Why do the Irish always vote for such terrible politicans?

JohnnyFlash

As we all know, the plain people of Ireland are some of the most decent, hard-working, intelligent, honest, and humble creatures you'll find on the planet. The sort of lad and lassie who ate their dinner in the middle of the day, and love nothing more than a few pints at the weekend. 'Sure what more would ya want', as you might hear them say.

What's so baffling then is their insistence on voting for politicians who must surely rank as amongst the worst on the planet. Greedy féckers up in the Dáil lining their own purse, and making decisions like not to fix the health service out of sheer spite.

What can be done about this I wonder? I open the floor to the astute political animals of the current affairs forum. Men with their finger on the pulse of the Nation. Should we ban certain professions from entering politics for example? Or if your father or mother was a TD then you can't run? Should we make them live in shared apartments in Dublin? Just some quick ideas.

I suppose this came to me as I saw a tweet showing a load of Chinese executives being admonished by their peers for not hitting targets.


https://twitter.com/china_trends/status/1218531280842706946


We could do something similar for our useless politicians? Maybe have it on Merrion Square on the 8th of December so jackeens and mucksavage alike can throw abuse at politicans and offer them verbal encouragement on how they could do better?

Thelonious Monk

Unlike our UK and US counterparts?

the_pen_turner

I'm sure that if we could find a good one ,we would vote for them

We should adopt the procedure that High Wycombe uses.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_High_Wycombe

JohnnyFlash

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Or if your father or mother was a TD then you can't run?

That would be a step in the right direction. I'm uneasy about this 'keeping a seat warm for the next generation'. Look at the jackeens in Kerry. Too many incompetents enter the political arena by default.

Pauliedragon

Because there's no alternative.

NIMAN

OP, out of interest do you think any current Irish politicians are good?

HeidiHeidi

You can only vote for whoever stands.

Would you consider standing yourself, maybe, since you seem to know how it should be done....

HeidiHeidi

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That would be a step in the right direction. I'm uneasy about this 'keeping a seat warm for the next generation'. Look at the jackeens in Kerry. Too many incompetents enter the political arena by default.

They get voted in.

Hamsterchops

There's a whole rainbow of political views to choose from, you've got the Greens, Labour, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael etc etc etc, pretty good selection no?

MadYaker

Irish politicians worst on the planet? Seriously? They're far from the best. But they're definitely not the worst on the planet. Ridiculous OP. Go have a look at whats happening in Russia, the UK or the USA.

A lot of people on boards seem baffled as to why the majority of voters vote FF or FG. Its because there's no reasonable alternative. Just like everyone else who asks this question you slam FF and FG yet make no mention of any politician or party who we should vote for instead. So lets hear it then OP. If not FF and FG, who?

Jurgen Klopp

Term limits from county council to TD you can only serve 2 terms as a councillor or TD

Maybe an option worth looking at would be if someone in your immediate family served there must be at least a one term "break" in the chain maybe
So for instance if your father or brother steps down you can't run for the next election to "keep" the seat but that would probably just encourage parties to run placeholder candidates and it might be unfair as much as I don't like legacy families

Donald Trump

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Unlike our UK and US counterparts?

Ahem..... as you are well aware, the US has the bigliest politicians. Stable genii no less.

Guy:Incognito

Is every politician thats ever been elected here terrible? Or just the ones you dont like or agree with?

Yurt2

We love a rogue who bends the rules. Everyone secretly thinks the rules and constraints of society doesn't apply to them and will vote for a cute hoor that will give them what they think they aught to have coming to them.

We love the rights, and the responsibilities are secondary. An auld cad or cadín with a glint in their eye to sort them is just the trick.

"You'll be looked after"- all most voters need to hear.

Edgware

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

You can only vote for whoever stands.

Would you consider standing yourself, maybe, since you seem to know how it should be done....

He will have to ask Mammy first

Idbatterim

It’s not like we are ignoring good options. The standard of candidates for government local and national is a disgrace. Nothing is going to change, unless the candidates on offer , vastly improve. Won’t happen

Loafing Oaf

Hamsterchops wrote: »

There's a whole rainbow of political views to choose from, you've got the Greens, Labour, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael etc etc etc, pretty good selection no?

Very limited choice in the centre or on the right

HeidiHeidi

Jurgen Klopp wrote: »

Term limits from county council to TD you can only serve 2 terms as a councillor or TD

Maybe an option worth looking at would be if someone in your immediate family served there must be at least a one term "break" in the chain maybe
So for instance if your father or brother steps down you can't run for the next election to "keep" the seat but that would probably just encourage parties to run placeholder candidates and it might be unfair as much as I don't like legacy families

No matter who parties put up for election, it's still the electorate votes them in. Or not.

Boredstiff666

Why do the Irish always vote for such terrible politicans?

Because you can only vote for Donald Trump in America?

McMurphy

https://twitter.com/MHealyRae/status/1218667407285407749

johnmcdnl

As bad as they might be, somehow our little country is consistenly ranked in the top 5,10,20 of various rankings. We can curse and moan and give out all we want about only having FF and FG governments for 100 years, but it's worked out reasonably well for the country as a whole. Maybe there is a method in our madness in always voting for such terrible politicans. Or maybe we've just been terribly lucky and our luck will suddently run out some day soon.

