Rulers & Elite of Ireland defend the system.

Friday April 18, 2003 16:05

by Limerick Lady

. . . maybe trying to be invited to Bilderberg;-)

The piece below is the editorial from the Limerick Leader of March 29th most probably written by the editor Brendan Halligan. The sentiments expressed correspond with the views he espouses week in week out in the "lader". Its classic neo conservatism and the first so public defence I have seen of the system. All he has left out is his opinion on the use of force to en-force it. If you email him he is not adverse to commenting on the views expressed in the paper once they are well articulated. Brendan Halligan, Editor Limerick Leader, O'Connell St., Limerick. 061 214500 bhalligan@limerick-leader.ie

Democracy?

DEMONSTRATIONS may be dwindling but here in the Mid-West, so heavily dependent on Shannon, many people still oppose the refuelling of American military traffic at the airport. Meanwhile, straw polls nationwide reportedly confirm that most citizens take a similar stance. So, the protestors argue, the Government should ban the flights.

After all, that's only democracy, isn't it? And everybody's in favour of democracy, aren't they? Well, No and No.

Democracy doesn't mean rule by opinion poll or any other such measure of the mood swings of the public. It is a system in which citizens delegate authority to elected representatives. Citizens hire and fire their deputies not as the mood swing takes them but through periodic elections--otherwise the process of government would be so unstable as to make governance impracticable.

This doesn't mean, of course, that democracy begins and ends at election time. In between elections the citizen doesn't have the power to dictate but does have the right to influence. In the modern world this freedom of expression is properly most-widely exercised not in mass demonstrations or public meetings but through the media.

So the media in a democracy must not only reflect the full range of public opinion but also fully inform it. Much is made of the need for diversity of media ownership. Much less is made of need for diversity of policy in the media.

The national media neither fully reflects nor fully informs the wide range of public opinion in the Shannon controversy, for example. Almost without exception the national newspapers are against the GI flights.

So what else is new? On issue after issue for a generation or more there has been a media consensus more or less on the main issues, from the liberal agenda to Nice to Iraq. This does not mean that the continuing consensus is necessarily mistaken; merely that, centred broadly-speaking on the one politically-correct worldview, it tends to exclude the adequate expression of alternative perspectives.

This tendency is particular worrying when the culprit is the nation's public service broadcaster. RTÉs reporters on the ground in the Iraq region are providing heroic service out there but over here the overall war programming, both in general tone and in the composition of its discussion panels, is often in effect anti-Bush and anti-Blair if not exactly pro-Saddam. The bias is not just bad in itself: is self-evidently unhealthy for democracy.

But let's not "blame it all on the media." Democracy's ills run far deeper. The corrosive scepticism and cynicism which surround politics are created mainly by politicians themselves. Nor in this respect is the corruption, repeatedly exposed by tribunal their only failing.

It is only the most obvious. But even incorruptible politicians can, albeit unwittingly, undermine democracy. They can make false promises at the hustings or they can--as in the case of the Shannon controversy--refuse to condemn violent protests.

In a democracy the right to protest is sacred but so is the rule of law. Protests should therefore take place only within the law. Street politics or worse--trespass, assault and sabotage--is no substitute for constitutional politics.

On the contrary, history teaches us it can be the prelude to tyranny, whether of Left or Right. Only an alarmist would suggest that we have now reached such a crisis. Only a fool, however, would ignore the early warning signs of real and present danger to our democracy.

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Comments (5 of 5)

Democracy

by Cormac

Sun Apr 20, 2003 22:53

You will notice in my post that I mentioned the words 'Citizen Population.' Being well aware of the slavery etc. in the Greek city-states, I made sure to include this so I could make the distinction that only those considering citizens of Athens had the voting right. This excludes the slaves and all those others not considered Athenian citizens.
Therefore, as far as the citizens of Athens were concerned, they did have a democracy, where the recognised population voted on the issues of the day. However, I would make no argument that it isn't a true democracy, which is why I included the phrase "Even that is debateable".
What I will say is that they had a good idea, but of course it would need to extend to all sections of their society to get near the concept of true democracy.
So no need for despair.
And for the record, I'm an Anarchist, although I do think that an Anarchist society could benificially include some of the ideas of the true democracy concept, in fact I think it would be a necessity.

Isiphi, why do you have to insult?

by Josef

Sun Apr 20, 2003 21:45

Unprovoked? It's anarchy I tell you! Helots will always be helots.

the ancient hellenic republics to which Cormac refers

by ipsiphi

Sat Apr 19, 2003 16:18

of course were several city states ranging from the small but not tincy Sparta to the great Athena.
The voting rights within these states were confined to Men, who owned property.
Property included slaves, concubines and wives.

Such "democracy" is directly comparable to the Republic declared by Washington and Franklin themselves slave owners, who also saw their wives as chattels as well.

anyway, you dont have to be a neo-platonic scholar or a google goo troll to know that Athena was not a democracy.

yawn, isn't it strange that so many people who knew nothing about Saddam, and for years said nothing about Kurdistan, then went out on the streets to protest against the War are now deciding that looting spells the end of Anarchism as a political philosophy.

oh well I suppose there are still intellectuals who will reach for the tomes and source material and point us all in a positive direction.

oh we cry out for leadership, show us the way!
"for we have strayed like sheep".

(Handel Messiah. first performed in Dublin, the lead violinist fainted after the performance as he had not been paid, and was starving, Mr Handel was under no legal obligation to pay his workers)

Cormac are you a member of a debating society?
or are you preparing for the Leaving Certificate or something?
Athenians never had a democracy.
pity you wrote the shite so well.
nice linking words, good punctuation.
:-)
I despair.
I grey
I grow old.

Incorrect

Fri Apr 18, 2003 17:53

Actually, I believe you will find that The Republic is the system by which authority is delegated to elected representatives, whilst in a true democracy, the entirety of the citizen population will have their say on every matter.
Therefore, the only real democracy that has existed in history so far (that I know of) is the Athenian state in Ancient Greece, and even that is debatable as a democracy.
Make no mistake, USA is not a democracy, UK is not a democracy, and don't try and fool yourselves that they are. The people do not vote on every issue of government, which is the essence of a true democracy. Therefore, the situation in Shannon is not democratic by any means whatsoever.

*lol* - is this a joke?

by Eoin Dubsky

Fri Apr 18, 2003 16:50

Is this a joke? I don't know how often the Limerick Leader is published, but April 1st wasn't so long ago. The author makes a point, and then exposes the lie behind it... over and over.

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Rulers & Elite of Ireland defend the system.

Comments (5 of 5)