Chapter 4 - Political Parties

There is a farm somewhere. The farmer's name is Lou. He bought the farm decades ago and lets a manager run it. The first manager promises Lou big profits and decides to put stock on the land. He rears cattle on the farm and some years are good, some years are not so good. This manager is caught with his hand in the till and is shown up to be incompetent.

Lou decides that the manager isn't very honest nor competent and replaces the manager with a new manager who promises Lou large profits. This manager doesn't think that cattle make the best profit and so decides to get out of cattle and sow corn and potatoes instead. The manager gets rid of the cattle, losing some money in the process. He buys equipment and then ploughs up the land and sows corn and potatoes, again costing money.

After a few years, some being profitable and other not so, Lou realises that the manager isn't very good, is doing deals with suppliers to his own benefit and has made stupid decisions, and so replaces him with the previous manager who thinks he should go back to cattle. He spends money levelling the fields, sowing grass seeds, and after a years or so buys cattle, again costing money.

After a few years of rearing cattle, some profitable, others not, Lou decides that the manager isn't very good, or honest (he's caught doing deals with suppliers for his own benefit), and replaces him with the previous manager who thinks he should go back to sowing corn and beetroot. He sells off the cattle etc etc and sows corn and beetroot etc etc. After another few years, some good, some bad, Lou decides that the manager isn't very good, or honest etc etc and replaces him etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Wow !! What a story!!

The immediate reaction of most people would be to say how stupid Lou is! How foolish Lou is! If you're going to run a farm you need to stick with one type of farming and achieve the best possible returns from that enterprise. Chopping and changing again and again, and bringing back the people who demonstrated they were dishonest and self-serving, every few years can only lead to difficulty, loss, and extra cost at every changeover. That system of farming just wouldn't make economic sense.

That arrangement would be madness on a monumental, an everestal scale! It would be a sign of gross stupidity on behalf of Lou!

There is a factory somewhere. The owner's name is Lou. He took over ownership of the factory decades ago and hires a manager to look after the factory and make as much profit for the owner as possible. This manager decides to use the factory to can tomatoes and other food produce. Some years are good. Some years are not so good.

During one of the years when things were not going quite so good, and because the manager has been caught fiddling the books, Lou replaces him with another manager who thinks he should go into manufacturing radios. So he gets rid of the canning machinery at a loss and invests in an assembly line for making radios. He changes all the company literature, logos etc.

After a few years of being profitable things slacken a bit because of bad decisions by the manager and Lou decides to re-hire the previous manager who naturally enough reverses everything and goes back into canning goods again. So he sells off the radio assembly line structure, at a loss, and invests in canning goods machinery. He changes all the company literature, logos etc.

And so on, and so on from the canning goods, to the making of radios, and back again, from one manager with one idea to the other previous manager with the other idea and back and forth and back and forth . . . and back and forth. Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Again, the immediate reaction by most people would be to consider Lou to be utterly stupid, and completely short-sighted. Switching back and forth from one method of manufacturing to another - at cost - makes no sense at all. It certainly doesn't make economic sense. On top of that, rehiring a manager who has demonstrated that he cannot be trusted doesn't make any sense at all.

Although it may be very obvious to most people that see-sawing betwen two different methods of farming or manufacturing is counter-productive and self-defeating, those very same people most likely will not see just how counter-productive and self-defeating the present democratic system is when it is based on a system of choice, limited to a few main political parties. Though in fact, it turns out that in the long run it doesn't matter how many political parties there are in the system - it is self-defeating, from the citizen's point of view.

Please note, that although the following are general party policies, for the political parties change their policies depending on whether it will gain them votes or not, not whether or not it is good for the Nation, nevertheless this sort of general behaviour does take place. In passing, don't confuse the goals with the policies of a political party - their policies may change but their goal - power - does not. They use their policies to attain their goal.

A description of See-Saw Politics in the USA is fairly straight forward. When Republicans are in power they want to minimise the social aspect of the welfare state and cut back on government pay-outs to those at the bottom. They also want to increase payouts and incentives to those at the top. They also want to decrease the tax on those at the top. They reign for two or three terms.

