New kind of politics . . Education . Reform. New thinking . .

Drumpot

I have a few ideas and will put them to friends, family and local business . .

I am considering a differant kind of canvassing for my local area and would encourage it in others . .

Its completely differant from the way people would be use'd to electing or deciding on how to elect people . I dont really care which party people vote for , what I care for is why they vote for a particular candidate.

My main goal is to make a better country for my children. I wont hide my motives, I have a young child and another on the way and I am just about getting by. My main motive is to have a country that they can be proud to live and work in and that is pulling in the same direction.Ok, Im not rich, but so what, surely this is one of the integral points of democracy that even people on the lower ends of society can shape the destiny of a society?

I dont mind people disagreeing with me, in fact I encourage it. I encourage debate, I encourage people to demand more from anybody who calls to their door asking for their vote. .

Even if you are a party person who will vote for a certain candidate, my goal would be to ask you simply to ask them for more. I have no 2nd preferance vote in my area or for anybody nationally. I dont want to sell myself to the people, I want to sell my message which can be taken on board by every party and every person in this country. I want every party to feel the pressure to do the right thing, even at the expense of popularity.

More morals, more principles and I ask everybody to have a question that no politicial/potential candidate could be ready for when they call for your door. After that, I ask that you make your decision on your genuine beliefs and confidence on the candidate (not simply because they are in a party you like) . .

I might be living in the clouds if I think I can change things for the better, if I think I can change the way we vote and make people value their vote , but if people vote for the right people for the right reasons I believe we will have a better chance of getting through our current problems as best is possible. Not just that, I really believe it will be a better Ireland if we have a government that genuinley cares for its people.

I am so sad to see my fellow country men and woman putting ourselves down. My friends keep asking me why I actually care and why I dont want to get into politics if I feel so strong about what I say. I am not mad about getting into politics because I know how "unfriendly" it can be, but if I want to have the courage to match my convictions I have to do something. I dont expect to be elected, but my goal is more to educate people into valuing their vote. Consider who you are voting for and why. Everybody in this country has a duty to be vigilant in who they vote for in the next election.

The real value of my idea is that I dont really care if people vote for me once they force the electorate to challenge ALL the people looking for their vote. If people FORCE their politicians to shape up and work harder for the national interest, I believe we will be able to have a more stable economy and one that makes more right then wrong decisions and one that has the foresight to make the right provisions for what may lie ahead.

I dont propose canvasing for any particular large vested interest. I propose a greater good interest and that through that there will be collective prosperity.

For the cynics, I welcome your cynicism as thats the only way we can progress and get everybody on board. I believe cynical views can help us see the many errors of conventional wisdom and help everybody be more objective when all views are considered.

I dont consider myself anymore intelligent then the average Joe of the friends I have, I just really value the concept of collective prosperity through collective hard work . .

I know many on boards.ie are sceptical and cynical of anybody with a certain view or political stance on how we should progress as a society. I am not saying that the ills or mistakes or criminal actions of previous governments should be forgotten or forgiven. I am saying we should work to make sure that we make sure these never happen again and try to lead by example and show the rest of the world how to respond to adversity . .

I am in no way 100% right and I really want people to start the debate now. . Nobody is wrong and everybody has a voice and a right to be heard. I have argued against many on this website and I realise now that many people are just scared and angry. We need to look for a more unified way of solving our problems.

I havent got a bean to invest in canvassing , but in my complete accepted naievity, I am relying on word of mouth and my ability to inspire confidence in people who I get to call into. . I am a cocky fecker and can speak well but I have honesty, integrity and I am told often that I am "a peoples person" which I think is worth any investment. My goal isnt necessarily to get elected (althought that would be preferable), but I want people to start valuing their vote like they were picking the doctor to do surgery on a loved one. If I spend nothing but time and it encourages 1 person to vote for the right person for the right reason, it will be worth the effort..

One of the reasons I dont expect to be voted in is because I do not intend on promising anything particular. No potholes filed in, no local GAA funding. What I do promise is that I will force the rest of Ireland to awknowledge my local constituants bravery in picking out an idealist who wants a better Ireland and who promotes a more balanced Society. It doenst mean I will neglect my duties as a local TD, I just wont spend as much time doing things a TD should not be doing and believe my constituants will benefit from a more national perspective. Hey , its wishful thinking, but I am willing to work to encourage people to vote for the right reasons . . I just consider this another form of peaceful revolution . .

