Chartist Demonstration Poster of 1848
We here in Ireland need to behave like the Charterist Movement of the early 1840’s, and we, unlike them, have one advantage, we have the right to vote.
With the present General Election looming, most of those who have been part of our outgoing government are fully aware that their only place in a new Dail Eireann, will be by taking over the seating arrangements, previously kept warm by the arses of our present opposition.
Fianna Fail under Micheál Martin, displaying an inherited FF arrogance, called today for a public debate, still dreaming that the party he represents are still going to have a major say in our immediate future.
Knowing they are going to remain in opposition, small political groupings like Sinn Fein, Independents and possibly the Green Party, can now spout whatever they feel their understandably angry voters want to hear. They can and will protest about everything, the Four Year Plan, Environmental policy,The IMF, Lower Paid Workers, the Universal Social Charge or reclaiming control of the Public Sector. But these protests must be seen by voters for what they are, attempts to gather votes by gombeen individuals who selfishly are seeking another term of unvouched expenses, inflated salaries, inflated pensions and most of all the sense of being powerful.
We now need a different breed of politician in Ireland and change must come quickly, because to survive as a state, with the present political system, we can no longer carry on. We have, as a nation, once again allowed ourselves to be invaded. There are two ways to conquer a country, send in an invading force of well armed troops, or the EU modern way, which is loan us vast sums of money at high interest rates which they know we cannot repay. Ireland, thanks to our gombeen politicians, has been invaded, we have been enslaved and sadly we only have ourselves, as voters, to blame.
In a democracy such as ours, change can only ever originate from the electorate. If we continue to elect our representatives, without looking beyond our own narrow views of personal self interests, we will continue to attract the gombeen politicians we truly deserve and as Irish men and women, remain the hewers of wood and the drawers of water, within Europe.
We as a nation are unable to even protest democratically in any unified way. When our elderly citizens demonstrated against losing their medical card, they did so very much alone. When our student sons and daughters marched, they did so detached, while agents of our State were allowed to discourage them, using rough justice. When our present Fianna Fail Government clung to power, long after the electorate had made it clear that they no longer had a mandate to govern, we as a nation remained deathly silent. Despite the fact that this outgoing government continued to embarrass us on the world stage, making us a laughing stock in front of our European partners, we as a nation take no action.
Ireland is a nation and our democratically elected representatives are, by accepting their elected role, charged with standing up for our citizens and our down trodden, behaving democratically, safeguarding our wealth and fairly distributing our scarce public funds responsibly.
This present Government in December last, told us that we must now pay increased taxes and endure reduced public services, because they were not minding the shop, while they themselves continued to misappropriate our funds and our loyalty in a cynical and contemptuous way for the purchase of future votes. They allowed minority Independent TD’s of minor importance, to pull their strings, to the detriment of our democracy and the well being of the people of this country as a whole. They have placed their brain washed followers in positions of importance on boards and in positions of influence to make decisions which will effect and assist ‘The Party‘.
Let’s start by telling our public representatives how we want them to behave. Tell them to loose the smiles and smugness, remind them of Brian Cowan’s replies to opposition leaders recently in the Dail. While those in government laughed, those about to loose their homes and jobs did not fully get the joke and these jokers must now wait to get our permission before they laugh publicly in Dail Eireann again.
Two days past, our fate hung on the actions of three elected representatives, all professional exponents of the theory of old cute whore politics, who demonstrated the worst in selfish local instinct, using the sort of politics which has made this State totally dysfunctional. A nursing home for Kenmare, a Casino for Two-Mile- Borris, abstaining from a vote on a budget they already supported, attacking a government they kept in office, these are real examples of this cute whorishness. Now, knowing their future is totally dependent on you the voter, they change loyalties and party’s in the interests of self preservation at the polling booth, to spout the doctrine we all want to hear, but which we know is unhealthy for our future.
An overpaid Public Service came about as a result of benchmarking, to get public sector votes for Bertie Ahern’s government and the recent Croke Park agreement came about to ensure continuation of these public sector votes for Brian Cowan’s government. Unsustainable Developments, like ghost estates built on flood planes, encouraged by Local Authorities, came about as a result of over dependency on development levies, because Fianna Fail abolishing domestic rates in 1977, in order to win votes for “THE PARTY“.
Each one of us blindly, in our greed, gained a few quid by voting for them. We must now vote looking to our futures and the future of those around us.
Your vote in the coming weeks must clearly show politicians of all party’s that cute whore politics is no longer acceptable in Ireland. Failure to follow this rule will only see us continue to educate our youth, at huge expense to our overburdened tax payers, while exporting them and their knowledge to other countries to compete against Ireland in the market place. This does not make logical or financial sense.
Our truly inadequate tax base must now be reformed over the next four years. Corporate donations must be abolished, to ensure that we get the politics we want, instead of the politics of lobbyists, big business, developers and their bankers.
In the coming days the glossy literature, containing promises, will arrive in your letter box courtesy of these corporate donations. Some will send around ‘die hard supporters’ to canvas on their behalf. Please have your list of questions ready to confuse them.
Are they ready to ban corporate donations? Are they ready to change the electoral system which presently gives them the power to steal and enslave the lower paid? What have they achieved for the well being of our nation as a whole, during your last sojourn? What was agreed in secret deals done by you, allowing you to support our previous banished government? Why did you support details in the last budget which impoverished further the least well off in our community? Why are those, who raped this State, permitted to transfer expensive property and large amounts of accrued gains, beyond the reach of the State, burdening the poor with their greed and unpaid debt?
Better still, to avoid their deceit, put up a poster on your door or window stating “No Political Canvassers Need Knock“.
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