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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesIsn't Democracy a Wonderful Thing?

Isn't Democracy a Wonderful Thing?

Dear Source:

Isn't democracy a wonderful thing? Recently, the people of St Croix chose to exert their fundamental rights in a democratic society by attempting to recall senators, who voted, much to their disfavor, on a controversial bill which gave Senators, the Governor and Lieutenant governor huge raises and a host of other budget breaking measures that clearly the people did not want. That bill (26th legislature bill # 6905) was originally thought to be a dead issue but was revived when the governor, in the 11th hour, called a special meeting of the legislature to consider it. The Senators, in what amounted to be a whirlwind vote, passed the bill much to the amazement of almost anyone who follows government. The recall effort was an attempt to say to senators who did as they pleased against the peoples' will that we don't trust you anymore and you have to go.
The recall failed because not enough petition signatures were signed even though a huge effort by Crucians took place in a relatively short amount of time. Over 4700 people on St Croix did sign the petition which is only about 2000 signatures less than the average votes given to each of these senators in the general election. This amazing, historic event was not even talked about by many Virgin Islanders except for many Crucians; or there was abundant apathy toward the Crucian cause. I am from St John and as I asked people their opinion about the recall I found, much to my dismay that they hadn't even heard about this effort or were indifferent toward it because they felt it could never pass or that it was a Crucian issue. This indifference or apathy is the root-mean cause of why bill 6905 got passed to begin with. The Senators passed it because, even though they knew there was great opposition to it, they felt they could do as they wanted as the "peoples" representatives. Even now, the Senators who voted for it have not given any apologies to anyone for their misdeeds, mainly because they don't recognize that they did anything wrong. The 27th legislature could easily repeal the act by creating a bill for that purpose but the senators have chosen to remain silent, given the fact that repeal would mean loss of income and future retirement benefits. This was the reason for the recall effort to begin with-this "holier-than-thou attitude. It is clear, given the many years of this kind of disrespect to the peoples will has occurred, that Senators get elected as the "peoples" candidates but do little to consult their constituency once elected. This has to change because that kind of attitude is not democratic, smacks of totalitarianism and it is and has been a dangerous precedent set by the government of the Virgin Islands for too many years.
Because the legislature has, to date, refused to repeal act 6905, it is now on the shoulders to the people to repeal it if they have the will to do so. There is already a petition started for this reason and people who are not apathetic and care about the fact that Senators and the former and future governors will take in millions of EXTRA retirement benefits and wages over their lifetime while the schools languish in disrepair, not enough books are available, crime is on the rise, corruption is rampant, police are under-staffed as are most government agencies and the standard of living for most Virgin Islanders becomes even less acceptable. We know that the new governor is trying to address these issues but it will take years to clean up the mess left by the previous corrupt and chaotic governments.
Perhaps soon we will have some closure.
Paul Devine
St John

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