Any credible, constructive advice that boardies have would be welcome. I know what I propose and post is ridiculous in comparison to the way things are normally done, but with a bit of support I know I could try to be the voice of reason and try to encourage everybody to ask more of your politician, whoever your preferance is.

I dont promote any party and I dont propose any particular agenda other then people asking more of their politician in the national interest. I believe this will lead to collective prosperity. That is my simple agenda.

If you are interested PM me or reply here . . I have no website, no facebook or twitter (cant use either to be honest), I just want to be able to do something and at least say that I tried . .

SkepticOne

I hope there's more independents such as yourself going forward to break the political mold.

I have a quick question. You say:

"What I do promise is that I will force the rest of Ireland to awknowledge my local constituants bravery in picking out an idealist who wants a better Ireland and who promotes a more balanced Society. It doenst mean I will neglect my duties as a local TD, I just wont spend as much time doing things a TD should not be doing and believe my constituants will benefit from a more national perspective."

Ok so you won't be doing so much of the getting pot holes fixed type of thing which is great. However what specifically are the things that you will do that will benefit your constituents from a national perspective?

What do you think the government should be doing? On the current issue of the IMF/EU bailout, what do you think should be the government's stance? Where do you stand on the issue of a debt-for-equity swap for the banks?

These are some the things I would ask a candidate at the moment if there was an election right now.

Drumpot

SkepticOne wrote: »

I hope there's more independents such as yourself going forward to break the political mold.

I have a quick question. You say:

"What I do promise is that I will force the rest of Ireland to awknowledge my local constituants bravery in picking out an idealist who wants a better Ireland and who promotes a more balanced Society. It doenst mean I will neglect my duties as a local TD, I just wont spend as much time doing things a TD should not be doing and believe my constituants will benefit from a more national perspective."

Ok so you won't be doing so much of the getting pot holes fixed type of thing which is great. However what specifically are the things that you will do that will benefit your constituents from a national perspective?

What do you think the government should be doing? On the current issue of the IMF/EU bailout, what do you think should be the government's stance? Where do you stand on the issue of a debt-for-equity swap for the banks?

These are some the things I would ask a candidate at the moment if there was an election right now.

Brilliant . . Ask ask ask . .

Firstly . . To completely shatter your confidence in me from a normal electorate perspecttive. I honestly dont have a definitive or completely correct answer to your question and I wont pretend to.

However, if you are asking my opinion based on being an outside observer, I can only discuss what I have seen and what is the general consensus ( I dont claim this is 100% Accurate!).

It seems that most believe that we should negotiate this bailout. Now, despite my own reservations about why the EU/IMF intervention is happening, I believe that even if its about their own self preservation, that they would not have any interest in pushing us down the route of economic junkyard (ie. hobble on for decades). If this problem has shown us nothing else, even a small country like Ireland suffering can make the whole EU suffer!

I am making a judgement call and saying that I believe they will charge us a decent rate and will hope , as much as we do, that we can get out of this and pay back what we borrow.

In terms of alternatives, I admit I am at a loss at to what exactly the "tv commentators" think we can do by not accepting some sort of bailout. With no soverign creditibility (ie by defaulting) , I dont see who will loan us money for at least a couple of years, so while this sounds like a nice alternative, I am yet to see the projected "aftermath" of a default. Yes, we will always hear populist examples of countries that managed to get by, but none of them will have the same connection that we have with the EU/GB and we will seldom hear the negatives of decisional default. And theres the added problem, would you do business or invest in Ireland if they screwed you over ? Im not saying this is definitive, but its hard to quantify when judging the costs in defaulting. .

So, in truth, because I cant comment directly on what is going on I can only speculate. The fact that the majority of economic commentators (and friends whom I have outside Ireland with specific Financial Experience in this area) are as much hoping as they are advising that we should accept this bailout and get this budget (that can be negotiated so its really just a PR thing) through, I feel we should trust our EU partners and try to work towards sustaining a stable environment in Europe.

