Will you vote for Fianna Fail?

[muppet]

i see a new party forming 'fianna gael' this should be interesting since both of them are poison ivy for whatever coalition partner they enter government with. enda kenny is the best canvasser fianna fail have

Fine Gael will hopefully not be returned to power and the same goes for Labour. However mid-term austerity polls are probably best taken with a grain of salt. The real tragedy is that Fianna Fáil are seen as the only credible alternative. I thought people would vote for nut-job independents before they would vote FF but it seems I was wrong.

SF's inability to even pretend to want to appeal to the vast majority of those in the 26 has knocked them backwards.

It really leaves us with a pathetic choice next time. Dumb party, dumber parties or individual dumbos. Depressing.

[Itchy]

So which party would you like to see run the next government Muppet. FF, FG and Labour are out going by recent posts. SF seem to be your least favourite. That leaves the Greens, Workers Party, Christian Solidarity, united left alliance and independents. Maybe time to head to Australia?

[Pangurban]

When the whole political system is corrupt and malfunctioning it matters little who is in government

[Billys Boots]

Well the political process is based (at present) on the principles of patronage - our politicians do not appear to be convinced that they (really) have a mandate to act in the public interest.  That is, if they do so (work for the common good) successfully, it doesn't follow that they will increase their chances of re-election - I don't know but there may be evidence to show that it has a negative effect; there's certainly anecdotal evidence.  On the other hand, if they spend their elected term working (successfully) to favour their constituents in any way, shape or form to 'beat the system' then it's a running certainty that they will be re-elected. 

Is that their fault or our fault - I think we the electorate are to blame, in the main? 

How can we change it? - certainly not by moving to another country.  Personally the current system is an FF construct; by refusing to ever vote FF again sends a strong message.  If the FF replacements do no better, in terms of the patronage principle anyway, then stop voting for them.  There's no overnight remedy for this - and there shouldn't be - but the vote is a mighty weapon.  We just need to learn how to use it again.

[Billys Boots]

Varadkar

While he might be an obnoxious dose, he didn't ruin the country (yet) - FF did.

[Declan]

Is that their fault or our fault - I think we the electorate are to blame, in the main? 

How can we change it? - certainly not by moving to another country.  Personally the current system is an FF construct; by refusing to ever vote FF again sends a strong message.  If the FF replacements do no better, in terms of the patronage principle anyway, then stop voting for them.  There's no overnight remedy for this - and there shouldn't be - but the vote is a mighty weapon.  We just need to learn how to use it again.

+1

[muppet]

I think the only solution is to vote for every independent crank running. It could lead to short-term chaos but it would send a message to the organised parties that they must stop simply representing their own agendas. The Independents would never form a lasting administration and the message might not need to last for long.

[macdanger2]

Hard to believe that ~ 25% of people would vote for FF after what has happened over the past 10 years - that's the problem with democracy though, every gombeen has a vote!!! I would advocate that if you don't want to vote for the alternatives, then you go in and spoil your vote - same with the people who don't vote at all - if say 40% of the votes cast were spoiled, it would send it pretty powerful message to the political system that the people want change.

The problem with any democratic system is that you want to maintain accountability but eliminate parochialism which is an almost impossible balance to achieve. I haven't thought this through fully but what about a system where you vote for local "councillors" in the general election - these remain as local politicians but have more power than existing councils (which are scrapped as they currently exist). Each party (independent councillors would have to pool together to form some sort of alliance / party) then elect either a government or perhaps just ministers (not from the body of elected councillors) who then govern at a national level. Obviously one major problem with this is that your cabinet has not been directly elected - on the other hand, it means that they should be capable of acting in the best interests of the country rather than their own constituency.

[deiseach]

The problem with any democratic system is that you want to maintain accountability but eliminate parochialism which is an almost impossible balance to achieve. I haven't thought this through fully but what about a system where you vote for local "councillors" in the general election - these remain as local politicians but have more power than existing councils (which are scrapped as they currently exist). Each party (independent councillors would have to pool together to form some sort of alliance / party) then elect either a government or perhaps just ministers (not from the body of elected councillors) who then govern at a national level. Obviously one major problem with this is that your cabinet has not been directly elected - on the other hand, it means that they should be capable of acting in the best interests of the country rather than their own constituency.

The political systems in Britain and the United States both started out predicated on voting directly for local worthies who would then select impartial people to run the country in the best interests of everyone. But it wasn't long in either case before people grouped together around the big issue of the day - attitudes towards the monarchy in Britain (Tories v Whigs), attitudes towards elites in America (Federalists v Democratic Republicans). You can't seal people away from the ultimate decision makers even if you wanted to.

[supersarsfields]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian. Sure could it be any worth!!

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-25/italy-election-silvio-berlusconi-pier-luigi-bersani/

[muppet]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian. Sure could it be any worth!!

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-25/italy-election-silvio-berlusconi-pier-luigi-bersani/

Please let him run!

[AQMP]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian. Sure could it be any worth!!

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-25/italy-election-silvio-berlusconi-pier-luigi-bersani/

Not only in Italy.  John O'Farrell is standing for Labour in Eastleigh (Chris Huhne's former seat).

[Billys Boots]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian. Sure could it be any worth!!

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-25/italy-election-silvio-berlusconi-pier-luigi-bersani/

Please let him run!

I'd vote for Dylan Moran, but we'd end up with Richie Kavanagh. 

[Hardy]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian.

It'd be a step up from clowns.

[Rossfan]

We should follow Italy's lead and vote in a comedian. /

Brian Lenihan kept telling us during 2009 that "the corner had been turned"