LPM SEARCHING FOR THE PROMISED LAND

LPM MAKES A REAL MOVE

While other political parties are focused on winning elections, Therold Prudent imagines that he hasfigured out something about how to fix St Lucian. It's going to take some dirty. He's already handing out the tools. It's 21st century, backwards campaigning. Instead of winning elections and then providing solutions, Prudent and the LPM are tackling problems first and hoping to win elections later.

The media is keeping close watch, as are Flambeaus with legitimate fears about new leader Allen Chastanet.

The LPM army so far is a motley crew of parents, teens, grannies, bachelors,  people fed up with the two major parties and people who have never really been interested in politics before.

Their head cheerleader has a few tricks up her sleeve to make every stop a little party.

The poorest plaves in St Lucia are among the happiest places in the world when you're young and don't know the difference.

For everyone but the young,  Anse la Raye, for example, is an economic ghost  town, the poorest place in St Lucia.

They've heard it all before from politicians. But if Prudent has  a plan to keep his  word about some little things.

His plan links  the past with the future in the simplest possible way. He is almost literally planting seeds.

He is engaging the disengaged.

And he's cataloging all the little problems people have that  he could not have predicted.

The key is strengthening existing strengths....

And paying attention to some neglected areas....

Exploiting some underappreciated unique qualities....

Taking advantage of some very small things that have wasted away

And not letting so much of the human capital go to waste.

The absolute truth is the plan is not  complete...he' still working out very important details.

And then he has to  convince people who are sick of Flambeau and Labour that he is for real.

People are hungry for what  he offers, but they're not buying it yet. Why should they?

He has proved nothing except for that he takes detailed notes and listens carefully.

But if he is as real as he wants them to think he is,  he will hang the two major parties with their own ropes.

It's lonely work pulling St Lucia in the from the mess the two major parties made.

It's practically no fun and games being a third party trying to talk about real issues.

But  when you can get Laborians to even look at you as you canvas the country, you're probably doing well.

Some Laborians were surprisingly enthusiastic in their reception of LPM.

The road,  it seems, is  not as hard as other third parties have made it out to be. People want something different.

They're tired of waiting for Flambeau and Labour to actually fix  the fundamental problems of the island.

They're tired of the promises that can't be fulfilled.

They're open to suggestion and Prudent won't stop suggesting.

Of course, the real test is what Therold does on his next round through the island. They don't believe  it will come to anything.

But maybe that's what he wants them to think for now. Maybe he wants them to not expect what he plans to do next. Maybe he needs that in order to prove that he is exactly not what they think. The ball, as they  say, is in his court. He has been waiting for this moment for years.