What Party would you vote for?

Digital Tilmitt

You all know that I'd vote for the Communist Party of Ireland (If I could!) but who would you guys vote for and why?

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'My Hardcore Title!' - Bounty Hunter

'Shoo, get away you dirty Oglop!' - Father of Boy in Treno - Proir to Card tournament - FF9

Magwitch

Communists = (Workers party and Socialist Worker) have ties to the origional IRA (pre provo) and all that Marxist baggage (never a fan of Cahal Goulding an co.), plus they are naive dinosaurs = NO CHANCE

FF = opposite to them but would not get my vote because of their staggering arrogence, fear about their actions when the tribunals conclude and decision is required, their division and ineptitude on NICE, Transport, Law and order etc = NO

FG = Used to vote for Fitzgerald, he was at least honest, if a bungler. But too disorganised and without any real bite or message = NO

Green = speaks for itself = NO WAY

Lab = Has to be , I like Quinn and DeRossa. They are honest and seem to believe in reform and controling rampant greed = YES

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Keep your powder dry and your pants moist

smoke.me.a.kipper

i'd vote independant.

or for the birthday party.

Digital Tilmitt

Labour are quite a decent party and I'm glad to see you support them, They are definetly better then FF and FG.

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'My Hardcore Title!' - Bounty Hunter

'Shoo, get away you dirty Oglop!' - Father of Boy in Treno - Proir to Card tournament - FF9

Belisarius

Id class myself a Labour Voter aswell , though I usually revert to tactical voting and go for FG , crawl before you can walk . Also the greens arent the worst but a bit too wishywashy

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Shrewgar!

chernobyl

"To vote" or "not to vote" a question i have never pondered, and will never bother.

androphobic

I'd vote for the person, as opposed to the party.

Magwitch

but the person must subscribe to the ethos of a party....

Celt

To say any of the big parties is much better or worse than any other, is stupid imho.

C B

There is currently no party in Ireland which even nearly represents my world view. If I were in the UK I would vote (and probably join) the Liberal Democrats. I would like to see a party which believed primiraly in the liberty of the citizenry, while recognoising the need to positivly promote the liberty of certain members of society through universal healthcare and education that is universally good.

After the next general i would like to see a Fine Gael/ Labour coalition. In my constituency (Dublin Mid_West) i will vote as follows.
1. Paul Gogarty (Green)
2. J. Tutty (Labour)
3. A Currie (FG)

JustHalf

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Magwitch:
but the person must subscribe to the ethos of a party....</font>

Which surely is contrary to their portfolio... or at least a conflict of interests. Who will they represent more, their party or their constituency.

Victor

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Magwitch:
Lab = Has to be , I like Quinn and DeRossa. They are honest and seem to believe in reform and controling rampant greed = YES
</font>

... so they can control everything (see Quinn's business and family links).

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Changing call sign to SIERRA PAPA OSCAR OSCAR FOXTROT.

Figment

green

amp

Green - first preference cos they actually seem to believe in something.

Labour - second preference cos they're the lesser of three evils. And as far as corruption and scandal are concerned they either haven't been involved in any or just are very good at not getting caught.

As for the rest:
FF - Corruption ridden arrogant tossers.
FG - Corruption ridden arrogant losers.
PD - HAHAhahahaAHAHAHAha, gwan back to FF you silly people.

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Lunacy Abounds! GLminesweeper RO><ORS!
art is everything and of course nothing and possibly also a sausage

Manach

My vote w'd usually go to FF due to the purity of their beliefs (ie the unabashed pursuit of power & money). All bets are off though regarding referendums.

My ideal party would the one with the platform of "Nuke the unborn euro whales for Jesus" .

Excelsior

Manach- you are a genius.
I would love to be able to vote for them.

As it is I am a Green voter and would consider voting Sinn Féin aswell.

Labour, FG, FF, PDs are all in the same boat if you ask me.


And I would love if we had a party that reflected the Liberal Democrats. There is nothing in their manifesto that I have a difficulty with, and much that I fervently support.

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Excelsior
=Consto Suffragium Cussu Famina=

bugler

If Labour are less corrupt than either FF or FG then it is because they haven't had the same opportunity to exploit power that they have had.Bunch of dinner table socialists.At Societies day in college last year I saw the Labour Youth stand.It had posters of Che Guevara up.I smiled, briefly thought about engaging the people sitting there in conversation, then walked off shaking my head.

Speaking of links to the republican movement, a shiny penny(cent) goes to whoever knows the answer to this: What illegal paramilitary group was Proinsias De Rossa a member of?

[This message has been edited by bugler (edited 23-06-2001).]

Keeks

The Monster Raving Loony Party of course.

On the serious side, I don't vote for political parties. I vote for the person with the same agenda as mine. The person who is going to represent my views, being my voice in whatever they are being elected to, be it The Dail, EU parliment or the local gaa club.

