by SIMON 

One of the perennial strengths and challenges of liberal – small ‘l’ – democracy is the prevention and moderation of concentrated economic and political power in the hands of a few to the detriment of the majority.

We are witnessing globally the rise of illiberal democracy and the greater concentration of wealth and power by self-aggrandising politicians, political wannabees, and business, media, and technology moguls locked in an incestuous relationship of greed.

Around the world, politics is soiled and corrupted by large political donations, private deals, and contempt for the poor.

Currently in Nepal, Madagascar, the Philippines, and Morocco, citizens, especially younger and Generation Z protestors, are sickened by political and economic elites indifferent to their daily struggles and survival.

They have gone to the streets to demand economic relief and advancement as “entrepreneurs” with monopolies and hands in numerous businesses, flaunt their wealth and power, as their children, known as nepo babies – a term combining nepotism and baby – show off their luxury lifestyles on social media.

Many are weary of the increasing concentration of economic and political power in the United States and the shocking decline in democratic norms. Here at home, we are confronted by the avarice and moral indifference of many in the upper echelons of Bahamian society.

The Bahamas is confronted by an inflection point as Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian, launches his bid to amass more power by seeking a PLP nomination for the House of Assembly.

Already gifted with a diplomatic passport, the super wealthy Bastian is seeking to combine his economic and media power with political power even as web shop operators brazenly want a further extension of their monopoly for a quarter of a century.

Mr. Bastian is now seeking direct political power, including the power to legislate and possibly sit in cabinet and decide laws and policies that will govern his economic empire, including a 25-year moratorium on gaming licences.

How much more power does Mr Bastian want? Is his goal to be prime minister? Are we witnessing a growing megalomania? We are seeing how this lust for power and wealth is turning out in our powerful neighbour next door.

The fight against the racist United Bahamian Party (UBP) was not solely about racial equality. It was also a fight against the monopolistic practices, greed, and concentration of wealth by an oligarchy. Recall that many white Bahamians were also locked out of various economic sectors.

The Nassau Guardian noted in an editorial yesterday: “Gaming house owners and their holding companies have substantial stakes in media, real estate, shipping, property development, construction, retail, and government leases and countless other enterprises.”

Is the PLP, the party that fought for equality on many fronts, about to become the vehicle for the concentration of power by Mr Sebas and the gaming operators? Scores of PLPs are alarmed that one of the kingmakers now appears to want to be king cum prime minister.

The PLP complained bitterly over the years about the economic and political influence of Brent Symonette, a scion of Sir Roland Symonette, who once led the UBP. Will Mr. Sebas’s many potential conflicts of interest be greater and more glaring than that of those the PLP once criticised?

The aforementioned is worse than hypocrisy. It is a potential spectacular betrayal of the progressive and liberal values upon which the party was originally built.

The entitlement mentality, already deeply seated in the PLP and in its gaming backers, seems to be growing. Yesterday’s Nassau Guardian editorial explained: “...What we have is a handful of powerful operators who feel bold enough to ask for a ban on competition that would continue to lock all others out of their space for another quarter century.

“It is the kind of entitlement that has come to define the web shop sector. From the beginning, this industry has thrived not because of broad public support, but because of political expediency and manipulation...

“This is more about entrenching a monopoly that has control over a multi-hundred-million-dollar market built on the back of Bahamian wage earners than anything else...

“These operators have already enjoyed nearly a decade of government-legitimied, uncontested dominance...”

To deflect from the potential massive conflicts of interest and concentration of power by Mr Sebas, we have been treated to various disingenuous deflections.

These bogus side arguments attempt to obscure the pernicious effects of gambling and how gaming operators are benefitting from gambling addiction and the effects of gaming on the poor and economically vulnerable.

Kudos to Mr Sebas and other gaming bosses for their business acumen and hard work, traits not limited to them. But if they are such able entrepreneurs, who also own considerable real estate and businesses fuelled by gaming money, surely, they are not afraid of competition.

We should also recall, that unlike other productive economic sectors, gaming produces no tangible goods or services. While some gamble for entertainment, gambling thrives on addiction, superstition, the desire to make quick money, and to deal with stress and other emotional problems.

We should celebrate black success and excellence. We can do so while being alarmed over the effects of gaming, whether owned by black or white Bahamians.

It is deeply disappointing that those who should know better ethically and intellectually are making all manner of conflated excuses and empty arguments to justify arrangements that are doing grave harm and enriching a few at the expense of the many thousands of Bahamians who would benefit from a national lottery.

A number of these justifiers are Roman Catholics, who might want to consult their own church’s social teachings on ethical issues, including on gambling, the common good, economic justice, and solidarity with the poor.

Moreover, the nauseating fetishising of wealth, rabid consumerism, and gaudy materialism should not be celebrated and ballyhooed. Genuine role models should be those who contribute to the life of a nation in ways that are uplifting and of benefit to the greater good.

Mr Sebas says he wants to serve. Thus far, it seems that he has been less interested in serving the community than in his private interests and appetites being served and satiated.

Beyond handouts, marketing schemes to keep his business flowing, and the amassing of even greater wealth, why has he not used his super wealth to more significantly improve the lives of the Bahamian people?

He has kept in place a gaming model that has done great harm. Does he now propose to bring this same narrow mindset to politics and government?

While many are happy to take money from Mr Sebas and gaming operators, it appears that a majority of Bahamians, including many PLPs, are deeply uncomfortable with the prospect of a gaming baron being in cabinet and possibly becoming prime minister.

Great political power and wealth are like drugs which anaesthetise the holders of the opioids. They too are poisoned by the addiction they help to fuel in others.

In Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1, Shakespeare warns us through Brutus: “Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.”

It is a warning to those with great power who lose their moral sense or conscience, seducing them to act without remorse or restraint. Those kingmakers who seek to become kings, should be so warned.

Will they be able to hear and heed such warnings, or have the roar of fickle crowds and sycophants, the gleam of more bling, the thrills of high office, and the opioids of power already deafened and deadened their moral senses!?