Tom Vesey wrote a great piece in the Bermuda Sun last week and I have finally found the time to blog it :-)

The people are the most effective opposition
From gay rights to the hospital plan, your protests are far better than mine

When ordinary citizens don't like what's going on - or what's not going on - they usually roll their eyes and say: "Well, what can we do?"

They often fear (with justification) that they will be pounced on quite savagely if they speak out. Their motives are challenged, their credentials assailed, their racial biases and allegiances questioned.

So they shut up.

They get tired of standing up publicly against authority, and of trying to organize support, which is especially difficult in a small place like Bermuda.

Or else people think the Opposition can handle their complaining for them: It's what they're paid to do.

But an Opposition is ignored for that very same reason - its criticism is devalued because it's so predictable. No matter how accurate, the criticism is always self-serving: The Opposition wants to make the Government look bad, and win the next election.

And of course, when the people are silent the Government happily assumes the public backs them, or at least doesn't care enough to cause much trouble.

Which is why the people are far more effective than Oppositions, or columnists, if only they can be persuaded to speak up.

And keep speaking up until Government hears the voice of the people, and starts to take it seriously.