When I heard the prime minister speak in his budget address of his government’s love of the poor, a certain Barry White song from the 1970s sprung to mind. In it, the singer implores the object of his affections “don’t go changing” as he loves her “just the way you are”.
The prime minister was touting his party’s supposed love of the poor as some kind of evidence that its policies would always redound to their benefit.
It would behoove the prime minister to remember that not all kinds of love are beneficial to their object, especially when politicians are involved.
Indeed, on numerous occasions Mr. Christie has spoken with no apparent shame of the fact that the constituency that he has represented since 1977 still has the highest incidence of both crime and outside toilets in the entire Bahamas, just as it did back then.
The poor ultimately benefit most from policy decisions that make them fewer in number. The irony of a party that draws its most dependable support from inner-city slum is that its political self-interest may conflict with that objective.
Nobody doubts that the PLP now, like the PLP then, does indeed “love the poor”. The fear of some of us, however, is that they love them just the way they are.
– Andrew Allen
