Politics: A Game of Alignment and Realignment
Politics is a profession and a game. It does not answer the permanency of cultivating enemy images. A look at the tenth National Assembly shows how those perceived as sworn enemies in the past are now in the same political pond directing the affairs of this nation. The actors may be in opposing camps today but could congregate at another party tomorrow. They are unlike rivers that flow in opposing directions that will never meet. We, their followers, must also learn to play the game right.
Every so often, I see some adults smart enough to upstage the political apple cart constantly switch political camps each time those they think would politically make them decamp from one party to another. In the process, they turn themselves into drums and strings of abuses against those they think are their political master’s enemies. During the follow-follow malady, they cannot cultivate an ideology or a brand that could sell them to the world outside their political godfather’s brand. How long would they continue to be a megaphone of abuses and cultivating undeserving enemies for themselves? As an adult, you do not need to inherit the enemies you do not deserve just because you want to grow politically.
Unbeknown to us, the people we thought were sworn enemies congregate at social functions in the wee hours of the night when we, the followers, are busy acquiring enemies through venomous and abusive posts on social media on behalf of political mentors. These guys attend marriages and funerals, sitting at the same table and clinking glasses of cheers.
As an ardent follower, why not begin to brand your future? From my little experience, alignments and realignments of political interests start immediately after an election or close to the end of tenure. For those of you carrying political portmanteau to follow your bosses wherever they go, you will likely change parties a few more times before the tenth assembly winds down because many political actors wait for court pronouncements on the cases in courts before they begin the jigsaw puzzles.
Anybody can cultivate and work for his/her future political brand with methodical patience without allowing people to use them as shoe cleaners or foot mats. Do not get me wrong. There is a place for understudy and volunteerism. The same goes for all endeavors requiring our efforts in exchange for earning a living. For example, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian actor and comedian, was elected President of Ukraine in 2019. Despite the power of incumbency, he defeated the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko. According to Britanica.com, Zelenskyy was a political novice. It was his online anti-corruption platform that brought him to the limelight. He has become a status symbol because he has led his country well against Putin, an acclaimed war strategist. What are you enticing the world with besides dropping a sponsor’s name?
Grace and peace!!!