In case I haven’t mentioned it before there is an election coming up on Ireland, a general election, to choose a new government. The skeptical part of my brain tells me we are just swapping one set of jackasses for another but another part of me, a larger part will insist on asking ‘Could I do any better?’ ‘Had I been in the position would I have been any better than Fianna Fail or the Greens?’ I would like to think so, I am sure those competing to get into power will think the same, indeed some of those who are looking to get back in are surely thinking ‘I can fix what I did wrong last time – just give me the chance.’ But you have to weigh the choices against the history. It’s not the overall party that’s the issue it’s the individuals. The majority are just constituency reps who do their ‘best’ to get re-elected by forwarding their own agendas – anything that will earn them votes. Look at all the independents running now, in theory you could have a government made up of eighty plus different parties.

All this is happening against a backdrop of political upheaval and unrest running across North Africa and into the Middle East. A common thread here would seem to be dissatisfaction with the existing leadership and looking for the right to vote for a candidate of their choice. I bet George W Bush is livid. Muslim countries in upheaval and not an American soldier in sight.

The fact of our own election against such a backdrop has made me think more about this ‘right to vote. than I normally do. I have always used my vote even when cynical about those I vote for and I have often been unhappy with my choice(some of them have adopted that rule ‘ little children should be seen and not heard’ putting themselves in the place of the children and turning up wherever a camera is pointed) on many occasions but it hasn’t changed the fact that I will vote. My thoughts however stray to the newly ungoverned people of Egypt and the hopefully soon to be Gadaffi-less Libyans. How will their new choice match up to their expectations? Will some cynical souls be cursing that they’ve swapped an ass for a mule? Will the representative for Cairo be an active voice while the representative from Alexandria only comes out when the cameras are around(and of course I will get those potholes fixed). I don’t even know if they have separate constituencies or more than one party but at some point someone is going to be elected and someone will be the big boss and like our own country tough decisions will have to be made. But at least, if the people aren’t happy and they can make new choices next time around this has to be a good thing?

It certainly says something for the right to vote – regardless of how you use it that fact that so many, throughout history, have died for the privilige should at least make everyone come out and use theirs. Sure – the choice may not be great but use it anyway. It’s the banks that run the country anyway and no-one elects them….now theres a thought!!!

A lot of mud-slinging has gone on in the past few months pointing the finger at this one or tha one for the screw-ups in our economy. I think all the slinging has missed out on one big one. The Electorate. That’s right! The voters of Ireland. And I count myself one of them. ‘Ah shure things are going great, why bother changing”. Well maybe if we’d voted the feckers out when times were good it might have shook things up.  If Jimmy the TD was getting too cosy with Paddy the Builder then he might have changed his tune if it cost him his seat… or is that too simplistic a way to look at it. Granted the jackasses were in power and the mules were braying at the gates but maybe if they’d been changed from time to time they might have had less time to f**k things up.

So an election looms – who to vote for? Listening to what’s is being reported there is little to choose between any of them. On a TV3 debate recently Michael Martin and Eamon Gilmore were just like two kids, ‘I said this, you said that’ ‘No I’d didn’t, I said the other and where ‘s me Ma? I’m telling’ It’s all very drearily boring and samey. The Country’s in a mess, the  crowd that were minding the house handed it over to any whizzkid that could shuffle bricks and mortar. The Banks were bailed out by that long-suffering eejit the Irish Taxpayer and are now laughing…well all the way to the bank presumably. Now the jackasses who were in control want it back because they say they’re the only ones who know how to fix-it. And the others, when not slagging off FF are slagging off each other.

There are some interesting and, in my opinion, alarming statistics though. According to this site if you ignore the top five parties(FF, FG ,LAb, Green and SF) you have 233 candidates, two hundred of which are independents. To me this is alarming because our new government could be made up of a large party and a lot of independents meaning no government at all really. Fine Gael, for first time since the 1960′s, are running more candidates than Fianna Fail. Fianna Fail cannot be the next government unless in coalition as they have not enough candidates even if they were all elected. So how quickly will all these small parties learn to re-love Fianna Fail if it get’s them into government? It would be a breath of fresh air if they all turned down the chance to be in coalition with FF. No doubt some will claim that if they do enter into coalition it will be to act as watchdogs, or words to that effect. How much watching were the Greens and their ilk doing when the economy was pouring down the drain?

I think we should elect Osama or Gaddafi or some other enemy of democracy, then the Yanks could step in, execute a regime change then they could run it, or we could just hand it back to the Queen(would she even want it?).

I know sod all about high finance.  I read stuff in papers, on the internet, hear it on the news but most of it goes over my head. When I left school in the 1980′s to join the exclusive club known as jobseekers Ireland was in a recession emigration was not only a choice but, by many, highly recommended. Then the country started to boom, or so I was told, and we were the envy of Europe and the world. The visible difference to me was that people were staying in Ireland not leaving. Now we’re back in the sewer again. Worse than ever some say. I have noticed two sets of people have come through all theses times pretty much unscathed. Politicians and banks. Politicians are not individuals they are a production line. Get rid of minister X or party Y and you have someone to tkae their place and very little changes. The oppostion will make flowery speeches about how they would do things, knowing full well that once in power they’d be just like those the replaced, only one big iam in life, to survive, so they will do all they can to achiueve that goal and if the country prospers or declines it’s a matter of forces mostly outside their controls. Sure you can change who’s in with your vote, but the system remains the same.

The second group of people are the banks, like the politicians, not individuals, just a faceless ‘them’. I agree with those who say banks are now to big to fail and to big to save. One bank failing in this country is costing billions to save. I wonder, why bother, let it go. The argument for saving it seems to be, at it’s most basic, if we let it fail it paints a bad picture of Ireland. I have to ask, what kind of picture is it when the bank can’t run it’s own affairs. If I was a big investor looking at this bank would I be saying ‘ Oh yeah, that’s the place to put my money!’ – I don’t think so. Of course our country isn’t unique in having to ‘rescue’ it’s banks, but so far(apart maybe from Greece) we seem to to be the only one that has to collapse the economy to do so. You have to figure that banks, now that they have been rescued will now do all they can to repay that faith? Of course they will, as long as the banks are benefiting. Life carries on as normal for the banks. Hey we screwed up, we f**cked up the economy, bonuses all round for the boys and let’s see if we can’t do the whole f***ing sleigh ride all over again.

But then what do I know. I know I get less money to take home now than I did last year. I pay more for stuff I want. I’m lucky enough to have a job that seems secure so I’m where I have almost always been, hoping the jackasses that run the country and the greedy f***ers who run the banks will leave me enough money retire on. 68 they are saying now – you do know of course they are hoping I will contribute until the last and then die, perfect scenario as far as they’d be concerned.

Cartoons courtesy of Niall O’ Loughlin. See more at his site.