Which Irish political party would you like to see in a new government?

I'm the very one who, last time round, argued that if you didn't vote, so too did you lose your right to moan about who was in power; that if you didn't exercise your choice, you had no right to complain about the choices of others.

But now, honestly, I too am in the "I don't plan on voting " category now. The options are horrendous. It's not even a case of picking the lesser of the evils, since I simply cannot trust any of the parties any more. FG have simply betrayed every promise they've ever made and sold me down the river, a selling process started by FF. Labour are non-existant. I don't trust Sinn Fein, since my problem isn't with democracy, it's with the options, and I see SF as too radical and a trip too far down the other direction. And I don't believe Indys can do absolutely anything to make any differences in the short or long term. If asked to vote based on who will **** up the country the least, I can't, since I believe they'll all do damage on equal levels.

As for the "Why don't you run yourself" nonsense, I equate that with the people who ask Simon Cowell if he can sing when he says they can't; just because I can sit here and identify what makes a bad politician does not mean I'm claiming to be a good one myself. I don't have alternatives and won't be trying to engage in sweeping rhetoric to make myself look smart (i.e. "We need more businessmen and less teachers!" :rolleyes:). I don't have the nessecary set of skills, contacts or money to become a politician. But that shouldn't mean I don't get to say how worried I am over the useless options being presented...

OCorcrainn wrote: »

I'm curious. For the people who will not vote Sinn Féin, would you vote for them if there was a leadership change? Also, why do some people think they are too radical, what policies do you feel are too radical?

I argued this back at the presidential election, and was roared down by some SFers, but my answer to that question is probably. It would remove one of the biggest problems I have with the party, namely that while they say they've "moved on", the public face of the party is one which has huge historical significance to what the party once "was".

If they removed the likes of Gerry Adams and them, or even just moved them into behind-the-scenes advisory roles, it would go a long way to making them more generally accepted by the public I think. Find a member who is younger and has a more relevant background to the current problems the country faces and who doesn't have ties to the past, and make him the newer face of the party. Genuinely "move on".

And as was said above, it's more of a populist problem than a radical problem nowadays, I'd agree with that. The idea that they say stuff like "More jobs", "less money for banks" and the likes, and that while all that sounds good, it's not policy I'd actually put into power. They're great ones for saying what they'd do, but not how they'd do it, and worse, when you point that out, can get quite snotty about that lack of concrete policy as well.

(None of that, mind, is saying the other parties actually have concrete policies as well; any government who says "We'll create jobs" instantly loses my vote, since it's a promise that they don't, won't and can't keep).

I will say this; a few weeks back, when the whole CP2 fiasco was starting, I sent an e-mail round to all my local TDs, including Gerry himself. Of the five, only two replied back. FF and Labour blanked me. O'Dowd of FG sent me a reply but it was basically a letter telling me to shut up and go away. Only Gerry Adams of SF actually sent a proper message back; one where he said he agreed with my stance of how damaging a deal it was for teachers and how he was against CP2. Now, going back again, maybe if people had given out about teachers, he'd respond about how its important they take CP2, so I'm not necessarily swayed by the fact he told me (in a well written and researched manner) what I wanted to hear.

BUT at least Sinn Fein had the decency to respond back to my message and acknowledge me as a voter in that constituency.