Dear Editor,
Many people tell me they appreciate the explanation on political ideology, but they ask me for some specific on St.Maarten democracy.
Democracy quite literally means 'rule by the people', so it's a concept rather than an ideology.
However, one's belief that democracy is an ideal form of government would be considered an ideology.
In the preamble the constitution of St.Maarten it states and I quote “WE, THE PEOPLE OF SINT MAARTEN AFFIRM that we acknowledge the guiding principles of Almighty God as the core of our values.”
It is a beautiful statement but in reality we all know it is a lie. Because the boundaries which is the Dutch Kingdom constitution allows abortion and homosexuality those are not CORE VALUES OF GOD.
Our St.Maarten constitution must remain within the boundary of the Dutch Kingdom constitution. And with all respect to St. Maarten Constitution and Netherlands Constitution which is very much Liberal and surely not Godly is already a deception. The law pertaining to article 59 states
1. Parliament may be dissolved by national decree.
2. An order for dissolution shall also require new elections to be held for Parliament which has been dissolved and the newly elected Parliament to meet within three months.
3. The dissolution shall take effect on the day on which the newly elected Parliament meets.
In a real democracy where the parliament is put by the people, only the people should have the right to vote them out. That is the difference between a Republic and Monarchy. A republic is the U.S.A. and our Dutch Kingdom is a democratic Monarchy.
Article 59 is a bad law which in fact is an insult to democracy and causes unnecessary expenses by holding elections which should not be held. Article 59 should be repealed. A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law.
There are two basic types of repeal, a repeal with a re-enactment (or replacement) of the repealed law, or a repeal without any replacement.
There are some laws in our constitution that have to be repealed and there are some laws that should be enacted to make St.Maarten Constitution favor the electorate and not the politician. Presently because of article 59 we are forced to hold election and spend money our country St.Maarten cannot afford.
This article 59 is definitely not a St. Maarten value.
The solution to avoid ship-jumping is for people to understand political ideology, because you should only join a political party when you understand first what that party’s ideology is and see if you agree with most of the doctrines to know if you can accept and abide by their beliefs. And the main 2 are Liberal or conservative. As I said before all St. Maarten political parties are liberal.
St. Maarten politicians do not have the stamina to change or challenge it because they need lessons on how to repeal a law or more important the courage to repeal a law.
The purpose of a parliament is not only to protect the people but to establish a good quality of life for the population of the country. The parliament should establish laws to empower the people so they can help themselves as much as possible. Good laws make less need of government, bad laws create need for big government which usually leads to dictatorial government.
The conclusion is article 59 should be repealed.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
