The wolf we feed

PAOLO KERNAHAN

AT THIS point, no one can truly claim to be surprised by anything that comes out of the PM's mouth.

To his credit, Dr Rowley has never made any pretence of being a statesman, although the PM has made podium-thumping protestations on numerous occasions that his sole obligation is to serve as Prime Minister with dignity.

What he has done during his tenure is arguably the exact opposite of the "dignity" he lumbers around with like a crucifix. The PM has made a career of saying the most outrageous things – remarks that attract a fraction of the public censure they should.

His recent description of Naparima MP Rodney Charles as flea-laden and lice-covered demonstrates how unconcerned Dr Rowley is about potential repercussions of his degrading and incendiary dialogue. He knows there will be no blowback, thanks to – barring opposition supporters – either an onside or apathetic population.

The public must understand that there is a cost to giving the PM a blank cheque to indulge his impulses.

For any human being, when weighed down by your failures, there are two options – confront those failures honestly and resolve to learn from them and do better; or deflect, throw a tantrum and try to pin the blame on everyone else. The latter option is the usual go-to choice for people who simply don't have the intellectual resources to rise to the occasion.

For slavering PNM acolytes, Dr Rowley's toxic vitriol is simply an expression of "giving as good as he gets" – politics is no tea party, and all this. That's a red herring if there ever was one.

What do you think happens when the Prime Minister or any leader in society is allowed to say what they want without being checked by right-thinking citizens? Any individual in a position of authority who is given free rein to speak without fear of correction from the public is empowered to also do as they please.

Additionally, when the people we hire to manage our affairs aren't held accountable for what they say, then they're no longer under any obligation to listen.

Consequently, every word spoken, every action taken with the consent of your silence, no matter how poisonous or corrupt, is done in your name.

We are surrounded by the fallout of the abdication of our responsibility to keep leadership on a leash; the irrevocable decay of society is an in-your-face affair. It just so happens that some have more money than others to bear the quickening collapse with grace. This is what happens when you swallow, or at least permit without reproach, the gospels of agenda-driven leadership.

The fact that the PM is allowed to say what he likes without consequence bears consequences beyond merely rubbing some people the wrong way.

In 2013 Dr Rowley stood on a political platform and titillated supporters with E-mailgate. Without any incontrovertible proof, he broadly promulgated allegations of attempts by the then government to undermine the office of the DPP, the judiciary and the media.

The most serious of the allegations contained in the purported e-mails hinted at a murder plot against a journalist. Writing about it at the time, venerated columnist Michael Harris warned that if they proved untrue, Rowley would have to resign immediately.

Here we are today with investigations and court matters around E-mailgate and the Piarco airport case respectively having terminated in spectacular failure. These and other accusations were load-bearing pillars in the PNM's oft-sold narrative of broad-brush UNC venality, in contrast to the ruse of the balisier's moral superiority.

It's a less-than-innocuous irony that Dr Rowley is himself undermining the Office of the DPP in full view of the public – an allegation levelled against the PP government. This follows a pattern of troubling conduct, stretching back to his open war with the commissioner of police, culminating in Griffith's ouster.

It can be argued that the PM's interventions weakened the office of the CoP. This was done while Dr Rowley and his cabinet henchmen simultaneously accused the opposition of thwarting the government's war on crime.

It's the citizens of this nation who allowed that duplicity to go unchallenged.

All leadership reacts to the stimuli the people provide, whether negative, positive, or reticent. Leaders are emboldened to act in the manner they choose on the strength of signals from the public.

As the old folktale goes, a wizened man tells his grandson of a battle between two wolves, one evil and one good.

He asks the elder which one wins, and his grandfather replies, "The one you feed."