The funny thing is that he is, as a rule, deeply cynical about politics and politicians. He doesn’t normally believe any of them. But when Gerry Adams or Richard Boyd Barrett or Joe Higgins promise him on the telly that a vote for them means the reversal of cutbacks and a painless future for all, his ears prick up. That’s what he wants! Along with his promised public sector pay increase and his pension contribution restored and above all, someone else picking up the tab. They are saying exactly what he wants! It’s incredible.
When his brother-in-law challenges him as to why the other parties would not just implement those policies if the solution were that easy, his brain shuts down but his Adams/RBB/Strasbourg Joe fuelled gut kicks in: Because they are bastards who hate people like him. Cowen, Martin, Kenny, Gilmore, the EU, the IMF, the bond markets, An Bord Iascaigh Mhara, they all meet to plan how to actually hurt people like him. They actually laugh, in between lobster stuffed with pheasant stuffed with foie gras, as they cut his pay.
The answers are so simple: We have gazillions in oil and gas and fish just sitting off the coast waiting to be tapped, and the rich will sit quietly and pay for everything if we just had the bottle to order them to.
Everything is someone else’s fault, and they should pay.
5 thoughts on “An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Voter in denial.”
What I’m getting at is that is you are of the mind that everyone is out to get you, then the “rational” thing to do is vote against the establishment parties. But bizarrely those I know who most often rail against civil servants, the HSE, the ESB, and lets not forget Brussels, then go on to vote yes to any EU treaty put to them and vote for FF or maybe, just maybe, FG, but more likely the ex-FF independent.
I know a few of these.. who curiously are Fianna Fail voters. Yes, even now.
Very good.
I don’t know if you noticed that every party (a) agrees that governments cannot create jobs but (b) also has a job creation policy.
you’re right in a way jason – the far left always appeals to the politically illiterate or the closet republican … fail to see how that makes all public servants money grabbing bastards that are waiting for someone else to take the pain !
The funny thing is that he is, as a rule, deeply cynical about politics and politicians. He doesn’t normally believe any of them. But when Gerry Adams or Richard Boyd Barrett or Joe Higgins promise him on the telly that a vote for them means the reversal of cutbacks and a painless future for all, his ears prick up. That’s what he wants! Along with his promised public sector pay increase and his pension contribution restored and above all, someone else picking up the tab. They are saying exactly what he wants! It’s incredible.
What I’m getting at is that is you are of the mind that everyone is out to get you, then the “rational” thing to do is vote against the establishment parties. But bizarrely those I know who most often rail against civil servants, the HSE, the ESB, and lets not forget Brussels, then go on to vote yes to any EU treaty put to them and vote for FF or maybe, just maybe, FG, but more likely the ex-FF independent.
I know a few of these.. who curiously are Fianna Fail voters. Yes, even now.
Very good.
I don’t know if you noticed that every party (a) agrees that governments cannot create jobs but (b) also has a job creation policy.
you’re right in a way jason – the far left always appeals to the politically illiterate or the closet republican … fail to see how that makes all public servants money grabbing bastards that are waiting for someone else to take the pain !
It would be funny if not 100% true.