Just to let u know the Political party i have the most respect for at the moment is SF for much the same reson as amp has for the greens. The Greens for me seem to be very much one track minded and not very open minded. SF on the other hand have an agenda, but still have comprimised and relised it will take time for there goals (if ever) to be achieved.

lampsie

If I ever bothered to vote, I'd probably go for a Choice Party candidate (although they are pretty few and far between). Frankly, the thoughts of having a Toiseach called Ming the Merciless is alluring.

Lamps.

Digital Tilmitt

The Liberal Democrats rule. Besides Communism they are the best thing going.

I'm surprised their aren't any ranting corrupt Capitalist suporters of FF here since they are the most Popular.

I can't wait to be 18 so I can join the Communist Party and Enlighten all of you!

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'My Hardcore Title!' - Bounty Hunter

'Shoo, get away you dirty Oglop!' - Father of Boy in Treno - Proir to Card tournament - FF9

bugler

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Digital Tilmitt:
I can't wait to be 18 so I can join the Communist Party and Enlighten all of you!
</font>

Enlighten us by doing what? Voting?

Gerry

I'd vote for sinn fein, I think with a few delegates in the dáil, they could work well. They seem to get results in the constituencies which they concentrate on. I'm not so sure I'd like to see them in power with their old-style socialist ideas, but perhaps they will change their views as they get more power.

I am convinced though that a vote for sinn féin is a vote for peace, and not for the armalite. I also think they seem a lot more enthusiastic, and less corrupt than any of the mainstream parties.

GreenHell

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Digital Tilmitt:


I'm surprised their aren't any ranting corrupt Capitalist suporters of FF here since they are the most Popular.

</font>

*meep*

Manach

It is with malicous glee I must point out that the "Liberal Democrats" is the party name of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, everyone's favourite Russian, after that great communist Stalin.

Bard

Ever read the Adrian Mole Diaries? How about voting for the "Send 'em all back where they came from" party?... would reduce the population of the UK to approximately one, apparently.

... then we invade!

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Bard

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Fatter, happier, more productive.

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 27-06-2001).]

Digital Tilmitt

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by bugler:
Enlighten us by doing what? Voting? </font>

By Using huge Propaganda to turn you to the side of GOOD(Communist).

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'My Hardcore Title!' - Bounty Hunter

'One day I will be Tánaiste, but I will always be myself' - Digital Tilmitt/Princess Garnet.

GreenHell

And would your "good" propoganda actaully explain why we should vote communist.

bugler

I don't think you have to be 18 to use propaganda, even if it is 'huge'. Anyway, please drop the communist infatuation, it's quite laughable

Digital Tilmitt

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by bugler:
I don't think you have to be 18 to use propaganda, even if it is 'huge'. Anyway, please drop the communist infatuation, it's quite laughable </font>

Yes but when I'm 18 I'll be abel to join the Communist Party and use there money for Propaganda.

I won't shut up about Communism cause I believe in it. Laugh all you like......

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'My Hardcore Title!' - Bounty Hunter

'One day I will be Tánaiste, but I will always be myself' - Digital Tilmitt/Princess Garnet.

bugler

Oh good god

Are you ok? Delusions of grandeur? How big is the Irish Communist party DT? And does it have lots of money to give you (just some punter off the street) for 'propaganda'?

I will laugh

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

bonkey

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by daveirl:
A vote for Sinn Féin is a vote against the Irish constitution </font>

Could you explain that please?

I'm not sure if you mean that they disagree with the consitution and therefore are wrong. If you do, I'm still confused because I seem to recall most political parties backing consitiutional change of one form or another in the past.

Conversely, if they themselves are unconstitutional, I believe they would be ineligible to run for government?

jc

C B

Sinn Fein do not accept the legitimacy of Eire.

Did you ever hear of a little incident called the civil war?

The following extract would also present a diffiulty for them.

ARTICLE 15 Paragraph 6

1° The right to raise and maintain military or armed forces is vested exclusively in the Oireachtas.

2° No military or armed force, other than a
military or armed force raised and maintained by the Oireachtas, shall be raised or maintained for any purpose whatsoever.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

bugler

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by daveirl:
First of all I'm not a Marxist so that rules them out for me and besides that, they are the IRA people</font>

Is this faux ignorance or are you really that clueless? I'd love to see your result from here www.politicalcompass.org

It might directly refer to you as 'Maggie'.

entropi

Either S.F. or ....wait no-one else, fook all the others.

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"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

bugler

You can't base any voting decision completely on one side of a party, however unappealing it may be. In every conflict, you have atrocities, almost without exception.To use this an excuse for not voting for a particular party is fine, but the sheer amount it would rule out would be massive.Post Indepedence War you wouldn't have been able to vote for any party!