Then the Democrats get into power. They want to increase the tax on those at the top. They want to increase payouts to those at the bottom. They want to bring in health insurance for those at the bottom. They may want to bring in more regulation for large corporations. They reign for two or three terms.

Then the Republicans are in power again and want to undo what the Democrats have done during their period in office. They decrease the social aspect of the welfare state and cut back on government pay-outs to those at the bottom. They increase payouts and incentives to those at the top. They decrease the tax on those at the top. They put a stop to the health insurance for those at the bottom. They weaken the regulation of large corporations. They reign for two or three terms.

Then the Democrats get into power. They increase the tax on those at the top. They increase payouts to those at the bottom. They bring back health insurance for those at the bottom. They may want to bring in more regulation for large corporations. They reign for two or three terms.

And so on, and so on, and so on, and so on.

To a certain extent there are no words adequate enough to fully describe just how incomprehensibly stupid, ridiculous, ineffective, self-defeating, unproductive and irrational this method of organising a democratic system is - using the political party structure, that is, IF the aim of the political system is to be of any benefit to the citizens at all.

The same see-sawing can be seen in Britain. Generally speaking, the Conservative party will bring in measures which help the wealthy become more wealthy and then be replaced by the Labour party which will bring in more social left-wing measures to alleviate poverty (though the New Labour is not really left wing at all now - these are just generalities. Under Tony Blair the Labour party was the ME party - Tony Blair!) etc.

In Ireland the basic political flow goes like this. The Fianna Fáil party gain power. They abuse the system and via their incompetent decisions bring ruination to the Nation, while profit goes to their followers. Then the Fine Gael party together with the Labour party attempt to bring the financial ruination of the Nation under control through harsh measures. After a few years the Nation begins to recover and the Fianna Fáil party are elected again and begin the process of bringing financial ruination to the Nation again. Then, after ruination, the Fine Gael party with the Labour party gain power and attempt to bring financial stability to the Nation etc, etc, etc.

This is how so-called 'democracy' works!

It is MADNESS.

It is STARK RAVING MADNESS.

No Personal Choice - Take It Or Leave It

Apart from all the other systemic weaknesses in the political party democratic system, there is also yet another aspect which guarantees that the wishes of the vast majority of the citizens can be totally ignored by the arrogant inept political parties. It is similar to the 'this party or that party' choice already mentioned, but ends up being a lot more destructive to the slightest chance of having a political system where the citizens get what they want.

Again, I would think that most citizens despite being confronted by this anomaly and contradiction as regards the democratic political process, are unable to see how unproductive it is and how the very system itself is designed in such a way that it is inevitable that the citizens' wishes will be diluted to the point where they yet again have no say whatsoever. This is a bit difficult to explain but I'll try.

Imagine there are two political parties, the Fine Gael political party and the Fianna Fáil political party. Each of these parties has 10 specific policies that they say they intend to put into legislation when they get into power. There is a General Election. The theory is that the citizens have a choice, they choose whichever political party they 'agree with' and therefore the citizens get the regulations and society which they themselves choose. Is this not democracy in action, right before our very eyes! No, No, NO!

What actually happens is very different from the perception of what happens.

Scenario One (supporting the Fine Gael party): Imagine a citizen going out to vote and looking at the policies of both political parties. The Fine Gael party has six policies which the citizen thoroughly agrees with. The citizen would prefer not to have three of their other policies and definitely doesn't like the tenth policy, but will accept them as 'part of the package'. As be definitely doesn't like the six of the policies of the Fianna Fáil party, though agrees with 2 of their other policies, be decides to cast bes vote for the Fine Gael party.

Scenario Two (against the Fianna Fáil party): Imagine a citizen going out to vote and thoroughly hates the Fianna Fáil perhaps party because they have financially destroyed this Nation, yet again. Be wants to make sure that the Fianna Fáil party will not get back into Government so, despite the fact that be doesn't really agree with many of Fine Gael's policies, be will vote for them more as a vote AGAINST the Fianna Fáil party rather than a vote for the actual policies of the Fine Gael party.

