Ok, Phase One Complete

OK, well done everybody. Phase one is now complete.

We have reduced Fianna Fail to second place. We have exposed them as a rural, backward looking party. We have shown them to be in complete denial as to the part they played in the current economic meltdown. The voters now accept that the Celtic Tiger years were by and large a wasted opportunity. An opportunity wasted by Fianna Fail. We have reduced their capacity to pull strokes and do favours which was their modus operandi and as such their only way of gaining popular support. They are not much use for anything now as they have no capacity to think creatively.

They will now implode (I hope) due to the loyalty to leader thinking. Most of the top dogs were complicit in the Wasted Years so there are few, if any, Soldiers of Destiny to replace Cowen with. The idea of finding a new Duce would cause such internecine warfare as to make the description of “political party” redundant. They will become known as the Cumman Wars. Maybe Michael Martin as he got sidelined rather early.

The next step is to force a general election and consolidate the gains. In addition we need to get the various extreme elements on the left and right to bugger off and not be so stupid as to believe that there is any fundamental change in the slightly left of centre position of the Irish people. The votes for socialists are just our way of saying “I’m serious. I’ll really vote against you” but don’t represent any real ideological position. As many FF commentators have said the real challenge will arise when the budgets on councils have to be agreed. But I think Council Managers have the final say anyway so steady as she goes.

Phase two involves using the years of experience gained negotiating deals in national agreements and in the North to strike a balance between spending cuts and spending supports that will help people through this crisis without placing a burden on future generations through excessive borrowing. At its core it needs to ensure that people proposing spending in any area are made responsible for the outcomes. Extreme Socialists rarely have to take responsibility for their ‘take from the rich and give to the poor’ ideas. Everybody having enough to get by is not a long term option. They really do need to get real, study some behavioural economics, cost their proposals and while still holding to their long term goals, seek to bring people along with them rather than adopt ‘holier than thou’ attitudes. You will be dumped next time round unless you can get people on board.

The negotiating must continue after the general election with a view to getting that balance right between FG and Labour. That combination did the job cleaning up the FF mess before and should work better given the stronger support for Labour. I think Enda Kenny might have the management ability to do the business but FG need to get the message out that charisma is OK up to a point but the leadership style in cabinet is what counts. Right now we need people with organising ability. We need people to tell the truth.

You can’t run an economy like Big Brother or Britains Got Talent. People have to be allowed to express doubts about policy and it has to be OK for them to give something support in the short to medium term. Dump the PR people. We know spin when we see it. Communicate, explain, persuade but don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes. Tell us that your doing a deal and what your trading. We can take it. Explain that if people what more of your policies then they have to vote for you but twenty per cent of the vote gets you twenty percent of the policies. But above all expose the vested interests were you find them. Even your own.

If the weekends results mean real change then the people of this country have to take responsibility for the governments they elect. If they choose to vote on the basis of policies that are too good to be true then they will suffer long term. As a nation we now have to pay for the bouncy castles and the garden decks, the SUV’s and plasma screen TVs. The bill is now due and we must pay with effort, be it physical or intellectual. We must not only earn our keep but pay the ferryman too. He brought us here because we told him to. And Chris De Burg did warn us.