I’m Just A Blogger
I was originally posting this as a comment to my post below but it got too long.
Do I believe that the opposition have policies? Yes. Do I believe they’ve good policies? Some, I’m sure. Are those policies enough to convince me to vote for them? No.
I apologise to those who expect flawless use of the English language in every sentence I write – it may have been intemperate and fuzzy to say Voting for change is not enough – we must be voting for something, for an approach based on more than “not being the government”. From what I can see Labour/FG have been pulling shapes** about these issues rather than offering constructive alternatives – and in reality there aren’t always alternatives.
And as tedious as it is to repeat myself, I basically meant that MY intertreptation (as far as I can see) from watching Q&A, The Week in Politics and reading the papers like any other average Irish voter is that there seems to be more emphasis on being not-FF/PD than carving out distinct policy identities. That is not to say that they don’t have policies, just that one gets the impression they don’t matter as much when one is urged to “voting for change”. As for copernicus’s assertion that I have not fully engaged with those policies - depending on his definition, I might not have –– I haven’t sat down and read all their press releases and policy documents. I did attend one of Enda Kenny’s meeting-the-people public meetings and while Enda isn’t all that engaging, I was attentive.
I’m just a blogger, I write this crap because I enjoy it. I don’t pretend I’m Gene Kerrigan or a political philosopher. Correct when I’m wrong, argue with me ‘til the cows come home, but please don’t expect me to know everything about all political parties in Ireland. This is not a cop-out, but how I use my vote is not contigent on indepth knowledge of the footnotes of Sinn Fein’s economics documents.
As I stated below I’m not voting for change because “I simply do not trust Enda Kenny or Pat Rabbit to not make any more bad decisions or to improve on what we already have.”
It’s also worth remembering that most people don’t vote in favour of 100% of a party’s policies. In the vast array of issues that political parties form positions on, only a few really matter to each individual. If the candidate or party ticks that particular box, less important issues are ignored. As far as I’m concerned voting for the idea of change is not enough – and if the nebulous concept of change is what matters to some voters, it’ll be interesting to see how exactly Labour/FG/etc will harness that as well as presenting unique identities to the rest of us.
As much as I’d love to stay and discuss this more, I’m off for the next week. In the meantime, buy the Pipette’s new album – they’re good fun or see Stacy Earle and Mark Stuart in Whelans on Sunday. .
Update – a few more bloggers on this – Damien Mulley, Richard Waghorne and Colm@InFactAh.
Do I believe that the opposition have policies? Yes. Do I believe they’ve good policies? Some, I’m sure. Are those policies enough to convince me to vote for them? No.
I apologise to those who expect flawless use of the English language in every sentence I write – it may have been intemperate and fuzzy to say Voting for change is not enough – we must be voting for something, for an approach based on more than “not being the government”. From what I can see Labour/FG have been pulling shapes** about these issues rather than offering constructive alternatives – and in reality there aren’t always alternatives.
And as tedious as it is to repeat myself, I basically meant that MY intertreptation (as far as I can see) from watching Q&A, The Week in Politics and reading the papers like any other average Irish voter is that there seems to be more emphasis on being not-FF/PD than carving out distinct policy identities. That is not to say that they don’t have policies, just that one gets the impression they don’t matter as much when one is urged to “voting for change”. As for copernicus’s assertion that I have not fully engaged with those policies - depending on his definition, I might not have –– I haven’t sat down and read all their press releases and policy documents. I did attend one of Enda Kenny’s meeting-the-people public meetings and while Enda isn’t all that engaging, I was attentive.
I’m just a blogger, I write this crap because I enjoy it. I don’t pretend I’m Gene Kerrigan or a political philosopher. Correct when I’m wrong, argue with me ‘til the cows come home, but please don’t expect me to know everything about all political parties in Ireland. This is not a cop-out, but how I use my vote is not contigent on indepth knowledge of the footnotes of Sinn Fein’s economics documents.
As I stated below I’m not voting for change because “I simply do not trust Enda Kenny or Pat Rabbit to not make any more bad decisions or to improve on what we already have.”
It’s also worth remembering that most people don’t vote in favour of 100% of a party’s policies. In the vast array of issues that political parties form positions on, only a few really matter to each individual. If the candidate or party ticks that particular box, less important issues are ignored. As far as I’m concerned voting for the idea of change is not enough – and if the nebulous concept of change is what matters to some voters, it’ll be interesting to see how exactly Labour/FG/etc will harness that as well as presenting unique identities to the rest of us.
As much as I’d love to stay and discuss this more, I’m off for the next week. In the meantime, buy the Pipette’s new album – they’re good fun or see Stacy Earle and Mark Stuart in Whelans on Sunday. .
Update – a few more bloggers on this – Damien Mulley, Richard Waghorne and Colm@InFactAh.
Labels: Politics - Ireland
posted by Auds | 17:20
2 Comments:
You're being very generous to yourself, Auds, but that's understandable. You tried to misrepresent the Opposition and dismiss them airily, so to long-sufferingly suggest that you're forced to repeat yourself by some tedious pedant is a bit rich.
I'm not saying what you did was even particularly deliberate. It's just the default debating strategy of the reactionary conservative. Don't engage, dismiss.
Anyway, have a nice holiday.
Wow planetpotato, what a relavant post!!! Exactly what the hell are you talking about. The post was about politics, not about who cares about bloggers. Even the reply was about politics, not blogging.
I know the two aren't mutually exclusive, it just so happens that no-one was talking about who does or doesn't listen to bloggers. So what are you talking about?!!!
Tom O'Gorman
Post a Comment
<< Home