Peace. Prosperity. Progress. Can I Get A Witness?

dahamsta

I'm a political newbie, a relative innocent, a reasonably fresh slate. My family is traditionally Fine Gael, but I've started taking an interest in politics in the last few years, and I examine the issues just a little bit more closely these days. Unfortunately though, not enough to make an informed decision on this election yet, so I'll be relying quite heavily on the Internet to help me decide. This is one of the places that will have a factor in my decisions, so here I am.

I'm unsure of my TD's, I have very little confidence in any of the parties, and I have even less confidence in their leaders. The only factor that is reasonably solid in my mind is that the outgoing Government (which of course includes the outgoing Opposition TD's, who are part of the democratic process) has done very little to improve my quality of life and encourage my business; and has done even less to guarantee Ireland's economic stability.

In other words, I have very little faith or confidence in any of the people who are supposed to be - or want to - represent me. I don't particularly like politicians (which is, oddly, why I would like to be one), and I find myself having to pick from the best of a bad lot. Sad, but such is modern life. So I'm left with a process of elimination -- before I decide who I /do/ want in Government, I want to decide who I /don't/. And what better place to start than with the majority of the outgoing Coalition, Fianna Fáil.

To that end, I'd like to start a debate on the core of Fianna Fáil's election manifesto, i.e. "Peace. Prosperity. Progress." I don't believe that these three assertions are true, in fact if anything I believe that for the most part, the opposite is far closer to reality. I believe that the words were picked by a PR bunny who thought the alliteration was cute, not because of any substance. I would like people to go through these one by one with me, and argue for or against them. I'll get things started:

PEACE

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Since public opinion (and so the democracy) is firmly in favour of retaining Ireland's neutrality, the outgoing Government has furtively done everything in it's power to erode and dissolve our neutrality from within. It is becoming a position in name only, and it is only a matter of time before we find ourselves spending more money on "defense" that Ireland does not need and cannot afford. Violent crime is on the increase, now quite firmly on the streets of my home city, a city I used to feel safe in.


PROSPERITY

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For the most part, Enterprise is abandoning Ireland like rats from a sinking ship. There have been exceptions, but for most part losses outweigh profits. This could also be applied to the Government's entire business plan, as jobs are balanced against money that is shipped out of the country by the boatload. The outgoing Government has leaned almost entirely on Enterprise to contain Ireland's economic stability, and has not fostered local and national industry to safeguard against the current exodus. No redundancy, but lots of redundancies.


PROGRESS

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House prices have risen to unattainable levels, which is progress to builders, but certainly not to housebuyers. Prices in general are obscenely high, especially when compared to our counterparts in Europe. Technologically, Ireland has embarassingly low computer ownership numbers, Internet connections, and time spent online. The other two elements factor here too: dissolving neutrality, violent crime on the rise, Enterprise exiting. This is not progress.


I'm both a capitalist and a socialist. I believe in free trade, I believe people should have the right to make money, I believe people should want to improve their lot; should be encouraged to do so. But I also believe in fairness and equality. I believe we should support those who can't improve their lot; should encourage those who won't go out and make money.

I believe all of that, but I'm not stupid, I also realise that there has to be boundaries. The extremes of these two political ideals don't work, have never worked. People will always abuse their positions, no matter what the system. Communists will create excuses for their dachas; capitalists will do the same for their billion-dollar islands.

In democracies, we naturally move towards the middle, except in times of strife. Most people believe that the middle is the right place to be. Sure, there is a place for the far-left and the far-right, but that is invariably a means to an end - it eventually pushes us back to the middle of the road, just like citizens are driving their Governments back to the dotted line in France and Italy.

In Ireland, we're pretty much in the middle, and I like that. But the key word in Fianna Fáil's election manifesto, and what should be the key word for us, is "progress". In Ireland, the majority is losing out to the minority, and I don't believe that this is progress. If we're not progressing, we're regressing, and I believe Ireland is regressing. I believe Fianna Fáil is responsible for that. Now it's up to you to tell me why they're not.

Now before you hammer out an off-the-cuff flame or a troll in response, let's get one thing straight: I realise that I'm a little bit naive, a smidgeon gullible, a tad wet behind the ears. I've been concentrating on the things that apply to me in the past few years, so I accept that I don't fully understand the issues. I'm not looking for a flame war here, I'm looking for a debate. Please keep it that way.

Thanks,
adam

I understand your thoughts-here briefly are mine on what you say.
Firstly I think the FF manifesto meant the peace process in Northern Ireland when it refers to Peace.
Peace in all other things is relative, there are many examples of Violence on our streets to more than counter any claims of "universal" peace.

Prosperity is also relative-I am old enough to remember, dole queue's in the 80's three times as long as they are now,miserable salaries and wages and thousands of young people emigrating.Our current circumstances relative to that are heaven.
Progress is slow but on-going regardless of who is in power.
Gubu politics meaning if you have a local independent T.D who can prop up a government then you will see a heck of a lot of progress on a local level.

In what way do you feel we as a country are regressing by the way?
mm