So, the Fine Gael political party becomes the next Government. This is the will of the people in action. This is true democracy. Lou, the fool, must be wrong about it all!

But what actually happens is that after the election the politicians in the Fine Gael party can implement whatever policies they desire. Of their ten stated policies maybe two or three of them are truly desired by the citizens but from now on, until the next election, the citizens have no say. The Fine Gael party is now the feudal lord and can do whatever the hell it wants to do. They might decide not to implement any of their stated policies, whether they were elected because of them or not. They can also implement other policies which they never made public. This is NOT democracy, by any stretch of the imagination.

I think we can very safely say that there are many citizens who vote for a particular political party despite not agreeing with all the policies of that party. I would think that even the actual supporters of political parties may not agree with all the policies of 'their' political party. With political parties it is a case of 'take it or leave it - all or nothing'.

When a citizen votes for an individual belonging to a political party they are accepting all the policies of that political party without having any say regarding those policies with which they disagree. There is no opportunity to say 'I want this A policy, and I want this B policy, but I don't want that C policy, I totally disagree with that'. They choose the political party and thereafter have no say.

Again, superficially the citizen has a choice but is such a very limited one it is not of any practical use whatsoever. In so so many cases the citizens end up being disappointed with the new Government and their policies and this is why. The citizens do not have a choice. The citizen can choose the political party but they cannot pick and choose the policies of that party, they just have to put up with it and accept all the policies. The citizens give the power to the political party and then the political parties decides the agenda, and, like most of the political arrangements and organisation, it is the citizens who are to remain passive, like the peasants of old, taking guidance and regulation from those above.

Added to that is the unfortunate reality of politics that it is incompetents who get elected, and these politicians with their self-inflated egos are under the impression that 'the people have spoken and want this party to implement all its policies', blah, blah, blah. They are so arrogant they are a danger.

Scenario Three (the supermarket): Imagine a supermarket where the customer is given a choice of either a red trolley or a blue trolley which are already packed with goods. The customer cannot see all the goods in each trolley, only those items on top, purposely placed in view to fool the customer. Some of the containers on the tops of the trolleys which are visible may not reflect the true contents of the wrapping. The customer is not given an option of choosing which of the individual items be wishes to buy but is told to choose one or other of the trolleys which be wishes to buy and pay for, with no opportunity to bring any goods back under any circumstances.

I would hope that everybody, EVERYBODY, reading this would be astonished at that type of supermarket. It is totally unrealistic to, in effect, not give the customer the choice for every single individual item which be would be expected to pay for. Yet, in so-called democracies around the world, not just stupid Ireland, this is how the political system is run.

The citizens vote for a political party who promises things which may or may never be put into effect if and when they form the next new Government. On top of that the political party can bring in any other policies which they never mentioned during the election. On top of all that the political party may bring in legislation which they promised they would never bring in.

IT IS CRAZY. IT IS MADNESS. IT IS UTTERLY UNBELIEVABLE.

THAT IS THE REALITY IN DEMOCRATIC IRELAND 2012.

To say that the political system in Ireland is dysfunctional is an understatement, but my lack of wordpower just gives up. In fact I truly believe that there are no suitable words in the English language, or any other language for that matter, to fully and adequately describe just how insane this so-called method of democracy is.

Do I need to say any more? Can things get worse? This isn't the end yet. There's more.

Tweedledumb-Tweedledee - Opposition Politics

In so-called democracies 'opposition politics' is the term used but 'Tweedledumb-Tweedledee politics' is much more appropriate and describes the mental attitudes of those taking part in the farce of political party confrontations.

If ever a political system was designed to frustrate the constructive productive positive opportunities in having a democratic system in place for the benefit of the citizens, this system of political parties and their subsequent game of opposition is a failure to its very core.

