The current election campaign seems to be underscoring the wisdom of the English proverb, "Old habits die hard."
While, officially, the campaign is not yet one week old, there is already enough evidence to suggest that some voters are willing to trade their votes for financial or other personal benefits, while others are being encouraged to do so.
For example, one letter writer – ostensibly someone who is a voter as well and whose letter is published on today's opinion pages – is offering to vote for whichever politician fixes a problem in his district. He lives in the Dawn Beach area and the problem is related to what he says is the "constant nuisance in terms of noise and smell" emanating from the sewage plant at The Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa, and which he says is "truly horrible."
"All I ask of you is to fix this situation before the elections and you have my vote.
But before you wave away this offer, there's more. I am not the only one living under these torturous levels. All my neighbours are as well. So start counting the number of potential votes you can earn here!"
We understand and empathise with the motivation behind what seems to amount to a desperate cry for help in addressing a problem that has been around for some time. However, even though our letter writer's case does not come close to being one of the worst examples we can think of, we are concerned about the mindset that expects immediate direct benefits in exchange for votes.
We are concerned about such a mindset because some politicians have complained bitterly over the years about voters making sometimes outrageous demands as they seek to trade their and their families' votes in return for financial or other benefits.
What is even more troublesome is that this mindset has been fostered by some politicians and has become so deeply rooted in our society that some voters now harbour what they seem to consider a legitimate expectation that they should be provided with some substantial and tangible personal benefit in return for their votes.
It is against this backdrop that we also find very disturbing independent Island Councilman and now National Alliance candidate Louie Laveist's allegations while on the campaign trail Wednesday night that some politicians are out there "pumping a lot of money" and that he has been offered "a bundle of money" to switch his support.
When and where will it stop if, indeed, politicians are also bribing or attempting to bribe fellow politicians – and possibly would-be politicians – when seeking to determine the future of soon-to-be Country St. Maarten?
The perpetuation of this money-or-something-else-for-my-vote mindset does not bode well for Country St. Maarten. Therefore, we sincerely hope that no matter how high the stakes might be for the upcoming early Island Council elections, our politicians, individually and collectively, will find it within themselves to take a firm stand against all undesirable practices.
Their mantra should be, "Let bad old habits die" – period.
