Why I won't be voting for Labour

Permabear

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PeterIanStaker

Pal wrote: »

FG for me this time. Never voted for them before but will now. A one party overall majority is what I think the country needs.

I'm tending towards this line of thought myself - if FF are annihilated, and I stress if (there are still a lot of FF hicks out there *shudder*), then there might by some chance be a Dáil with a left/right divide instead of two Civil War parties.

^
above is a hypothetical situation - don't attack me because I'm theorising or brainstorming, please.

Killer Pigeon

Pal wrote: »

I won't be voting Labour because ;

They have vested interest in the trade unions.
They are socialists but pretend that they are not.
Joan Burton is obnoxious, ignorant on finance and cannot conduct herself in a manner worthy of being a public representative.
Eamon Gilmore is peddling a lie about how he will renegotiate the bailout terms.
They state openly that they will further tax earners over 100k

FG for me this time. Never voted for them before but will now. A one party overall majority is what I think the country needs.

1. Not everyone in Labour thinks the present state of the trade unions is acceptable. Obviously corruption can happen in all areas of society and the unions are no exception to this, there needs to be a reform of the unions. However the unions have played a very important role in improving working conditions in Ireland over the years and we must not forget this.

2. Labour don't cover up the fact that they are socialists. They describe themselves as democratic socialists. There's no cover up, this is old news.

3. Joan Burton's behaviour lately on TV is obviously questionable but I honestly don't think that this will inhibit her ability to work as a good minister for Finance. Also, Fine Gael's finance spokesperson on finance has a lot less experience in that area than Burton. Joan Burton is an accountant and former lecturer, Michael Noonan is a school teacher. Also Michael Noonan isn't at all charismatic, neither in Enda Kenny in my opinion.

4. You say that "Eamon Gilmore is peddling a lie about how he will renegotiate the bailout terms", yet Fine Gael share the exact same sentiment and rhetoric in relation to the IMF/EU bailout as Labour do. How can you be sure that Enda is not also "peddling a lie"?

5. "They state openly that they will further tax earners over 100k", many people who earn those sort of figures are also business owners and are open to substantial tax reliefs. Due to this, many struggling lower income earners pay just as much in tax as many higher income earners. There needs to be some sort of compromise.

d'Oracle

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

The key point here is that someone can be a socialist without being a raving communist dictator. (Despite the implication everytime the labour party is mentioned in this country)

I am a socialist, but I am not opposed to capitalism. Imagine that.

d'Oracle

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

2. Labour don't cover up the fact that they are socialists. They describe themselves as democratic socialists. There's no cover up, this is old news.

.

Social Democrats.
There is a difference.

The Volt

d'Oracle wrote: »

Social Democrats.
There is a difference.

There are socialists within the Party and supporters who consider themselves socialists, me included. The term 'socialist' is a broad one and for the case of people in Labour, the term socialist comes with a fundamental belief in democracy.

unknown13

I won't be voting for them for a number of reasons.

1. They aren't big enough to lead the Government.

2.Them and Fine Gael seem to clash on a lot of policies.

3. Joan Burton