If my memory is correct this has been effectively demonstrated to be nothing but stupidity and irrationality by The 3 Stooges, Abbot and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and many other comedians and tricksters. It goes like this:

person 1: yes I can
person 2: no you can't
person 1: yes I can
person 2: no you can't
person 1: yes I can
person 2: no you can't
person 1: no I can't
person 2: yes you can
person 1: thanks!

You get the joke. It IS a joke. It is predictable. It is very predictable, but it's funny. It will always get a laugh.

It is NOT a joke when this pathetic confrontational attitude is prolonged and cultivated in so-called democratic politics without having any regard to its destructive results on the citizens living under that political system.

The incredible fact to this aspect of present day democracies is that THIS HAPPENS. This is TRUE, day in and day out in Ireland. The citizens do not benefit whatsoever from this petty gamesmanship. It is political opposition merely for the sake of it, without any thought as to the purpose of the whole political process.

In opposition politics the policies are irrelevant because the only policy in play is the policy of opposition.

And sadly this is the truth. The opposition party officially and traditionally always opposes any legislation put forward by the political party in power. It is nothing less than merely a game. They see their role in the Dáil as saying NO NO NO all the time. If the Government say Yes they will say No, and if the Government say No they will say Yes. I don't know if many other countries have the same type of opposition politics but in Ireland this is reality. This IS Irish democracy in action.

Imagine an international corporation where its board of directors was set up on such a way that a section of the board sat on the board solely for the purpose of disagreeing with the decisions of the majority of the board. It would be an incredible situation.

All members of a board of directors are 'on the same side' and although some may dissent on some decision or other, for very valid reasons - based on the merit of the proposals, their purpose is certainly NOT an automatic rejection of the proposals of the main group of directors.

A company with a divided board would certainly not be conducive to the future profitability of the company. Also there would be no point in paying people for the sole purpose of disagreeing with proposals. That clearly would be a waste of time. You could practically train a parrot to just say the opposite. It doesn't take any brains at all. Though, then again, having no brains is a prerequisite to be a good loyal party member deserving promotion.

In a lot of cases, and this definitely does happen in other so-called democratic countries, in politics the opposition party can oppose proposals and measures proposed by the Government, which they themselves would have brought in if the tables were turned and they were in power. It is so systemic within the political landscape it is difficult to remember one or two examples because there aren't really individual examples - the whole system is thus.

The primary role of the opposition party, as regards the attitude and motivations of that opposition party, is seen as doing everything possible in their power, no matter what and no matter what it's result on the citizens, to bring down the present Government and so they will oppose any proposals and measures brought in by the Government, regardless of their possible positive effects on the citizen.

Because of the financial crises which started around 2009 and is still with us in 2012, the present coalition Government is bring in tough budgets with extra taxes etc and the Fianna Fáil party, the one temporarily removed from power, can stand up on the Dáil and complain at how it will effect the poor poor citizens, as if they had clear consciences and would not do such terrible things to the suffering citizens of Ireland.

All this is a joke and a farce on behalf of the political parties in opposition. In Ireland the Fianna Fáil party can have the luxury of being able to sit back, being well paid for doing so, and criticise every attempt made by the Government to tackle the enormous financial problems inherited from the previous Fianna Fáil Government and gloat that it is the new Government which will have to bring in unpopular measure after unpopular measure, thus guaranteeing the Fainna Fáil party the controls of power after the next, or at most, the second following General Election.

They can afford to criticise, while in truth they do not have any idea themselves as to how to improve the financial situation of the Nation. All they are capable of, and their only aim and purpose while in opposition, is to destroy the Government and have no regard, whatsoever, for the Nation. They destroyed the Nation and it is the new Government who have the headaches. The political system is so irrational that those who destroy this Nation are in fact in a better position and politically better off than those who attempt to aid the Nation.

Meanwhile the Irish citizens, those passive, submissive, very forgetful peasants, will end up paying more and more. No wonder the opposition are in a good mood. THEY WON'T LOSE. THEY CANNOT LOSE. Time is on their side and all they have to do is sit back and wait. The stupid and forgetful Irish peasants will put them back into power within the next ten years or so.

