Politics.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Ok I think this has been discussed to some degree before but I thought it might be a good idea to see where C&Hers political sympathies lie. I've included a poll of all the parties in Ireland at the moment including the Progressive Democrats (Even though they're defunct a lot of people still seem to support their policies) and the parties of the far-left (SWP, Socialists) are grouped together as an option. So if there was an election tomorrow and regardless of whether you can vote or not who would you choose? And where would place yourself politically- left or right? Liberal or conservative?

As for myself I'm genuinely confused as to where I lie in the grand scale of things. I used to be quite republican and a member of Sinn Fein, but I left that after I started to have problems with their authoritarian tendencies and shady past (I'd still regard myself as a republican and would support some of Sinn Feins policies still). I cant find any party in Ireland that fits with my views- I'm very very socially liberal and would favour among other things drug legalization and legalized prostitution. However I'm not sure where I would fit economically as I was formally quite socialist but have drifted towards the centre recently. If there was an election tomorrow I'd probably vote labour.

unknown13

I will never consider giving the SWP a single vote after the bullshít they went on with on the 3rd of November.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

unknown13 wrote: »

I will never consider giving the SWP a single vote after the bullshít they went on with on the 3rd of November.

Funnily enough I know one of the lads who was in the department of finance. Hes actually fairly sound but I wouldnt have any time for most of the SWPs policies.

unknown13

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Funnily enough I know one of the lads who was in the department of finance. Hes actually fairly sound but I wouldnt have any time for most of the SWPs policies.

Do you realise you vote for the party based on for what they intend on doing and what their policies are.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

unknown13 wrote: »

Do you realise you vote for the party based on for what they intend on doing and what their policies are.

Yes hence I wouldnt vote for any of the far left parties.

KnifeWRENCH

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

As for myself I'm genuinely confused as to where I lie in the grand scale of things. I used to be quite republican and a member of Sinn Fein, but I left that after I started to have problems with their authoritarian tendencies and shady past (I'd still regard myself as a republican and would support some of Sinn Feins policies still). I cant find any party in Ireland that fits with my views- I'm very very socially liberal and would favour among other things drug legalization and legalized prostitution. However I'm not sure where I would fit economically as I was formally quite socialist but have drifted towards the centre recently. If there was an election tomorrow I'd probably vote labour.

I'd be very similar to you actually. Very unsure of where I lie. I'm very socially liberal/left wing, but economically I'd be more centre, nudging towards right wing/conservative policies.
Although I've never been a member of any party, I've gone supporting most of them at this stage; from supporting Sinn Féin and the Greens as an idealistic teenager to Fianna Fail (when they gave me money!) and then Labour (when I realised how much FF fúcked things up.)

My only worry with Labour is that they would possibly pander to unions too much and wouldn't be able to make drastic measures needed in times of financial crisis. Also their student wing seems a bit more radical left-wing than the main party *cringes at that Coca Cola campaign*

Fianna Fáil, as we've seen, have fúcked things up royally and the current lot do not deserve to be in office anymore (though I think calling Fianna Fáil "a cancer" as a lot of people like to do is rather churlish and silly; who's to say future generations won't be any better?) At the end of the day, I think having a centrist party is the right idea but they have the wrong people in there. The whole "parish" politics thing is a big problem when it comes to FF. I think any legacy the party had due to good Taoisigh like Lemass and Lynch has been destroyed now by Haughy and Ahern.

I have a few problems with Fine Gael, the main one being Enda Kenny (a bloodless, sneering and stiff leader who can criticise everything without proposing anything constructive.) Aside from that, the fact that they're a "Christian-democracy" bugs me; I know it probably wouldn't have much effect on their policies if in Government, but I still believe religion should be kept completely out of politics. Also, I'm not a big fan of their strong "pro-Europe" stance and seeming willingness to join NATO. And while they're relatively centrist and similar to FF, they're that little bit more right wing, which also bothers me. One thing I will say in their favour; unlike FF, they've never produced a disastrous Taoiseach.

Greens? Meh. Possibly going to go the same way as the PD's and be wiped out in the next direction.

Sinn Féin - agree with some of their social policies, and I reckon there are some good eggs there that aren't all "UP THE 'RA" nonsense. But their economic policies and their tainted past (and in the case of some of their extremem members, tainted present) would basically put me off voting for them. I wouldn't mind voting for them in the European elections though.

This is starting to read like a blog post.
tl;dr version: I'm very liberal socially but more centre-right economically. If an election was called tomorrow, I'd probably vote either Labour or Independent.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

You sound very similar to myself politically Knife Wrench.

I hang around with some very politically varied people as well... One of my housemates is a very capitalist business minded FF/FG type individual whereas another is a staunch socialist radical. Another seems to vary between being a libertarian one week and a commie the next. A lot of other fellas I know are staunch Sinn Feiners and a few are SWP and the likes. I find however that virtually everyone Im friends with is very socially liberal and its only on economics and nationalism we'd differ.

EDIT: Yeah I noticed Labour Youth are a lot more radical than regular labour.. I've read their 'Left Tribune' and its fairly left-wing alright.

Chuchoter

Fine Gael, but they are the best of a bad lot, to be sure.

I would never vote Sinn Fein because I don't trust them.
I would not vote Green because they are a spineless waste of space.
I would not vote FF because....they're FF and we all know how that went.
Labour are populist. They will cut nothing and leave us with several CP agreements.

There is not a huge amount of point voting for smaller parties because they do not make big enough a difference.

If I invented a political party I would make one that was socially progressive (not including drug legalization, sorry), honest and is able to say no to people.

sock puppet

Not too sure. Fine Gael and Labour have been pathetic the past few days. Any idiot can see what the government are trying to do. The EU need us to take this bailout. I think they could be worried that support for FF might rise if they can negotiate favourable terms.

kev9100

Definitely Labour. Like many here, I'm pretty socially liberal and would have little problem with drug legilization and the like. In economic terms, I vary but generally left of centre.

jumpguy

PDs aren't around anymore unfortunately - the choice of parties shrinking is not a good thing. Fianna Fáil and the current government need to leave now, their time is up. The ignorance of them is unbelievable - and they take the Irish public as fools, where if they lie and deny everything, we'll believe it. Denying that Ireland was in bailout talks when it clearly was was the last straw with them tbh. Seeing the current government doing the honest thing and admitting they made serious mistakes and then resigning would be refreshing and is about the last bit of good they can do now.

Admittedly, I feel a bit sorry for Brian Lenihan. He was not Minister of Finance at the time and was handed this huge mess. Brian Cowen, not so much.

If I could vote and was gonna vote tomorrow, I'd probably go with Labour as well. It's the only party with a strong leader and seems to have a shade of intelligence.

kev9100

jumpguy wrote: »

PDs aren't around anymore unfortunately - the choice of parties shrinking is not a good thing.

Why is the death of the PDs a bad thing? They were nothing more than the far right-wing of FF.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I would have voted for the PDs if they were as socially liberal as they were economically liberal. Unfortunately they werent and Michael McDowell was one of the most interfering nanny state individuals I've ever seen.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

kev9100 wrote: »

Definitely Labour. Like many here, I'm pretty socially liberal and would have little problem with drug legilization and the like. In economic terms, I vary but generally left of centre.

Unfortunately only Labour TD (Emmet Stagg) has had the balls to publicly endorse legalizing cannabis. A lot of the rest of them agree but are afraid to say it.