Democracy and electoral reform

There is alot to be said for Labour and Fine Gael addressing political reform. Of course, their calls are timely, given the coming elections, which at this stage will probably have to be played by the "old rules." Some of the problems they seek to address are more deep seated in public life in Ireland, and do we need more extensive public reform?

Firstly, public office of all types in Ireland, whether in the private or the public sector, is insulated from the public by different combinations of frontline staff, controlled by "the system" and by their "superiors."

In the case of politics, parish pump politicians have played this to their advantage, by becoming fixers. If Mary can't get a medical card, then she contacts her local politician and then *bang* she gets her card or passport or allowance. However, would it not be better if Mary could be brought through the process by the medical card office, everything was fully explained to her in terms that she would understand, and the politicians, GPs, and other string pullers were left to do their own work.

Alot of things in Ireland seem to go by the rule of "they who shout loudest get what they want."

Now, in an ideal situation, the people who could shout the loudest would have been the people who might have had the support of more people. For example, if someone had good ideas and worked hard most people would know that their point of view had merit and would support it, and that would mean that their voice would be amplified by the many supporters.

But two factors can help less deserving people shout louder, and get what they want before more deserving people.

If someone has control of the communication system, then they can spin things so that they get an unequal advantage. Many FG supporters will claim that Tony O'Reilly of Independent Newspapers etc., handed the 2002 general election to FF by some timely interventions. Rupert Murdoch's Fox network in the United States is widely attributed with keeping Americans conservative and supporting the conservative Republicans. Jooooooeeeee Duffy is widely blamed for alot of things.

Then money comes in to it. Before Independence, the landed gentry were the ones who were involved in politics, because they had the money, and could afford not to work while they swanned around and made laws. It suited them that the great unwashed couldn't afford to get involved. Nowadays money is still needed, but more for the election process than for surviving while elected. This need for money is at it's most grotesque in the United States, where the process of getting elected is all about money, with billions of dollars being spent.

Here in Ireland, Enda Kenny's FG have accumulated a slush fund of €3 million. Now that leaves €75,000 per constituency. Now that can buy alot of slick advertising, alot of spin where needed, maybe even a pint or two for the odd unethical journalist (if there are any!) I , on the other hand, have about €2,000 raised by my local Green Party group. €500 from a sponsored walk last week, and hopefully another €1,500 from a pub quiz and a few individual donations.

My opponents have 20 times the budget I have, so how is that fair and democratic? Is it any wonder we never get real change?

I firmly believe that in a true democracy, an unemployed single mother on welfare should be given the same chance in an election as a political party hack with no real world life experience. That is why we need to restrict election spending, postering and leafletting, and we need to ban corporate donations.

On another level there was the purchase of passports. A bit of extra money or the right friends can get you a medical card, a contract or a job, not to mention a government appointment.

We really need to reform this country, but lets get money and spin out of it and get true democracy (next generation democracy or direct democracy) in!