This opposition game is played by both sides, not just the side which is not in Government. The political parties in Government play the very same game. If any member of the opposition put forward a proposal for legislation, and if it has merit, the Government will say they reject the proposal as it stands but intend to put before the house their own proposals in due course. THIS IS AUTOMATIC.

It is a matter of principle that the Government will not accept any proposal from the opposition but will bring in their own version of the proposals. In other words it is not the case of 'the best ideas will rise to the top' but a childish game of rejecting the 'other side' and ridiculing their proposals, merely based on the political party the originator of the proposal belongs to.

There have been so many cases of this pathetic political attitude and yet I have difficulty finding examples and this is a clear demonstration of how it all works! In fact it is so common it has become an integral aspect of opposition politics. It's similar to the saying, you can't see the woods from the trees. It is difficult to find examples because the so-called democratic system is based on it. It happens every hour of every day.

We have all seen it, time and time again. The Government proposes new taxes etc. The opposition criticise these new proposals as a crushing blow to the citizens trying to eke out a living during these hard times. The following election the tables are turned and the political party who had proposed the new taxes are in opposition. The new Government proposes new taxes and lo and behold, the new opposition decry this oppressive dictatorial new tax as being totally unwarranted and a stranglehold on the poor citizens.

This is how politics works in these so-called democracies. It is all a joke - on the citizens. It is a game played out on the political stage. It is there to entertain the citizens and con them into believing that these political parties have civic motivation and are always on the lookout for the Government, the other party, attempting to misuse their power at the expense of the citizen.

These politicians get paid whether they succeed or fail, and the fact is ... they fail, the citizens, all the time.

Who Sets The Agenda

In present so-called democracies it is the political parties, with their manifestos and election leaflets, who decide the agenda. One could naively say that during an election the citizens have some say as to the political agenda for the forthcoming period of Governmental rule by the 'winners' but once in power it is the political party members, and they alone, who decide the proposals, legislation and regulation, and the allocation of financial resources.

I think I can safely say that it has happened on many more than the odd occasion, that promises made by political parties in the frenzied heat of an election, which at the time seemed binding, irrevocable and predestined to be enforced forever and ever with absolute surety and conviction, suddenly within a few weeks of the new Government taking power, become bypassed and thrown in the trash can of broken promises.

These promises had only one goal, to get the political party elected into Government, and these promises achieved their goal and fooled the citizens into voting for their political party. Needless to say these promises then quickly become impossibilities that can never be put into place, and subsequently are put on the long long finger. The political definition of 'long finger', for those not in the know, is - promises for the next election.

Not only do the political parties ignore the wishes of the citizens, although officially and publicly they make the usual reassuring noises, but each political party has its own agenda and spends time dismantling the structures put in place by the previous Government and then starts to implement its own agenda.

For example different political parties having different ideas about education. One will want to experiment with changing the curriculum, or may want to change the examination and marking system. Another political party may want to make all education public, while others may encourage private education. The resultant changes which are made usually leads to chaos in the first few years when teachers and students aren't sure what they are meant to be doing.

When a different political party get into power (the 'other' party), they usually decide to either undo the previous amendments to the education system back to the old 'tried and trusted' system, or may decide to bring in their own changes. Either way there is chaos again and it is the teachers and students who bear the burden of these see-saw opinions. The politicians, via the political party, are in charge of the system and don't have to interact with the citizens, they just announce directives.

Unfortunately the tragic inescapable madness is not only confined to the education system. Each political party has its own likes and dislikes, favourite targets for change and always these are backed by the political party's advisers, consultants and party bureaucrats, all with one eye on showing their supporters that they mean business and the other on the calculation as to how any measure will effect their chances of being elected in the following General Election.

There is the madness of nationalising some industry or infrastructure by one party - at great cost, only to be followed by the selling off of national assets by the 'other' party - at great loss to the citizens who have to pay for all this farce.

There are the changes and experiments in services. In the Irish health system there was a total overhaul of the health management system the result of which usually means an increase in the numbers of managers and a decrease in the number of on-line staff. The Irish health system is an utter shambles. Every new 're-organisation' makes things even worse!

