Politics: Harnessing the Silent Majority
By Colin Kennedy
Three days ago The Green Party grabbed the plug on the Government and prepared to pull. The IMF are here, the EU are looking over their shoulder, and we have a penal budget on the doorstep. So an election is coming, one way or another: Great.
Here is the rub.. Most of the 166 Dáil TD’s will be running for re-election, add in a battery of councillors, senators, and otherwise marginalised politicians who will be on the ballot paper. Drop in a sprinkling of well-intentioned independents, and hey-ho we got ourselves an election! But what do we do with it? This is arguably the most important election since the foundation of the state.
For those of us living in a cave, Ireland is in the grip of a un-precedented economic meltdown. Right or wrong, our government has decided to guarantee and bail out the banks, pledging close on 50 billion across the main banks to ensure their survival so far. Anglo is now a world record holder, the single biggest banking failure in global history.
The EU and the IMF are here now, with their 80 billion ready for draw-down, and our constitution in their other hand. We are about to tie ourselves into a minimum 4 years of the harshest, most controversial budgets ever, which will most certainly erode most, if not all of the gains of the last 10 years. Our sovereignty is now compromised to one degree or another, depending which commentator you believe.The outgoing government, in some form or another, have been ‘at the wheel’ for the highest peak, and the lowest troughs in our country’s history.
They are accused of lying to the people who voted them in, corruption, backhanders, looking after their friends, golden circles, manipulating the expenses system, not to mention incompetence. Working from the assumption that Fianna Fáil will not be part of the next government, what are the alternatives?
1) Fine Gael /Labour Coalition - with Enda Kenny as Taoiseach
2) Labour/Fine Gael Coalition - with Eamon Gilmore as Taoiseach
3) Rainbow coalition without Fine Gael – Labour, Greens, Independents
4) Rainbow coalition without Labour – Fine Gael, Greens, Independents
5) National Government
6) Majority government with Labour – if polls are to be believed.
Are any of these options attractive, or is it more of the same?
The cry will go forth "ah sure they’re all the same, what’s the point", and there are those who will use this as a validation not to vote. Our voter turnout during elections is appalling. We can complain and moan with the best of them, and tut tut at the O’Donoghue’s and Callely’s of this world but the simple fact is, a lot of us do not vote, which delivers power to those who do!In the last general election in 2007 voter turnout was 62pc, and that was a high turnout. It is imperative that all who are entitled to vote, do vote. Every vote counts: ask any TD who lost their seat by margins in the single digits. Invariably we get the government we deserve, if you do not vote, you deserve what we have now ….. they are only partly to blame - YOU put them there, either through your vote, or through your inaction. 62 pc last time..
That means there was almost 1 million registered voters who did not vote Fianna Fáil formed a government with 858,000 first preference votes. To simplify, if those million people turned out, ANY other party (with enough candidates) could have been the party in power with an overall majority. Stop!! Read that paragraph again!! Were you one of the million???
Barack Obama won the US Democratic nomination against the odds and subsequently the Presidency by harnessing the “silent majority”. The first candidate ever to do so; they were absent in opinion polls, absent from rallies, but on the day, they all came out in huge numbers and history was made. His campaign raised more money than any candidate in US history, often stripping his opponents by 2:1. It did not come from fat cat donations, or vested interests, it came from Joe and Jane public, sending in ten dollars here, fifty dollars there. It is a new political model. We can create a similar revolution here, we can vote for change. The road ahead is a tough one, and we need strength and unity, and we all need to be involved, we all need to exercise our rights, make our opinion heard, we all need to VOTE.
At the very least, no matter what government we end up with, we then, are at least ALL complicit, all in the same boat. THEY work for YOU.. And if you vote, YOU PICK THEM.. And if the choice is a poor one, they are still accountable. Imagine a country where Fianna Fail vote is decimated and there are huge numbers of retirements. Imagine a government filled with youth, vitality and new ideas, rather than the same old faces. Imagine a Dáil full of new TD’s, new parties, people who accurately and fairly represent you. It IS possible, it CAN be
done, the time is now, whoever you vote for, for all our sakes, USE YOUR VOTE!!
Decisions are made by those who show up !!