Shackled to a sinking ship
So we are going to have a referendum after all.
The EU will not be pleased as they probably spent more time trying to avoid a referendum here than they did working on the treaty itself.
What happens next?
Even as I type the gubmint spin-doctors are working out how best to lie, cheat and coerce us into giving a Yes vote. First out of the traps is that Creighton one with her “send a very negative signal to investors” crack. But she has taken the king’s shilling so is probably worried more about her own job, with its fancy salary and even fancier perks.
The date hasn’t been announced yet but I can guarantee that between now and then we are going to hear a shed load of lies and scare stories.
“We have to sign to guarantee our economic future”
“There is no alternative to a Yes vote” [how about a No vote?]
“If we vote No, the ATMs will dry up and teachers won’t get paid” [the old jokes are the best jokes]
“If we vote No we will be isolated from the rest of Europe” [How?]
“Voting Yes will bring jobs and prosperity” [Hah! Remember Lisbon?]
“Voting Yes will guarantee the stability of the Euro” [like we give a fuck]
“If we vote No, the EU will turn its back on us” [is that a bad thing?]
“If we vote No we will destroy any chance of borrowing money to run the country” [I’m backing that one as a front runner]
And so on ad nauseum.
What they will not say is that voting Yes will enshrine into our constitution the right of an unelected foreign power to dictate how we run our affairs. What they will not say is that a Yes vote will force far worse austerity on us. What they will not say is that we are irrevocably singing away what semblance of independence and sovereignty we have left.
What they will not say is that a Yes vote will forever shackle us to the Titanic.
We had an unelected regulator dictating how we ran our affairs (with the collusion of the then Government) and look where it got us. You want to follow the inane logic of the shinners and a few populist nutters on the independant benches thats your choice. If “Vote yes for austerity” becomes their catchphrase they are spot on – austerity means balancing our books. If we dont we deserve to have an external regulator step in – we have proven just how good we were at it when left to ourselves.
Sirvivor – That is an argument that we are going to hear repeatedly – that Brussels can’t do as bad a job as our lot. To an extent that is true. however, our lot are at least elected by us. If we hand the purse strings to Brussels. we are handing control to a bunch of unelected foreigners. I’m not being xenophobic when I say that, but they are going to control our finances to suit their needs, not ours and we will have no say whatsoever. Once their treaty is written into the constitution, there is no going back. We will forever be enslaved to the whims of Brussels.
I swear GD you are expert at making good news sound like bad news. You should be singing and dancing and doing cartwheels. As for the issue, vote no just to see what happens. But if the Irish people say yes then you get what you deserve.
tt – You say the nicest things. It is after all my duty to be cantankerous. And anyway, the last couple [or more] decades are enough to make anyone cynical. I do agree that we have been backed into a corner, so that whichever way we vote, we’re fucked.
Out of interest, how would you feel if Merika was sold out to the Chinese? Oh! Hold on………………
OUCH !
If you’ve got 5 mins Grandad, have a read of this and click on the link to Des Spiegel..
http://ironiestoo.blogspot.com/.
Your dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t.
Jan M – A five minutes well spent! That is a very nice summary of the situation to date. However, the treaty still hasn’t been published though we know pretty accurately what’s in it. We are in for some interesting times!
I’m Going to vote no, GD. I’m sick and fucking tired to death of listening, reading seeing the bad news all the time, the austerity the erosion of our country, services, workers rights etc. with the spectre of emmigration, for our young’uns, rearing its ugly head once more.
They keep taking about the ‘Pain’. Well, the pain is being dragged out over too much time and I for one am sick of it.
If its a question of taking pain, give it to me NOW, all of it, I’ll deal with it, get over it and get on with it. Short sharp and fucking over, thats what I want. Fuck all this lingering shite.
Its like a Cancer that is going to eventually kill us over a long time.
Lets have the operation, the chemotherapy and the Radium and get over the crap to get back to some semblance of normal live and Fuck Europe.
Slab – I could not agree more. I too have had enough of all these “difficult decisions” and “pain”. Let’s just knock back a bottle of whiskey, grit our teeth and let the doc do the amputation, before the gangrene kills us all.
Lemming suicide is a frequently used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion, with potentially dangerous or fatal consequences.
Seems appropriate…..
“If we vote No we will be isolated from the rest of Europe” [How?] by water
Slab because it would mean cutting their pay in half and removing their expences.
By dragging it out they hope something might turn up. Why are they not getting a break from europe, because they are lending us money so we can pay our public sector more than they gat.
Your politicians must be bought and paid for by the EU. It seems to me you have three better choices than the EZ. You could get out and go it alone like Iceland, You could leave the EZ and stay in the EU (if you don’t mind a totalitarian overseer) or you could join the Commonwealth. Any of those choices would be better than continuing the way you are. Screw the German banks for they created the problem which I don’t see as yours to resolve.
I would go along with two of those. Frankly I don’t think the EU has done us any favours so I think we would be far better off out of it altogether. People say we couldn’t manage as a wee peripheral country, but as you point out Iceland is doing quite well for itself. The sky didn’t fall in on them? [Well, it did actually but I think that was more the volcano’s fault.]
Ireland went it alone before, suffered because it was isolated but survived. It was during what was known as The Emergency (World War II).
We were able to feed our citzens and, with the excess in our agricultural produce, were able to export to The UK too. Germany, then, were no friend either, in spite of deValera’s notions.