Policing also usually gets the go-over from each party, more so in Britain. The previous Labour Government brought in a form of evaluation of the police service by getting them to fullfill Government targets - arrests, convictions etc. The quality of policing was irrelevant, just achieving the numbers. It was just another political gimmick with the intention of making the Labour party seem 'tough on crime'. That policy was not about protecting the citizens - just about achieving targets.

Often the civil service is interfered with. Local political structures are usually changed and one is often lead to suspect that it usually turns out, in the short term, to be beneficial for that political party bringing in the new changes.

Then, even more dangerous as to the long-term finances of the country, some parties are intent at giving increases in social welfare payments (the unemployment benefit, the pensions etc) and although it may be a very attractive way of enticing citizens to vote for them, in the long run will cause enormous problems, for whereas it is easy to decide to increase those payments, it is very unpopular to decrease them back to what they were originally. It gives the impression that one political party is generous towards the citizens and the other party is causing 'hardship on the poor'. Again, all of this gamesmanship is using the Public Funds for party political gains.

Most of the time, these political parties are very aware that some decisions they make will cost the citizens dearly, but they know that it will be the other political party who will have to deal with that problem. They can be generous because they have an eye to the future, whereas the future peasant citizen voters won't have a memory of the past, and the political parties know and understand that as an unquestioned fact - from experience. They will get away with it. We know it by it's true name - kicking the can down the road!

The political party system ENSURES that there can never be any longterm STABLE strategy or goal for the Nation and its citizens. The party political agenda as defined by both each party's corporate ideology alongside the personal likes and dislikes, the policies or 'whims' (to be more truthful) of the individual politicians - the more ambitious being the more dangerous, guarantees a political system which will always fail the citizens.

I use the term fail with regard to the effects on the citizens not the effects on the political parties. They will continue to be overpaid. They will continue to get generous allowances. They will continue to get very generous pension arrangements. All these generous payments to the politicians will continue, no matter what they do, no matter what negative effects they cause on the citizens - all this being paid for by the citizens who, provide the public finance so that those at the top can live lavish lives in their cocooned splendid comfortable world of unquestioned and uncontrolled feudal power.

Political Parties Own The Political Process

Most Constitutions in so-called democracies have some rule regarding the maximum period of the term of any Governmental and on reaching the end of that term a General Election must be held. This prevents any form of dictatorship evolving. It is one of the very few regulations which feebly and superficially protects the citizen from the feudal lord attitude which politicians hold.

There are cases where the Government decides not to run its full course, that it would be advantageous to them not to. In those cases the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) at the time comes to the conclusion that bes party would have an advantage if the Dáil was dissolved before it officially had to and so the decision is made to have a 'snap election'.

Usually this decision is made when that political party is riding high on the opinion polls, or it can even be the case that some external situation has put the citizens in a good frame of mind and have a positive attitude towards life, with the politicians always desirous to step in and take the credit.

As to what is more beneficial for the Nation is of no consequence or consideration. The political party, and its continuance and growth, is at the core of any criteria affecting all the decisions of all party members. If that means calling a General Election months or even a year or more before the end of the Governmental term then so be it. They are the feudal lords and General Elections are called when it best suits the political party in Government, not when it suits the Nation.

This is a blatant misuse of power. The citizens made their choice in the previous General Election, albeit a limited form of choice, and elected a Government, and then the Prime Minister, with the blinkered and focused viewpoint that the political party is the only overriding interest and consideration, decides to abdicate bes responsibility and hope that the citizens are so stupid and passive that they will be overcome with thanks, or positive feeling towards bes political party, and give them an increased mandate.

That this has actually happened in so-called democracies truly reflects the attitude of the politicians towards the citizens and the structure of Government itself. The political parties assume ownership of the political system, structures and processes. Political parties may have their manifestos, their policies, their aims and their goals but the bottom line for these parties is the attainment of political power, for itself, and the subsequent maintenance, preservation, and protection of that power within their political grasp - for their own profit.

