Don't want to start a fight...but

[Chichiguita]

Thanks, can I have another?

First thanks to everyone who replied. I have tried to ask friends face to face the differences and many times they just don't want to talk about it because they don't want to get into arguements with others present. I think I understand a little better now.
But let me ask you this one: Regardless of what they do once they are in office, do these people run on a particular platform? What kind of promises are they making during their campaigns and does anyone have much of a track record for follow through? I saw the bags of rice come through Mata Gorda during the last run. And I try to follow the metro controversy, but aside from this?
Again, I really appreciate the input. You guys are the bestest!

 

[Don Juan]

Reeeeely!

If you are so damned sure LFR will win the next elections, then I propose you go find a front man in SD to place a bet with me. I'm willing to wager US$100.000 on Miguel Vargas Maldonado. Are you willing to play?[/QUOTE]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll take you up on that bet, mister. I don't have 100k's to wager but I can go with one thousand.
How do we set this up? ....I'm serious!:tired:

 

[something_of_the_night]

If you are so damned sure LFR will win the next elections, then I propose you go find a front man in SD to place a bet with me. I'm willing to wager US$100.000 on Miguel Vargas Maldonado. Are you willing to play?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll take you up on that bet, mister. I don't have 100k's to wager but I can go with one thousand.
How do we set this up? ....I'm serious!:tired:[/QUOTE]

Okay, guys, I hold your money for a small fee of 10% - Horus knows I need it.

 

[Lambada]

But let me ask you this one: Regardless of what they do once they are in office, do these people run on a particular platform? What kind of promises are they making during their campaigns and does anyone have much of a track record for follow through? I saw the bags of rice come through Mata Gorda during the last run.

They run on all sorts of promises (frequently unmet) but the platform isn't what you & I would understand by the term as foreigners. Very broadly the PRSC could be described as conservative & the PRD as the latino version of socialist or populist. But as elsewhere in the world there has been a centering process perhaps illustrated by the PLD. So the platform does not represent say, what you would expect from conservatives and New Labour in UK or Republicans & Democrats in US. The platform represents what seems to be a good thing to promulgate at the time. Also bear in mind that the party here doesn't seem to be as important as the personality - caudillism. People change parties to suit their own agendas (or in rare cases set up new parties because of a matter of principle).

It would appear that whichever party one is considering there are a bunch of self interested, greedy politicians. What there appears not to be is a statesman or woman. There have been statesmen in the past, whether one agreed with their politics or not. What there seem to be fewer and fewer of now are politicians with principles (possibly no different from anywhere else in the world!)

This is only the view of a gringa and as such I'm nowhere near so well informed as the Dominicans posting on this thread, they I think represent the majority of the responses you've received, Chichiguita. Their understanding will be so much better because it is part of their genetic inheritance. Me, I'm still learning.

 

[Conchman]

PRD - Partido Relajo Dominicano - Leonel's Party

PLD - Partido de Ladrones Dominicano - Pe?as and Hipolitos party

Reformista - Balaguer's party - in cahoots with the PLD

Party goals - take as much money as one can get in four years - hey kids need education at Yale, and the house at Punta Cana is too small not to mention the 2006 Land Rover Special edition is getting old and one deserves to retire after four years of "hard" work!

Nobody pointed out that this is wrong??

I think it should read the other way around like this:

PLD - Leonel's party
PRD - Hipolito/Pena

 

[Lambada]

Nobody pointed out that this is wrong??

I think it should read the other way around like this:

PLD - Leonel's party
PRD - Hipolito/Pena

I thought he was joking.

 

[Chip00]

I thought he was joking.

Whoops - I had it backwards there!

I was so busy making a "funny" that I forgot about the details.

 

[something_of_the_night]

Well yes, technically the PRD won in '62, but they were out of power a year later due to coup! What type of rule is that!

The '78-'86 reign of the PRD was problems on top of problems which included some extras such as a presidential suicide and a virtual economic collapse. At a point inflation actually surpased 100%.

We all know what happened during the 2000-'04 period, problems problems problems!

The PRD has never been any good.

-NALs

Nals, never? If that's the case, can you name a party that's always been good?

Orlando Mart?nez was of the opinion that, had the PRD participated in the '74 elections, they might have won it.