Sinn Féins Marxist links were very much severed with the split between the Official and Provisional IRA, and Sinn Féin itself. In the IRA volunteers handbook (Green book) it is made quite clear that any volunteer who spreads or propogates Marxist or Capitalist ideals/propaganda will be discharged from service, etc.This would of course be keeping in line with standard military procedure.Sinn Feín is left wing, it seems more stark now seen as practically all parties have seemingly slid to the right.

Put simply, do you have to be a Marxist do vote for SF? No. Marxists might vote for the IRSP

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

bugler

Yes Hitler did have great policies.If your trying to make a comparison though,it is quite ridiculous. Maybe I should clarify, I was referring to discounting voting for SF on the basis of one aspect of theirs.Personal morals are a different thing.Someone could quite clinically and cold heartedly make a case for voting for a cruel murderous regime provided they liked/approved of their other methods, and thought these to be all important.Fascism does not equal Nazism.Fascism does not hold killing of jews as a core principle.If you want to get bogged down in semantics then fine. If you rule out voting for a party unconditionally on the basis of one factor then you are being reactionary and narrow minded.Saying you could never vote for SF is mildly sad.What if their policies were significantly better on all matters than any other party (in theory) and you had no doubt that they would do the best for the country? Would you still vote for a less well equipped or suited party? Would you like to be a contributing factor to the inefficient running of the country? Such talk is the stuff of rabid anti-republicans, who whenever SF are mentioned,instead of actually dealing with SF the party, deal with SF- the IRA's partner, and get up on their anti-terrorism high horse.

Like it or not, SF are losing the tag you like to place on them.If their policies and views concur with mine (and lets face it, on some matters such as refugees etc SF are a damn lot more humanitarian than our other oh so civilised parties) then I for one wish them all the luck they need.Who you vote for and the reasons for doing so are your own, try however, not to cut off the nose to spite the face.

R. Daneel Olivaw

I am thinking of starting my own party, and calling it "Democratic Right". Doctors would only have to work for at most 12 hours straight and actually get paid for overtime. Teachers would get overtime equivalent for extra-curricular supervision.

VRT would be reduced to 10%, and extra money would be made by marginally increasing business and corporation tax to say 15-20%, still undercutting the rest of the EU.

None of the parties in Ireland are in any way attractive to me. I would end tribunals and just send them to court because it costs as much money for all the legal hassle that the guys stole in the first place (or whatever they did).

Guns would be legalised and trespassers would be prosecuted with extreme prejudice. "Travellers" (the nomadic tribes that wander our countryside) would have to pay to park on the roadside. Heck, why not charge them £1 an hour like it is in Dublin city-centre.

Gardai would be armed. This Guardian of the Peace crap does not have proper authority or even salary. A guy robs a bank, and gardai are able to do what - "stop or I'll, eh, run after you with by baton". There should be proper criminal investigation; the Paul McQaud thing was a joke considering he was within 50 yards of the place he was last seen and it took 3 weeks to find him.

Also, politicians would be banned from canvassing for the week preceding elections, in the interest of not swaying the public vote either way.

Christ this country is a mess.

ConUladh

I intend to vote on the basis of the candidate, I'm not from Dublin so that'll take a bit of familiarisation

I've toyed with the idea of voting Sinn Fein, the reason being I think it'd be good if they had 2 or 3 TDs i.e. a presence

Don't see a whole pile of difference between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, PDs and Labour seem okay (this is without looking into things too closely you understand)

The funny thing is it seems (to me) the same in England, Tories and Labour very alike and Lib Dems look more appealing

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Omega_Weapon

Nice on, Tilmitt, your tread got plenty of hits. I'm fairly sure you know who this is. The green half of the Comi-greens.

Paleface

"The People Who Hate People Party"


"People who hate people, come together."
"No"
"Why not?"
"Are you gonna be their?"
"Yeah"
"Then I aint ****ing coming"
"Dam we almost had a meeting going"

Bill Hicks -- a legend.

Chaos-Engine

Labour Party - 1st Preference
Sinn Féin - 2nd Preference
Greens - 3rd preference

FF/FG and especially PDs are all corrupt and destructive

Xterminator

I wasn't going to post, but ...

FF would be the party of my choice.

1. For a very personal reason. When my father had been unemployed for a couple of years, and thing were dire! my father went to see Charles Haughey. He explained he was married w 5 kids, and needed a job. Charles dropped what he was doing, and marched my dad to the local police station, and asked the local seargent if my dad had a record. When he was given the all clear, C.H. started him in the civil service the next day.

2. Have the remarkable economic changes in Ireland escaped the notice of the boards? O.K. some of you seem to be teenagers who never knew differently, but i remember some ****ty times when the whole country was broke, when the debt was huge, and horrble budget deficts meant cuts in things that would be unthinkable now. Since FF have been in power most of the time, i give them most of the credit.

