Garth Rattray

The phrase, "I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am you may be also," was spoken by two people. One was our Saviour, Jesus Christ (John 14:1-3), and the other was former prime minister and immediate past president of the People's National Party (PNP), the Honourable P.J. Patterson (68th PNP annual conference, Saturday September 23, 2006, the National Arena). According to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ also said, "In My Father's house, are many mansions," and, at that same PNP event, Mr. Patterson went on to say, "In Portia's house, there are many mansions."

I never expected Mr. Patterson to utter such words. I tried to attribute them to overexuberance and intoxication brought on by the admiring throng of party supporters, or a desperate attempt to 'comfort' and unite the flock. The suggested parallel between deity and politicians concerns me because it represents the irreverent use of the word of God and exemplifies and promulgates the worshipping of and reliance on politicians - which is the main reason why our politics is so dirty, tumultuous and deadly.

Many of our poor, misguided, or otherwise desperate people, still believe that they need help from a politician - gangland boss or some other 'big' man or woman - to survive. Representational politics, therefore, brings with it a retinue of the 'faithful' seeking handouts, contracts or favours. Political violence will never cease until we empower our people and eradicate the 'dependency syndrome.'

If politics spawned a 'god,' I suppose it could also spawn a so-called 'devil.' On Wednesday, September 20, 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez - world champion of the underdog and Bush administration detractor - muffed his golden opportunity to constructively criticise Washington's unfair foreign policies when he feigned religiosity and repeatedly referred to United States (U.S.) President George Bush as El Diablo (the Devil) while addressing the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York - of all places. Perhaps he too was intoxicated by politics.

Non-permanent seat

Chávez's whimsical thespian antics didn't harm Mr. Bush. Instead, he besmirched the august UN body, undermined his country's chance of being elected to a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and, worst of all, relegated the critical topic of unjust U.S. foreign policies to the realm of entertainment - comic relief. He tried in vain to befriend the American people - by incessantly referring to them as his brothers and sisters and offering low-priced fuel - but he only managed to rankle the staunchest of Bush critics like Democrat Charles Rangel of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California into defending their president.

Chávez claimed: "Bush has called me worse things - tyrant, populist dictator, drug trafficker, to name a few." He, in turn, accused Mr. Bush of stealing the November 2000 U.S. General Election and described him as tyrannical, an aspiring world ruler, genocidal, a war criminal, imperialistic and immoral.

President Chávez should have put aside his personal feelings and focused instead on issues like America's illegal invasion of Iraq and how it fanned the flames of a 'holy' war (jihad), America's subversion of the Geneva Convention, secret detention centres within countries that condone torture, her unswerving support of Israel, U.S. self-exemption from war crimes prosecution and Washington's decision to unilaterally formulate a distinction between 'tough interrogations' and torture.

Chávez's speech would have been more effective if, instead of demonising Bush, he criticised his administration's poor foreign policies. And, Mr. Patterson should have spoken of peace, unity and the power of the people instead of deifying politicians.

Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.