The erosion of democracy
I have said it before and I'll say it again – democracy is dead.
If ever there was a symbol for this demise, it's Irish Water.
The camps are now firmly established. On one side are the people of Ireland and the elected local councils and on the other is the gubmint and the EU.
The people of Ireland have firmly stated that they do not want Irish Water or anything it stands for. Over a hundred thousand took to the streets recently and the protests continue on an almost daily basis. A million have failed to sign up for this extra tax, which out of a total of one and a half million is a considerable vote of rejection.
The Local Councils have also stated their opposition. Many have lodged votes of no confidence in Irish Water and many have demanded its disbandment altogether. While I don't have much confidence normally in our councils, I do concede that they are at least partially democratic, and are the nearest we have to democratic institutions.
On the other hand, the gubmint which is supposed to be democratic is sailing firmly against the storm of protests, and the will of the Irish People. It is firmly ignoring the protests and is hell bent on pushing this extra taxation down the throats of the taxpayer, and indeed even the people who are exempt from tax. "We are listening to the people" they cry and then produce proposals for lower rates of payment and some exemptions while steadfastly refusing to roll back the whole insidious scheme. This deliberate misinterpretation of the people's anger is the perfect illustration of their total lack of accountability and arrogance towards the democratic process.
The real reason they refuse to step back is twofold.
The first is that this is an additional revenue stream. We are already paying for our water trough taxation and VAT as per the Water Services Act 2007 which specifically lays aside funding from the public purse to pay for water services. If, as they claim this is all just a transfer of service providers then I would ask why our taxation is not being reduced to compensate for the new Irish Water tax. Instead, we are still being levied the same old taxes, VAT and duties but are being told to pay the new tax in addition.
The real reason for Irish Water though is a little more complicated. Basically it is part of a massive book-keeping scam. To put it in its simplest form, moving the liability for the provision of water services off the gubmint's books and into a private company makes Ireland appear to owe less than it actually does. This is supposed to appease the financial markets who are presumably intelligent enough to see through the scam, but this is what the EU demands, so this is what the EU gets.
So on balance, who does the gubmint obey? The Irish people who want the whole miserable [and extremely expensive] scam scrapped? Or are they only obeying the dictats of the EU?
It's a three card trick, and the people lose every time.
"The real reason they refuse to step back is twofold."
Actually, I think it's simpler than that. They refuse because they can. Whatever they, or any other Government does, the sheeple will just vote them back in again. In the final analysis, there's no accountability, and that's why democracy has been dead for generations, and will continue to be so until the sheeple have the bollocks to do something different.
Cheers, Laurie.
They would step back if they thought there were votes in it, as indeed there are. But in this case they have to obey their lords and masters in Brussels who are the ones really running this country.
Politicians require a scarcity of truths and an ample supply of eejits in order to gain office.
Alas, I feel history will repeat itself at the next general election. (…sigh)
Simple question – if the current shower are voted out, who replaces them? Fianna Fáil? They are identical in all respects apart from the names of the guilty. Sinn Féin? Don't make me laugh! People may vote for a change but they will end up getting precisely the same.
I think that for the first time in the history of the state, we’ve come to a fork in the road that shows us that there REALLY IS no alternative left. The independants have their hearts in the right place but wouldn’t be up to the task; Jarry & Co? Well, I can see a sense of deja vous and compare them with the Langer party at the last election. For the first time in my adult life it seems like there’s absolutely nobody to turn to (or to trust).
InnisEanna, No need to be so pessimistic! When you say the Independents wouldn't be up to the task, you are absolutely right and that is the real point of voting for them. Grandad has shown very well that we no longer have a democracy so there isn't any task to be up to. Instead we all want to stop the fuckers in power so when we kicked Fianna Fail out we discovered the new lot were the same fuckers in different colored suits. But the beauty of 166 independents is that they couldn't agree to do anything. They couldn't tax your home or your water and they couldn't make you pay USC either. The Civil Service would just continue to run the place as they've always done and nothing would change for years so it could not get worse.
Grandad, Maastracht and then Lisbon more pressingly, were both votes for either independent sovereignty and democracy or direct fascist rule from Europe. We chose democracy freely and it presented the problem that we had to be seen to democratically vote for enslavement. So we were sent back to vote (democratically) again with threats ringing in our ears
– Job DONE!
The problem with voting for the independents is that enough would have to be elected to hold the balance of power. Even then in that situation you'd find independents will to toe the party line just to get into power. And what's the betting that if a government couldn't be formed that the EU would "rescue" us by appointing their own people [see Greece/ Italy]?