Futuristics?
louth |
politics / elections |
opinion/analysis 
Friday June 18, 2004 19:24
by Sean Crudden
sean.crudden at iol dot ie
Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth.
0879739945
Government. Local or Central?
What is the political future for Co Louth or what is the future for politics in Co Louth? Where are we going and how do we get there?
Judging by discussions I heard on the radio on the Monday and Tuesday after the recent elections the main cause of the setback to the government parties was "arrogance" on the part of ministers and those generally in power. More than one speaker called for a "softening" of the image of Fianna Fail (whatever about the Progressive Democrats)?
This is a superficial diagnosis although I agree that good manners and consideration for others is far more than a cosmetic consideration in all human commerce.
No. The government was engrossed and aggressive over comparatively minor and unpractical matters like immigration and "Sinn Fein’s private army." The issues about these things will solve themselves over time with a commonsense and decent and less fussy approach.
There are other harder questions hanging over us in this locality - questions like energy supply, health, transport and communications, waste disposal, anti-environmental practice in agriculture and fishing. These will be the abiding issues for us in Co Louth for the next century and they will not go away.
The elections have thrown up plenty of talent and I am confident that Louth County Council and the town and borough councils will give us palpable and welcome leadership in the years immediately ahead in this county. And I hope they will promote a cooperative effort to harness the resources of "The College" and other educational establishments as well as the hospitals and local voluntary and community organizations to address real and key issues - some of which I have already mentioned.
It seems to me that every effort should be made to develop our own resources, including human resources, at local level. We cannot expect a fairy god-mother like Micheal McDowell in the capital to copperfasten civilization in Louth and guarantee our way of life for the future.
Comments (16 of 16)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16indeed! and it's good to see the back of psuedo politicians of the ilk of Frank Godfrey and Michael Bell...maybe their is hope for Louth after all.
The only hope for Louth is to support Sinn Fein and get a decent government of the people.
.
Not necessarily. It might be Arthur Daly.
I dont really care as long as he is not a member of the PDs.
The only hope for louth politics is for the ffers and blueshirts to keep slapping each other over cups of tea while sinn fein get down to the real business of building a united ireland.
Yes, a united Ireland incorperated into the If the shinners are listened to!
All the Shinners care about is rubbing out a a line on a map.
In this glorious united Ireland that the Shinners want there will still be exploitation, poverty, injustice, racism and discrimination because the Shinners would settle for a capitalist united ireland.
It willl be great when our exploiters are Irish instead of English, I can't wait!
There will always be poverty and exploitation and racism. Just as there always has been. Even under the workers paradises that were the USSR etc. In fact they were ten times worse nightmares for anyone unfortunate to live in them. So stop beleiving in fairy tales and get on with it. Politics is only a game and the best we can hope for is something like we already have. Thank fuck SF have realised that.
So are you saying that it is a waste of time to strive for a better society? Should we all just accept that there is poverty and exploitation? Is this the thinking within SF?
I reject this rubbish! The ex USSR was no workers paradise, it wasn't socialism. there is no need for poverty to exist, it is not inevitable. there is enough wealth in the world to end hunger and poverty and give everyone a very good standard of living, the trouble it is in the hands of a tiny minority. Of course SF are completely unwilling to challenge the privilages of this minority in case FF wont do a coalition deal or the funds in America dry up.
These things have always been, and always eill be. That is not to say that people ought not to strive to improve things and the position of working class people in Europe and America at least has improved beyond recognition in the last 150 years.
As for the USSR. Of course it was socialism. And every other socialist revolution has ended in exactly the same horror. The peoples of the former USSR would have been far better off had the revolution never taken place.
United Ireland? Are you having a laugh? The truth is the majority in Northern Ireland don't want it and the vast majority in the Republic of Ireland won't pay for it.
The Celtic tiger has exposed the majority of Irish people for what the are: greedy consumerist self centred bastards.
They wont pay more taxes to improve their own local A&E services, they certainly wont pay more taxes to maintain the level of social provision that 'deprived and oppressed' nationalists north of the border have grown accustomed to under HMG.
As opposed to what? Naive fools who will follow some self appointed bunch of losers masquerading as the revolutionary party into a 21st century labour camp of the type created by EVERY socialist revolution in history. Which is why people no longer beleive in the shit.
"These things have always been, and always eill be."
I reject this right wing idea that 'the poor will always be with us'. There is no reason why we can't eliminate poverty and drastically improve the living standards of the worlds population. The wealth is there! Look at the billions being made everyday in profits by the worlds richests elites. If we take this wealth under democratic public ownership we can put poverty into the past.
"the position of working class people in Europe and America at least has improved beyond recognition in the last 150 years. "
The relative position of the working class in the West has not improved, it has gotten worse. In the west there is a greater gap between rich and poor than 150 years ago. Yes people's living standards have improved but imagine what our living standards could be if all the wealth created by us was under our ownership!
Also you neglect to mention the fate of the majority of the worlds population that lives in Asia, South america and Africa. Their living standards have declined dramatically and are only going to get worse under capitalism.
"As for the USSR. Of course it was socialism.
And every other socialist revolution has ended in exactly the same horror. The peoples of the former USSR would have been far better off had the revolution never taken place"
You fail utterly to offer any real analysis of what exactly existed in the USSR. The USSR and the other stalinist states around the world are not socialist states and never were. What they were were state owned and planned economies that were bureacratically and undemocratically run usually by disgusting dictators and totalitarian single party states. they were not workers paradises because of the undemocratic nature of the state and the fact that they were isolated to just a few states. In saying this this does not mean there were gains made by workers in those states. Russia was transformed from a semi feudal country into a super power. The living standards of the Chinese people were dramatically improved, just compare China and India. Look at the Cuban health system, reputed to be the best in the world. East Germany had full employment now under capitalism they have unemployment of 20%! the ordinary people of the stalinists states were and are better off under a state owned and planned economy than what they would be under capitalism.
the fact is that SF have sold out. They fully accept the market and don't want to challenge capitalism whatsoever.
Do you really beleive all that shite? I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you know nothing about the history of socialist states or "planned economies" as you choose to call them.
Socialism is against human nature - that is why it leads to such horror.
Only hope for Louth ....
Yes, a united Ireland incorporated into the A.U. If the shinners are listened to!
I was told that they celebrate Nigeria's independence Day in Dundalk every year.
Here’s a suggestion to improve Louth—Break it up!! Yes , seriously one of Louth’s main problems is it has TWO towns of significant urban size vying with each other. Both Dundalk and Drogheda merit regional/administrative Capital status.
My suggestion would be to make Dundalk capital of the North Louth/Monaghan administrative region while Drogheda becomes the capital of south Louth /Meath region.
Since the country areas in their hinter lands use each town respectively for business trade schools etc. this makes more sense than the current arrangement based on ancient boundaries. It would have a greatly beneficial eaafect on Drogheda.
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