There's no country that doesn't have some problems, and yes we have some. Even if we had another alternative party who got elected and solved all our housing and homeless and hospital issues, they'd struggle with something else and we'd then turn our opinion on them for that weakness.

I'm genuinely interested to know is there a country you know of that does a good job of not electing 'terrible politicans' to get an understanding of what it is we should be hoping to elect.

NIMAN

johnmcdnl wrote: »

As bad as they might be, somehow our little country is consistenly ranked in the top 5,10,20 of various rankings. We can curse and moan and give out all we want about only having FF and FG governments for 100 years, but it's worked out reasonably well for the country as a whole. Maybe there is a method in our madness in always voting for such terrible politicans. Or maybe we've just been terribly lucky and our luck will suddently run out some day soon.

There's no country that doesn't have some problems, and yes we have some. Even if we had another alternative party who got elected and solved all our housing and homeless and hospital issues, they'd struggle with something else and we'd then turn our opinion on them for that weakness.

I'm genuinely interested to know is there a country you know of that does a good job of not electing 'terrible politicans' to get an understanding of what it is we should be hoping to elect.

Nail on head.

Of course we have issues, like every other nation in the world.
But Ireland has come some way in the last 50 years, so as you say perhaps FF/FG aren't too bad overall?

There isn't a country in the world where the population is happy with their politicians. That's not how politics works.

As if you think some other party could come in and fix the HSE, the housing issues etc, then you are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Mr.burgess

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

As we all know, the plain people of Ireland are some of the most decent, hard-working, intelligent, honest, and humble creatures you'll find on the planet. The sort of lad and lassie who ate their dinner in the middle of the day, and love nothing more than a few pints at the weekend. 'Sure what more would ya want', as you might hear them say.

What's so baffling then is their insistence on voting for politicians who must surely rank as amongst the worst on the planet. Greedy féckers up in the Dáil lining their own purse, and making decisions like not to fix the health service out of sheer spite.

What can be done about this I wonder? I open the floor to the astute political animals of the current affairs forum. Men with their finger on the pulse of the Nation. Should we ban certain professions from entering politics for example? Or if your father or mother was a TD then you can't run? Should we make them live in shared apartments in Dublin? Just some quick ideas.

I suppose this came to me as I saw a tweet showing a load of Chinese executives being admonished by their peers for not hitting targets.


https://twitter.com/china_trends/status/1218531280842706946


We could do something similar for our useless politicians? Maybe have it on Merrion Square on the 8th of December so jackeens and mucksavage alike can throw abuse at politicans and offer them verbal encouragement on how they could do better?

Never heard of a good one

Wanderer78

Our political system is far more complicated than just the individuals that work in it, failures are not just due to their failures

zell12

We have one of the fairest voting systems in the world.
TDs tried to get rid of the PR-STV twice, and failed in 1958 & 1968
Our politicians accurately represent the Irish electorate, it's what we want.

Gynoid

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. - Plato.

Good people are wary to get into the cesspit that is politics. We get what is available.

Idbatterim

Myself and several mates and family members, for the first time ever. Wont engage with any of the canvassers, candidates etc. not having them waste my time. Not interested in the **** talk and that is all it is. **** talk.

pure.conya

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

As we all know, the plain people of Ireland are some of the most decent, hard-working, intelligent, honest, and humble creatures you'll find on the planet. The sort of lad and lassie who ate their dinner in the middle of the day, and love nothing more than a few pints at the weekend. 'Sure what more would ya want', as you might hear them say.

What's so baffling then is their insistence on voting for politicians who must surely rank as amongst the worst on the planet. Greedy féckers up in the Dáil lining their own purse, and making decisions like not to fix the health service out of sheer spite.

What can be done about this I wonder? I open the floor to the astute political animals of the current affairs forum. Men with their finger on the pulse of the Nation. Should we ban certain professions from entering politics for example? Or if your father or mother was a TD then you can't run? Should we make them live in shared apartments in Dublin? Just some quick ideas.

I suppose this came to me as I saw a tweet showing a load of Chinese executives being admonished by their peers for not hitting targets.


https://twitter.com/china_trends/status/1218531280842706946


We could do something similar for our useless politicians? Maybe have it on Merrion Square on the 8th of December so jackeens and mucksavage alike can throw abuse at politicans and offer them verbal encouragement on how they could do better?

the real issue isn't voting, its what we do or more so the lack of what we do between voting every 4 years that enables ALL the corruption and ease at which decisions are made that screw us all so badly

enricoh

Saw in the Sunday times today that Fianna fail have a 12% lead on fg.
Over a decade after wrecking cthe economy they are back big time - we deserve everything we get! We can always moan to Joe Duffy (salary 400k !) If it ends in tears again!!

I was thinking about the Healy Raes and why people vote for them. It seems that the general consensus is that they vote for them because they get the potholes fixed in the roads.

Then I looked at my TDs in Dun Laoghaire.

I’d be over the ****ing moon if they managed to do that. My TDs can’t even drive a car safely or sit on a swing.