or not.

A referendum is a waste of time and the use of a general election to shoe-horn it in is simply a cynical manipulation of the democratic process.

[Shark on 19.03.06 at 17:10]

The idea of excluding over 55's because they may be bias makes no sense as there are people who are 40 or 30 that may have experienced the effects segregation or racisum and would be bias too.

And if he was formaly part of a Liberal party isint excludig some people from voting against Liberal values?

[Raptor on 19.03.06 at 18:00]

The whole idea is unconscionable, egregious, pathetically manipulative, biased--and I'll come up with some more words later.

[Tiger Bay on 19.03.06 at 20:49]

He has any credibility as the head of the NLP? What, they couldn't find a Whig willing to make a comment?

[Locked in the Garage on 19.03.06 at 22:01]

Is "P" over 55?

If he is , it's a great idea!

[SmokingGun on 20.03.06 at 13:08]

I think it is unfortunate that Mr. Jeffers went so far as to suggest banning people over the age of 55 from having a say in the matter. It would be in Bermuda's best interest to include all those that are eligible to vote so that we as a country will know that the decision was made by the majority and no-one can say it was manipulted. Not a good way to start any new project.

However, I do think his goal of making sure the decison is made from a practical stand-point and not just an emotional one is valid. This is a perfect example of why education, clarity and time be given to the decision. It is also a perfect example of why the decision should only be done via referendum at a completely seperate date from an election.

Our young people who's futures will be far more impacted by the outcome of the decision may feel their elders are out of touch or on the wrong page. But no-ones too old to learn and if we need to spend the time and money getting both groups together to hear each other's reasonings then so be it. Independence is such a massive decision that it needs massive amounts of discussion and time to understand it's irreversible consequences.