In terms of "debt for equity" I have to first confirm that I would be one of the beneficiaries of any policy for this. My mortgage is 290k and I would guess my house is worth around half this. I am asking you to trust that I am making the following proposal with no personal agenda (ask away if you feel I am disingenuine).

Now that thats out of the way, I think its short minded to leave people in negative equity in the lurch for several reasons. On a social level its not actually fair when you consider that something like 50% of the cost of houses went to the government in some form during the boom (wages to build, goods, property etc), but on a financial level the state owns most of the banks and people who cannot afford to pay their mortgages serves no greater good in terms of taking their houses back and saddling them with loans they have no motive to payback (even if jail is threatened). I think debt for equity is fine once proper projections are used to benefit the houseowner and the taxpayer as in many instances governments can make rash decisions for quickfix savings that cost them more in the long term. People should have the appropriate encouragements to pay all monies back and banks should likewise have similar encouragement to work with house owners to help them afford repayments.

The next retort I have for people who support my princpled suggestion is "how will we fund such a suggestion when we are barely able to keep things going and get loans as is" is that we would have to negotiate this ideal. This is certainly a political stance to take on an economic principle proposed, but I think it makes sense to everybody concerned to work something out rather then the usual hold hands over eyes and hope problem goes away of usual governments.

In terms of "what will we get out of this" from a constituants point of view, my whole policy is very qualifiable. If Ireland is doing well, my constituancy will do well . . I know this is a leap of faith and I know my candicacy would be based on trusting the people to make the right call, but I am that confident that with the right backing I could convince the people that this is best for everybody. .

People are lacking in leadership and with nothing to lose and a moral policy to take forward, I feel that people would be able to vote for me in confidence (or the alternative after definitively giving them the once over) and that either way our country would be at the very least slightly better off . .

Hope this answers your initial questions. Ask me more if you wish. I dont expect to have answers to everything, but I will try . .

SkepticOne

In the current context what people generally mean by debt for equity swap is the process where debt owed to bond holders is exchanged for equity in the banks. It is a way of getting bond holders to take some of the hit. Where do you stand on that? Do you think that tax payers in Ireland should be liable for decisions banks made?

Drumpot

SkepticOne wrote: »

In the current context what people generally mean by debt for equity swap is the process where debt owed to bond holders is exchanged for equity in the banks. It is a way of getting bond holders to take some of the hit. Where do you stand on that? Do you think that tax payers in Ireland should be liable for decisions banks made?

Do I think that Tax payers in Ireland should be liable for the decisions banks made ? Of course not , but thats too simplistic and populist to be final . .

I was talking with a friend who works for the central bank of Ireland earlier (I couldnt make this up if I wanted to), about this exact point. We had been arguing up until now because he felt I thought we were all responsible for this mess so I felt that we should all pay for it. .

No .

I think we all had a role to play in what has happened. I dont think that the state should pay for the banks liabilities, not in any way.

However, like I stated (edited in many forms) in my previous post, we have to work out exactly (or at least in the region) how much it would cost us in future investment if we did or didnt guarantee it. We should not be responsible for the investments of bondholders, however in capitalism it seems you cannot simply let private entities as big as banks fail (or so we are told). Put simply, while we shouldnt be responsible for the debt, can we afford to ignore the rest of our business partners ? (I am asking not confirming either way).

I will stand corrected but as far as I know we are talking about burning German/French etc bondholders. These are the same people offering to bail us out . .

Now, we can refuse the bailout and let things go to the wall. I am not sure what exactly this will benefit us in the long run and I am not being sarcastic when I ask you what you think/know. I will stand corrected and protest that these are all my views.

I am not proposing to stand as an economist, I am proposing to stand as somebody looking to push moral and principled policies.

I think what you are asking in some way is what can I do as an individual candidate in a sea of sharks to protect the taxpayer ?

Fair question and the truth is that I dont know for sure until I get into the corridors but thats not really my main aim. At worst if I can only educate people into voting for a better candidate (not necessarily me), I will of achieved something. At best I can use my position of independence to make it as difficult as possible for the usual suspects to enjoy a peaceful 5 years. I wont accept any sh*t of the usual TD stance if I get into government (FG.Lab) as I work for myself and I am used to standing up to people who have think they are above their status.