Tweedledum V Tweedledee

Ireland's General Election set for May 28, 2007
By Gary J Byrnes
Watching the TV debate between the leaders of Ireland's two top right-wing parties, I was horrified at the sheer awfulness of Ireland's political scene. Sitting Taoiseach Bertie Ahern clearly couldn't understand how or why he got briefcases full of cash - and a house! - from shady businessmen and rival Enda Kenny was too naive to do exactly what Fianna Fail would have done to him: never let it go.
To say that Ireland has never gotten beyond Civil War politics would be an understatement. The State has never had the chance to grow up. We were shafted by Dev's anal Constitution, drafted back in 1937, when turnip growing was our main industry and turnip eating our main social activity. Do any of the parties contesting this election offer a complete revision of the Constitution? How about an alternative to representative democracy, which has fucked Ireland up since day one? How about some crazy policy ideas, like legalising cannabis (which half the hypocritical dopes in Fianna Fail seem to have smoked) or even banning 4X4s from city streets? Forget about it. As for the arts, no proposals on improving funding to the struggling artists, writers and performers who struggle to be noticed by the beaurocracy-heavy, arch-conservative, insiders' club known as the Arts Council.
When every single party offers the same load of crap in their manifestos, you have to worry about our democracy. If only we had a NONE OF THE ABOVE option on our ballot papers! Concerted vote-spoiling campaign, anyone?