An unsuitable President ? And the failure of mainstream politics

odyssey06 said:
Your defence of Connolly
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It's not a defence of Connolly, but rather a defence of democratically elected members of parliament being able to do their job.

No doubt, you and the media and political establishment will be equally outraged by the bloodthirsty Naziyahu regime preventing democractically elected MEP's from doing their job? As you were in 2018, 2025 about Connolly.
 
Marsupial said:
The right to participate in the democratic process includes the right to spoil one's vote, should that be one's preference.
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And this stupid, selfish, non-participatory, action appears in our constitution where exactly?
Marsupial said:
It is fully participating in the process and treating the offerings with the contempt that they deserve.
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By "offerings" do you mean the candidates? If you do, then the phraseology reflects reflects more poorly on the author than on the candidates. The candidates themselves were selected using the democratic processes we had in place pre-election; if they need changing then let's vote, democratically, to change them. I already said this in a previous post where I asked if the candidates we ended up with highlighted a need for system's changes.
Marsupial said:
What a jaw-droppingly asinine and pig-ignorant comment. :eek:
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Comments like those change nothing and help nothing and no-one. Can I take it you spoiled your vote and wasted all those resources I mentioned earlier?
 
It looks like “smear the bejaysus” Yates hid his work for one candidate (Jim Gavin) and his comments hugely contributed to Connolly winning. So much for being an “independent commentator’?
 
No, what you and others seem to have missed is that scribbling on a ballot paper and defacing it with graffiti isn't voting - it's non-voting and a waste of time, money, and effort. I asked to see where
mathepac said:
this stupid, selfish, non-participatory, action appears in our constitution
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Everyone is entitled to their opinion of spoiling votes of course. Spoilt votes are votes because they are counted and recorded as such.

Micheál Martin: while people are entitled to spoil their ballots, it’s important to interpret the message behind it.

Simon Harris: emphasized the need to understand why people chose to spoil their ballots and suggested that it reflects broader dissatisfaction with the political system

Paul Murphy: Defended spoiling votes as a legitimate form of protest

Peadar Toibín, a democratically elected TD spoilt his vote in protest
An Coimisiún Toghcháin: "Each person who casts their ballot contributes to our democracy, because their vote is their voice in this and every election,"
"There will clearly be a need for deeper and further reflection on the reasons for this...
Our National Election and Democracy Study (NEDS) and Post Electoral Event Review (PEER) reports, which will be published in the coming months, should provide some insights which will make a contribution to the ongoing process of enhancing democracy and elections in this country."

In my opinion, spoiling a vote is a legitimate form of protest that each voter is entitled to excercise. And as per An Coimisiún Toghcháin once there is understanding of why so many spoiled their votes it should enhance democracy and elections in this country.

It is neither stupid or selfish, nor a waste of time, money and effort, and is wholly compatible with our Constitution.
 
mathepac said:
And this stupid, selfish, non-participatory, action appears in our constitution where exactly?
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But none of the above posts answer my question, they're just a lot of words to hide the actions I describe in my post quoted above. The "authorities" you quote could be comedic if they weren't so pathetically useless e.g. Mick Martin and FF picked a candidate who failed to repay a long term debt to a former tenant until it was pointed out to him at election time.

Answers please, on something other than a precious, hard-won, ballot paper c/o this thread on AAM
 
mathepac said:
But none of the above posts answer my question
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There is no express article in the Constitution that mentions anything about spoilt votes. But there doesn't need to be, a spoilt vote could simply be an error and not necessarily deliberate protest.

While it is obviously more preferable that people choose their preferred candidates, the fact remains that the high level of spoilt votes in this election is sending a message that the leaders of the political parties are taking on board. There is a disenchantment with the political system, and not necessarily unique to Ireland, the UK is under-going political upheaval too.

It can be a good thing that people at least came out to register their protest. It signals an underlying unrest that our political class would be wise to heed, and try to discern and address the underlying grievances.

