A dictator in the making - but who is to blame?

I found this a most interesting 'question and answer' scenario posed by Martin Daly in the Express today.

In his article he attempts to answer Ken Valleys question "Is Mr Manning a dictator in the making?"

One must be fair to Mr Manning. He does suffer awfully from an imperial style of governance, but if he gets his wish to amend the Constitution he will have done so openly and by democratic means. He is not to be faulted for that. He has stated his intention, put it before the electorate and is seeking to win their approval by the ballot box. That is what democracy, warts and all, is about. If he has foolish and selfish opponents, democracy permits them to be that way. If the business community wants to put making more pots of money above courage and good sense, that is also their democratic right; but they too may cry later if they find out that fortune frequently favours only the brave.

Democratically sought though it is, I am deeply concerned about the special majority that Mr Manning seeks. In a commentary on Lord Acton's famous dictum that "all power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely", a businessman put the point this way: "If the benevolent ruler stays in power long enough, he eventually concludes that power and wisdom are the same thing. And as he possesses power, he must possess wisdom. He becomes converted to the seductive thesis that election to public office endows the official with both power and wisdom."

This might be the very first case of a dictatorship being sought by an election.

I wonder sometimes at the very few who, like me, see the far reaching implications of Pa-trick's path, and why more people are not protesting. I guess in Trinidad, rum and roti does pay dividends, and the fete mentality takes precedence over intellect and ambition.

Because I cannot see the population as having either the intellect or ambition to progress beyond the current state. Even my 0.01% hope is slowly being strangled.

We are all to blame.