 

[NALs]

Nals, never? If that's the case, can you name a party that's always been good?

Orlando Mart?nez was of the opinion that, had the PRD participated in the '74 elections, they might have won it.

I can name parties that have been better than the PRD --- all of them!

It's all relative.

-NALs

 

[Mirador]

Nals, never? If that's the case, can you name a party that's always been good?

Orlando Mart?nez was of the opinion that, had the PRD participated in the '74 elections, they might have won it.

I know for a fact that there was a more than tacit agreement between Juan Bosch and Joaquin Balaguer, after Bosch's 1963 resignation, that Balaguer would act as President, and Bosch would act as the permanent leader of the opposition. Juan Bosch was also fiercely committed not to allow Pe?a Gomez to become president, which was the main reason he resigned as president of the PRD and founded the new political party, the PLD...

 

[something_of_the_night]

. So the platform does not represent say, what you would expect from conservatives and New Labour in UK or Republicans & Democrats in US. The platform represents what seems to be a good thing to promulgate at the time.

This is only the view of a gringa and as such I'm nowhere near so well informed as the Dominicans posting on this thread, they I think represent the majority of the responses you've received, Chichiguita. Their understanding will be so much better because it is part of their genetic inheritance. Me, I'm still learning.

...and a very intelligent gringa to boot. So, yes, what you say above is correct. But there have been parties with clear-cut platforms:

The PQD of the early days, led by iron-fisted Wessin y Wessin and to the right of Pinochet

1J4, MPD, and other minor parties obviously de izquierda

 

[A.Hidalgo]

I know for a fact that there was a more than tacit agreement between Juan Bosch and Joaquin Balaguer, after Bosch's 1963 resignation, that Balaguer would act as President, and Bosch would act as the permanent leader of the opposition. Juan Bosch was also fiercely committed not to allow Pe?a Gomez to become president, which was the main reason he resigned as president of the PRD and founded the new political party, the PLD...

Resignation.... Oh I forgot you were there.

 

[Lambada]

Resignation.... Oh I forgot you were there.

Perhaps you can be 'resigned' to being overthrown in a coup and forced into exile?

 

[Lambada]

Sorry to post twice but maybe I have to re-evaluate my last comment. It looks like Juan Bosch, Joaquin Balaguer and Pe?a Gomez have only just been taken off the electoral register, according to an AP report............aranoid:
Dead Presidents Off Dominican Vote Rolls, Dead Presidents Among Thousands Cleared From Dominican Republic Voter Rolls - CBS News

So death is no obstacle to eligibility to vote, Chichiguita. :cheeky: No wonder I feel at home here, it's just like Ireland.

 

[Chichiguita]

Holy Cats!

The more I read, the more befuddled I become! Shades of Florida abound. Sad, sad. Power corrupts. Keep talking because I am learning. I wonder if anyone can recommend a book (in English?I know, I don?t ask for much) on the polical history of the island?or the D.R. I read one from the Jr. Section of my library (that?s all that was available) but it didn?t go and deep as I would like. I read the history articles on our forum as well. They were very helpful. (The more I read about Christopher Columbus, the more?well, never mind.)

 

[Lambada]

If you haven't already read it Frank Moya Pons The Dominican Republic: A national history is a good one to start with.

 

[Chirimoya]

Michele Wucker - Why the Cocks Fight

 

[Mirador]

I sincerely recommend "The Collective Memoirs of an Amnesiac Nation" (Volumes I to III), available only in hardback, in obscure bookstores. Very easy reading, though. I went through all three volumes in one sitting ...;-)

 

[Chichiguita]

Thanks

Wow, thanks guys...next stop, amazon.com...I've got a gift certificate thats burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[mariaobetsanov]

Its hard to eliminate the most dishonest among those that are runing for ofice, Estrella in santiago is being told tht he is too honest to win no bribes, o macuto. This country has a great problem of using the spoil-system. If you come here it takes a long time and money to do simple things, like getting a drivers licence. Whoever set up the system does not expect you to get one. I have a licence in the state had to startpay(1,900.). with learner permit... getpay 330 letter of good conduct from courthouse.... pay (1,890).again for drivers test now I know why none has a licenceor know the rules of driving. Such as you may make a left turn on the red IF there is no trafic, not keep going on the right lane even if there is traficcrossing.