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Political Accountability

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  • 03-06-2004 3:29pm
    #1
    star gazer
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 1,715 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    There is an alarming rate of reduction in the number of people who turnout in our elections. People are becoming more and more disenfranchised from politics and this leads to people ignoring their polling card on election day. It is sad to think of our history and the pain that our country went through on it's journey towards democracy only to have our citizens turning their back on it. The numbers voting correlate to the distance of birth from the day of independence, the elderly having the highest voter turnout, the youngest, the lowest.

    So why are the people who have grown up in the most recent political environment turning away from their democratic power?

    When a decision is made by government we expect that the government will explain itself and will have made the decision in the best interests of the people of ireland. Does this happen?

    The art of 'spin doctoring' is probably blurring the political picture that people see. Politicians talk of issues in ways that paint themselves in the best light; the truth seems to come second to the spin. When leaders are allowed to get away with thirty second sound-bites to explain decisions that hugely affect people, there is no real accountability. There is a way of not answering any controversial question through deflection, distraction and by ignoring the question asked and answering a different question, anyone listening just turns off because logic goes out the window.

    Leadership is crucial to the effective governance of any organisation including a country. Vision is critical to leadership because without it there is no direction coming from the leader; the direction will come from elsewhere, especially so-called vested interests. Trade Unions, Business interests and others dictate the direction of the country in the absence of any elected representative in power who bases her/his decisions on what is best for the people of Ireland.

    Honesty does not need to be clouded by ambiguity/spin, when people are kept informed of decisions made in their interests they will follow their politicians and use their vote to keep the politicians who they agree with. If there is no politician that they agree with, they will not vote.

    It does not have to be that way.

    taken from letters to the editor


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