3. All partys have ideals. But when in power you need to balance what you can achieve agains what you want to achieve. If you attempt too much too soon, things get worse. if you make a change (meaning for the best) it can have unforseen consequences. i believe in the ideals espoused by FF. I also hear some good ideals by FG, Labour and S.F. and even the PDs hsve some good ideas. But you need to ask yourself what would happen if X party held the balance of power etc. those inclusive society , free 3rd level education, and 1 tier healthcare would bankrupt us as fast as a taco kebab falls apart!

4. Bertie Ahern.

He'd never take a bung. Anyone who wore anoraks like that, while a member of the front bench, doesn't worry about the finer things in life. When he met Clinton, his idea of a great time was to bring him to his local for a pint!

His passion for sports mirrors mine. I just wish i could get some of the tickets he gets! GAA, Soccer (though i'm no fan of ManU) Rugby .. he genuinely loves it. And it was funny watching him comment on the footie with Eamonn Dunphy and co. Just wish the called him bertie, not Taoiseach!

The stick the chap gets from all quarters e.g. Comedians. He is mocked mercilessly, yet he takes it all in good nature. He does not get upset, or change his ways. in fact i bet he has a chuckle at it too.

Thats just a quick summary of why i vote for a party i think can keep the country on the right path, though if they'd force eircom to give affordable ADSL I'd be even more impressed.

X

Aspro

I'm ashamed of you people. So far, every party in the Dail including independents and British parties have been mentioned except for the only party which has done anything to ease the lives of ordinary people through their consistent campaigning and community work - the Socialist Party, (T.D. Joe Higgins, Dublin West). Forget the Communist Party and Socialist Workers - this is the party that led the biggest campaign of civil disobedience in the state ever - the Anti Water Charges Campaign and defeated the government in trying to impose unjust taxes on ordinary people while the rich got away with their Ansbacher accounts. This is the party that is fighting on the ground every day against racism, exploitation, for womens rights and workers rights in general. If people ever want to see any change in our society this is the party you should be looking at.

TheAuditor

How can you vote for Sinn Fein, given that they are armed to the teeth and following the horrific events in the US what the world needs is peace and disarmament. My vote goes to the PDs, you may criticise them but at least they have the guts to admit their policies, even when some of them clearly cost them votes. Honesty is what swings my vote, not terror.

As regards Bugler, I'd like to hear what he thinks of the people they kneecap regularly in the North of Ireland - would you like the Gardai to adopt their "methods"?

I vote for democracy, not people who admit that they want a ONE-PARTY socialist Ireland.:mad:

TheAuditor

Dangers of terrorism
Statement by Desmond O'Malley TD,
Limerick East

"Yesterday's horrific and unspeakably awful events in the United States should serve to remind us of the dangers of terrorism in all parts of the world, including our own. I am concerned that for some time now the Irish and British Governments have appeared to take an attitude of appeasement towards those who have been involved in terrorism on this island.


Appeasing such people can be a very dangerous course. Why should there continue to be such a close relationship with Sinn Fein, which is simply the other face of the IRA, when, several years after the Good Friday Agreement, they have still refused to give up their arms or the several tons of Semtex which they still possess? If they are a democratic party, anxious to participate in the democratic process only, why do they retain these arms and these deadly offensive explosives? Why do they maintain their own private army?

We should not forget that they obtained much of these arms and explosives from Colonel Gadaffi of Libya who still remains an international pariah, and who is notorious for his opposition to the United States as was demonstrated by one of his employees blowing up the Pan American aircraft over Lockerbie. Sinn Fein/IRA still maintains links with terrorist organisations such as FARC in Colombia and ETA in Spain. Up to very recently they had a resident official representative in Cuba. They appear to be still in the market in eastern Europe or elsewhere for the purchase of arms and explosives. One has to ask why.

In Ireland they are involved in various criminal rackets, with an on-going involvement in the drugs trade and in different protection rackets.

Notwithstanding all this their representatives are received by senior Government representatives from time to time in Dublin, London and Washington. One has to ask why?

They appear to have large funds at their disposal as is evidenced by their opening of numerous full time staffed offices in various constituencies. They aspire to form part of the next Irish Government.

No doubt there will be calls in the next few days and few weeks for heightened and enhanced international co-operation against terrorism and against those who would facilitate terrorism. No doubt the Irish and British governments will fully subscribe to these sentiments but I think they would be well advised to start by taking a much less tolerant attitude to the representatives of terrorism in these islands."

Aspro

Ironic that - Des O'Malley coming out all high and mighty about terrorism when his party - the Progressive Democrats' - their economic policies have been terrorising ordinary people for the last 5 years with their partners in crime Fianna Fail. Pathetic minimum wage, partnership agreements and all the other trappings of Thatcherism.