I'd rather our political class were alerted to this unrest than not.
 
The left in Irish politics is a broad church and most of them want a slice of Catherine Connolly. She is going to have to choose her friends very carefully lest she get massacred by our (largely) centrist press and commentariat.

D.
 
Sister Sara said:
There is no UN Charter any more, it is exists in paper form only. It has been repeatedly jack-booted by the fascist military powerful over the decades and lies in shreds.
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All the more reason to change the triple-lock (UN Security council mandate) into a double-lock. Otherwise Russian/Chinese/US vetoes will prevent us taking part in peace-keeping roles.
 
Sister Sara said:
All the ducks are in order for the governing class for Ireland to be a fully fledged member of NATO and European defence alliance with the prospect of lucrative military contracts in weapons manufacturing and technology. Boomtime economically for Ireland, boomtime for death and destruction against some of poorest people and regions in the world.
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We've as much chance of starting a weapons manufacturing industry from scratch and competing with Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, Holland and Sweden etc as we do starting a car industry from scratch and competing with the same countries. There is zero chance of it happening, even if all of the ducks you speak of are in a row. The notion is as ignorant of reality as it is paranoid and fanciful.
Sister Sara said:
All that stands in the way of the fascist military industry is that pesky stone in the shoe - the right of the people to decide through democratic ballot.
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What is the fascist military industry?

Is that a sub-set of the rest of the military industry or is the entire defence/military sector fascist?

My grandad drove an old banged up Saab before he died. Saab also makes military equipment. Did that mean my Grandad was a fascist or just the people who made the cars?
Was the lady in the canteen in Saab a fascist?

Does a company that sells shoelaces to the military suddenly become fascist? What about a company that makes bread? What about a company that makes tyres which are used on civilian and military vehicles?

What about a company that makes birthday cakes which are then sold to the Army? If a soldier eats Colin the Caterpillar for his birthday while deployed is Colin then a fascist? If he eats it at home is Colin off the hook?
 
This is the last day of our current unsuitable President. I hope that Catherine Connolly will be less unsuitable than him.
 
Purple said:
We've as much chance of starting a weapons manufacturing industry from scratch and competing with Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, Holland and Sweden etc as we do starting a car industry from scratch and competing with the same countries. There is zero chance of it happening,
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It would be great if we could though, it would reduce our reliance on US multi-nationals nicely, whilst also boosting our ability to actually make stuff. It would probably be a springboard for other businesses
 
Firefly said:
It would probably be a springboard for other businesses
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Yes, the exact same disciplines in product development are used in Defence and in Medical Device development. I've met lots of engineers in US medical device companies who came from a defence background.
 
Purple said:
Does a company that sells shoelaces to the military suddenly become fascist?
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Does the output from places like Intel, Apple, Dell, etc have military applications? Do armies use Windoze or other Microsoft products, Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint? When soldiers get injured or become ill do they get treated with pharmaceutical products produced here or have medical devices manufactured here used to help mend damaged organs, fractured bones or joints? Where does it stop? Where's the cutoff point?

I can't see us ever having the heavy industry to manufacture aircraft carriers, fighter jets, bombers, or battle tanks, but lots of armies drink beer, whiskey, cider, they eat bread, meat, and spuds, as Napoleon observed.

Not all manufactured goods require a military end-user certificate, mores the pity in one way I suppose.
 
Purple said:
This is the last day of our current unsuitable President
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What's an unsuitable President?

Is it one that wins a majority preference through an open and democratic process from the people that s/he will preside over ?
 
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Sister Sara said:
What's an unsuitable President?
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One who puts their ego above their office and politicises the Presidency.

Sister Sara said:
Is it one that wins a majority preference through an open and democratic process from the people that s/he will preside over ?
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How they are elected is irrelevant.

I hope that the new President understand the job better than her predecessor. She was a good Leas-Cheann Comhairle but when she has opened her mouth in the past she's said some remarkably stupid things.
 
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