Dear Sir, I have grown up in a country I was told was a democracy. That country, Mr Editor, is Bermuda. I was also told that one of the main components of democracy was freedom of speech. Mr Editor, I do not possess any intellectual diplomas or doctorates from any high school, college or university.All I have ever had is my right to life and the ability to think. I am a part of that group of people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. We are the ones who are viewed as crabs in a barrel continually crawling over each other to get out.It’s not that those who find themselves in that position planned it to be that way; it’s just that it’s one of the main social components in the well-oiled gears that helps to keep the capitalist machine going. Without it, the system would just break down. I have long ago realised that Bermuda was controlled as an isolated, political and economic geography that is in the hands of the few that controlled its economy.Mr Editor, the only reason why the cost of living is so high here is that the population has nowhere else to go but to those who have cornered the markets and the means of production, or fly overseas to look for a deal. It’s because of this, Mr Editor, that prices are artificially kept high, and in that way the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, with those at the bottom of the economic ladder never able to catch up.I have observed that every time someone tries to introduce a new concept to make life a little better for the public at large, some so-called intellectual bogeyman comes crawling out from under his rock to frighten people into believing whatever it is doesn’t work. Mr Editor, there is no idea or plan that is being proposed that does not need to be worked out before it is put into practice.All systems that are designed, in the best interests of the public or not, have to be planned out in detail to work in the way that they are supposed to. One of the people who I find to be the most reactionary to social change is Robert Stewart. As far as he is concerned, nothing that is progressive and is put forward to help the country at large could work.And please don’t let it be the Progressive Labour Party that is putting those ideas forward. As far as he is concerned, they, without question, definitely can’t work. I read with interest his long opinion on healthcare in The Royal Gazette on December 18, 2019 — I got halfway through the article and could not read on any more. I said to myself: “There he goes, same old, same old.” He is not the only bogeyman prepared to spew fear in the minds of the public.There was Henry Dowling about a week ago on the ZBM Evening News, suggesting that doctors may have to leave Bermuda if the Government’s new health scheme becomes law. Mr Editor, I have been hearing all kinds of bogeyman diatribe being spat out all over the public down through the years by politicians and their sidekicks for years designed to frighten. We were told that tourists would not shop in the stores on Front Street if certain groups of people were serving behind the counters. We were also told that tourists would not come to Bermuda if universal adult suffrage was introduced into the Bermuda electoral system. I’m never surprised what rolls off the mouths of those suffering from the disease of reactionarism.We will have to learn how to filter out the nonsense of the Bob Stewarts of the world if we want a Bermuda that works for all of us, or else we would all surely die hard.E. McNEIL STOVELLPembroke