Politics we are told, is the art of the possible. It St. Maarten politicians have made that into the art of the near impossible. One need look no further than the furious attempts to fashion a government with a one seat parliamentary majority currently taking place. This will create eight chiefs and zero Indians. Each MP can hold the other seven hostage. After all, if he or she withdraws their support, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. A government with such a slim majority in Parliament is a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment, and at the slightest provocation. One of the oddest pairings is the alliance of Theodore Heyliger and Romaine Laville. This is the weakest link in the alliance. The chain always breaks at the weakest link. The history of animosity between these two is so deep, that each will have to keep a close eye on the other. This is not a marriage based on trust, but on convenience. Even stranger is the spectacle of Jules James fighting tooth and nail to form a government so that he can help make Romaine Laville, a Minister of State! Sad, however, is to watch the once proud Democratic Party lie down to become a political harlot, blithely hopping into bed with the highest bidder for her services. Gone are ideology, pride and self-respect. The voters will do well to put this sorry shambles of a party into an early grave.
In this hodge podge, Romaine Laville remains the volatile element, the wild card, the one wielding the monkey wrench that can and eventually will cause the whole thing to explode. The center will not hold. Things will fall apart, for this odd alliance has no center of gravity to pull it together. The centrifugal forces of disparate egos clashing are bound to tear it apart.
A shot gun marriage of the worst sort, born of desperation and poor calculations by all parties involved. Setting the ship of state to sea in such a creaky and unseaworthy vessel is a hazardous undertaking. One will be well advised to keep on one's life vest close at hand at all times.
Voters are left to figure out what combination of bribes and threats could have been brandished to induce Laville to jump into Theo's arms. Poor William Marlin is left scratching his head wondering how Laville could have been snatched out of his arms, after Laville had assured him over and over of his undying love and devotion. Politics does indeed strange bedfellows make.
