Useless local TD vs national goals

mikemac

I'm deliberately not mentioning parties here

My question is what do you do when you admire a party leader and their party but think your local TD is useless.

A complete anonymous backbencher who does nothing but votes with the party whip. And you can think of a number of local councillors who can do a better job in the Dáil if they got selected.
And if it wasn't for the fact that one party was toxic this TD would probably fail to get elected.

Join the party and try to influence things? Probably too late now as selection committees are held.

What do you do?

bluecatmorgana

I know where you are coming from. I believe that the only politicans that can make a difference are the ones in ministries, and the leaders. Apart from that they are just puppets. So to answer your question I am starting to come around to the idea of voting for the party who has the policies I want and who I think can get the job done. Its sad I know but I think its the nearest thing to improvement.

serfboard

Well, IMO, you have to vote for him/her. It's about time that we realised in this country that we are voting for a national parliament implementing national policies - not a collection of individuals who are good at getting things "for this area". Thinking like that has got us into this mess.

In every organisation you will find individuals who are not so good. That doesn't take away from the organisation itself. They may have made a mistake with a certain candidate, but you have to say that in general you like what they do. This candidate probably stuffed the convention with their own supporters, and that's why they got selected.

Of course, if the party is running two candidates (doesn't sound like it from what you say), then you could put the useless one second.

gandalf

serfboard wrote: »

Well, IMO, you have to vote for him/her. It's about time that we realised in this country that we are voting for a national parliament implementing national policies - not a collection of individuals who are good at getting things "for this area". Thinking like that has got us into this mess.

Bang on, anyone voting for a national representative based on local issues is doing their country a major disservice.

mikemac

gandalf wrote: »

Bang on, anyone voting for a national representative based on local issues is doing their country a major disservice.

But then I didn't post that they were poor on local issues, I posted they were an anonymous backbencher.
That's national issues

geeky

feelingstressed wrote: »

I'm deliberately not mentioning parties here

My question is what do you do when you admire a party leader and their party but think your local TD is useless.

A complete anonymous backbencher who does nothing but votes with the party whip. And you can think of a number of local councillors who can do a better job in the Dáil if they got selected.
And if it wasn't for the fact that one party was toxic this TD would probably fail to get elected.

Join the party and try to influence things? Probably too late now as selection committees are held.

What do you do?

Very interesting thread.

I'd say, if voting is all you're willing/able to commit to, you should vote for the local non-entity: at the moment, we need a government rather than a bunch of talented backbenchers, and your vote will indirectly do more good.

In the longer term, I'd say join the party, either with a view to putting yourself forward or (more likely) getting behind someone who'd make a good TD. If the non-entity holds his/her seat comfortably this time around, it'll be hard to argue against having a running mate in the next election....

irishh_bob

feelingstressed wrote: »

I'm deliberately not mentioning parties here

My question is what do you do when you admire a party leader and their party but think your local TD is useless.

A complete anonymous backbencher who does nothing but votes with the party whip. And you can think of a number of local councillors who can do a better job in the Dáil if they got selected.
And if it wasn't for the fact that one party was toxic this TD would probably fail to get elected.

Join the party and try to influence things? Probably too late now as selection committees are held.

What do you do?

my local FG TD is a complete and utter parish pump epitome of mediocrity populist where as the local FF TD is a bright articulate and very capable forward thinking individual , luckily FG have a very capable counscellor on the ticket

not sure if you can limit your vote to one caditiate ?

geeky

irishh_bob wrote: »

my local FG TD is a complete and utter parish pump epitome of mediocrity populist where as the local FF TD is a bright articulate and very capable forward thinking individual , luckily FG have a very capable counscellor on the ticket

not sure if you can limit your vote to one caditiate ?

That's a toughy!

yes you can, just put the capable councillor number 1 and don't give the waste-of-space your number 2.

Pete_Cavan

feelingstressed wrote: »

But then I didn't post that they were poor on local issues, I posted they were an anonymous backbencher.
That's national issues

But OP, if you are in favour of that parties policies then you have to vote for the anonymous backbencher because his/her votes in the Dail (if that party gets into government) will help implement the policies you are in favour of. If the party fails to get into government than the person you helped elect is one less vote for a government you dont support and one more vote for the opposition.

Also it is possible that that anonymous backbencher will some day become a minister after having served his/her time as a backbencher.

My advice to everyone is just to vote for the party whose national policy you support, democracy (or at least our warped form of it) will take care of the rest.

Pete_Cavan

geeky wrote: »

yes you can, just put the capable councillor number 1 and don't give the waste-of-space your number 2.

I will actually be giving my number 1 to the "waste-of-space" candidate of the party I want to see in government. They have one candidate guaranteed to get in so they can have my number 2. The other candidate needs the 1s more and with a bit of luck the party I am supporting will get two seats here.