It's a moot point how much of our present fiscal catastrophe is down to bankers, developers, or cocaine-addled New York investment brokers. However, one thing is sure, the present gang of incompetents cluttering up the seats in Dáil Eireann didn't have the faintest idea what was happening in the run-up to the property crash here and are still completely in the dark about what they should do to dig us out of it.
Any parliament that contains 166 members should, you would think, be able to spot the dangers of a credit-fuelled, greed-driven, free-for-all in the property market and take steps to prevent the worst effects of its inevitable crash. But not this lot. And now, through NAMA, it is once again, you guessed it, the Irish Taxpayer who is the first port of call for the politicians who are looking for someone to carry the financial can for their monumental ineptitude.
So why is it that our national legislators are generally agreed to be plumbing the depths of mediocrity? Why are our TDs no better than lobby fodder, when they should be leading debate and keeping a close eye on the government? Perhaps we should be taking a look at our crazy form of democracy - proportional representation by the single transferable vote (PRSTV) which, by insisting on multi-seat constituencies, encourages blatant vote-buying and auction politics, as well as a total disinterest by our TDs in national issues in favour of 'minding' the constituency, by promising ever more council houses, medical cards, and eternal dole payments for the favoured groups of captive voters (all at the taxpayers' expense, by the way).
However, no one can blame the public for getting what they can out of these chancers, especially as they are never given a chance to vote for someone who cares about the country, is qualified to judge the issues and has the backbone to stand up for the truth against the get-rich-quick merchants who bankroll the big parties. This is because the local party branches of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (made up of a tiny number of party hacks) are the ones who choose who runs in the general and local elections. So the first the voter knows about a candidate is when they see their face up on a tree or a lamp-post. It's a bit late at that stage to figure out if they know anything about international finance, or would be good in a crisis!
It might, just might, be better to listen to the political thinkers (like Danny Finkelstein in the UK) who believe the only way to get good people elected is to sidestep the petty jealousies of the local party branches by bringing in a 'primary' system of nominating candidates for election, just like the USA.
This is the system that worked so well in overturning the 'dead cert' election of Hilary Clinton in favour of the virtually unknown Barack Obama. It is also pure democracy, compared to the interview panels, stuffed with party staffers, that chose many of Fianna Fail's candidates in 2007 and in the local elections last June.
Perhaps this is the only way we are going to finally get some people with the brains and integrity to avoid running us into a wall in future, and to save the Irish Taxpayer having to pick up a €90 billion tab (and counting) for the negligence of our freeloading politicians who were, as usual, asleep at the wheel.
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