Are we the electorate becoming too institutionalised?

sameoldname

After reading these forums and listening to our media in the run-up to the general election one of the major points which has become apparent to me is how much we the public seem to:

A) - Transfer what I believe to be our (As in the public) social responsibilities onto the government and state institutions.

- Blame said government/institutions when we don't get what we want/expect.

As an example, I live in rural West Wicklow and I hear locals complaining about the fact that there is very little to do in the area in terms of socialising bar going down to the pub, which is true.
Not a big issue but it seems to me that a certain part of the local public would like to see the government provide alternatives to solve the problem, thus spending tax income on what is essentially in my opinion a local problem and thus should be taken care of by me and my fellow residents and not the government.

Another example:
My nearest village has what most would call a pronounced problem with anti-social behavior stemming from certain youths. People then blame the police and the courts for not tackling the problem but yet seem to do nothing about it themselves despite everyone knowing who the culprits are. Now I am aware that you cannot take the law into your own hands but I do believe that it if maybe the resisdents had been more firm with these people and their parents when the were younger this situation may have been avoided, rather than thinking it was someone elses responsibility.

I think that when we give responsibility of an aspect of our personal/social lives over to another we then feel that we have no responsiblity to it at all and then that we can blame the people we have handed it to if it doesn't meet to our standards. (Which it never seems to.)

I think I would favour less government involvement with local issues and allow them to deal with national needs rather than local wants.

Any opinions?

(Feel free to move this if its in the wrong forum)

mike65

This feels like a Humanties type thread, but on the topic. We are institutionalised (whew!), ever since the end of WW2 western states have become evermore controlling in pretty much every aspect of our lives. Its for our own good of course. They say.

We need the help and of course often we do and are glad the various safety nets exist but state apparatus hates being a by-stander if it can pass a law to steer us in a particular direction - Heath and Safety once meant not doing anything obviously stupid, now its an industry which needs to keep finding new 'reasons to be'. On a purely political level the damned 'clientelism' of the multi-seat PR system sees would-be or sitting TDs scurying about helping members of the public who could just pick up a phone book but who either never think about that or just don't belive a joe-public will get any joy from a government Dept. Ivan Yates speaking on The Panel on Monday (?) talked about this mentality and I think it was a large part of why he gave up.

Mike.

Victor

I think part of the problem is that too much power is centralised. In France fully 0.5% of the population are elected representatives. In Ireland, its about 0.024%. Local communities can't do many things quite simply because it is for a minister to approve the money, not the community.