Rotten Apples

The continuing political machinations across Europe with regard to interest rates for the bailout of nations and the seemingly endless u-turns in policy by our own government and that of the Conservative- Liberal Democrat government across the water stand in stark contrast to the recent developments in Iceland (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/09/iceland-crowdsourcing-constitution-facebook). These events raise the question as to how long we can continue in a system of democracy which involves us once every 5 years and even then with policies are pitched as soundbites of what politicians think will win them the most votes. Across Europe politicians with one eye on upcoming elections promise to make the Irish give up their corporate tax rate, It is the one thing that is bringing in jobs which help us pay off the massive debt we are kindly paying off for the European bond holders, if the situation gets any more absurd it will become hard to tell the difference between reality and a Wildean farce

"Tough on crime" or "No more Taxes" maybe "Education Education Education" floats your boat. Sounds good to me, I like the cut of his gib that means more money in my pocket and I knew his father, he gets my vote. That's it my job is done, off he heads now to do his best in parliament. Ok so he/she's only a backbencher in the junior party of Government but he/she has a conscience and a wealth of campaign material which would leave you in doubt as to the character and the ideology of the man/woman.
(I should really continue to cover both genders, but who are we kidding, women are hopelessly under represented and the ones that are present, talented and suited to key positions are relegated to junior posts. A once off parachuting of women, akin to what happened in Sweden, into parliament is required to even up the gender split.)

This of course is not the case, the party whip system ensures that the high ideals and promises made in the village halls and on the door steps fall by the wayside in the name of party unity. So we have a government which has total control over the parliament and a government which is under the control of the cabinet who in turn fall in line behind the Taoiseach. What can we do about it? Well to be honest it would seem there isn't a whole lot even our government can do at the moment. Due to the deals struck by the previous government, the most unpopular in the history of the state, with the IMF, EU and ECB, or the unholy trinity as they should now be known, mean that it appears that we have little or no choice but to suck it up and take one for the team. In the dying days of the previous government there was no term which made my skin crawl more than "we have a mandate from the people".Trotted out at regular intervals it felt in the end that it was being delivered with an almost accusing tone, as if it was our own fault and to an extent it was. We allowed a system of patronage and clientalism develop in this country which would have made the acien regime blush. We have now been lumbered with a system ruled by a democratic aristocracy operating within a constitution written in 1937 that just doesn't work in the modern world and a population apathetic and indifferent to the political system. Resign your seat if you take a cabinet position, maintain an open and responsive discourse with your electorate so that policies are realistic, reasonable and dynamic. Force our politicians to take real note of what we want but this of course requires us to be more active in our democracy.

So look across the water, not to Britain or the United States, to Iceland a country that said enough is enough, to hell with the "Markets" lets take control of our democracy, lets hold our politicians accountable in real time and lets take an active role in creating a more equitable and democratic system which is creating a sense of ownership amongst the electorate. If it isn't working fix it, there can be no sacred cows just because it has been done in a certain manner does not be it should continue to be done in that manner. Perhaps it is some post-colonial emasculation which has made the Irish people so willing to do what we are told whether it is the Catholic Church our government or the IMF it is time that we shook it off. Adaptation is the key to survival and our democracy needs to evolve, it no longer serves the people and so is failing in its most basic of aims.