The prime concern of any political party is the party itself, and all decisions are dependent on what effect they will have on the party, and whether that will have positive or negative consequences on the citizens will only become superficially relevant coming up to an election.

Political Parties And Electioneering

Then when the General Election is called the game played by political parties become ever more farcical. The political parties understand just how petty and childish the citizens are and use all the tricks of the trade to persuade the citizens that they should vote for their political party rather than the opposition.

There has been campaign rigging, I would say more so in the USA and perhaps possibly in Britain, though maybe that only goes to show just how good they are at this in Ireland. We all know of the behaviour of politicians in the USA. The politicians are owned by the large corporations and these, in turn, will go to any lengths to get 'their candidate' into a position of power so as to reap the rewards for their support, official and unofficial, public and private.

The political parties use innuendo and insinuation to try and make sure the citizen looks upon the opposition political party as a threat to their very freedom and prosperity. They twist the truth, they lie, they accuse each other of betraying promises made in previous elections. They use any trick in the book to gain the trust of the passive peasant citizens.

In so-called democracies vast sums are spent on anything which may fool the citizen. In Ireland, the citizens actually fund this propaganda and play-acting by the politicians because the political parties are given an allowance for electioneering from Public Funds. This is how crazy the so-called democratic system is in Ireland. The money earned by the citizens - Public Funds - are given to the politicians and political parties, and they use that money to pollute the democratic election process with lies, innuendos, and the usual promises of scraps from the master's table. This again is so much like the example I mentioned of giving the master the whip with which to be lashed.

But politicians will also promise 'give-aways' which entice sections of the citizens to vote in favour of that party regardless of the final cost to the tax-payers, as long as they gain. In the past a medical card was promised to all the over 70s which was literally playing to the greedy citizens who would gain. That political party won the election. It was the citizens who had to pay for this 'generosity' who lost. Somehow the citizens are so stupid during this election frenzy they forget that they will have to pay for everything that is 'given away' by the political parties. But because it is a feudal political system Public Funds are seen as belonging to the politicians NOT the citizens - even by the peasant citizens themselves!

There is also the disturbing fact that newspapers, and the media, take sides and publish positive stories and promote their chosen political party and denigrate and publish negative stories about a political party who may be found unfavourable by that organisation. Thus, one of the sections of life which, in theory, prints the 'truth' can pick and choose what stories they will print and ultimately choose what truth the citizens are allowed to read.

In the USA the system is far worse - for the citizens. Parts of the US media are nothing but propaganda for the right wing Republican party to the point of broadcasting lies and manipulating images. The political parties receive massive funds from large corporations to the point and reality where Government is owned by these corporations.

The US Supreme Court, in 2010, made a decision which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts on political advertising, known as Citizens United. This has two major negative effects. Firstly, the propaganda for particular politicians, or political parties, is only limited by the wealth of the corporations. Secondly, those who advocate more freedom and protection of citizens from the behaviour of corporations will not receive the advertising largess from these corporations and so the whole so-called democratic process in the USA will become more and more entrenched in corruption leading to the utter detriment of the citizen, and the derailment of any credible form of democracy, and will prevent the possibility of a future democratic system being installed.

The advantage - for the political parties - of having elections and electioneering based on the political party structure, is that the citizens can be deflected from the real important questions regarding future policy, that is if it is ever carried out after the election, by the tit-for-tat name calling and inter political party rivalry, with insults and scorn flowing freely.

The quality of the politicians, the quality of the political parties, the quality of their manifestos and policies often become mere footnotes to the more visual, newsmaking and immediate entertaining scene of political personalities brawling, feuding and muck-raking, with each party castigating the opponent's proposals and manifestos and foretelling the ruination of the Nation if the other party gets into power.

One of the most remembered examples of this was during a General Election in Britain in the 1996 when the Conservative party who had nothing to offer the citizens kept on depicting Tony Blair as a devil, though unknowingly they were very near the mark. It was an incredible scenario when taken as the means of deciding on which individuals are to 'run the country' and make far reaching decisions. The Conservative party was feebly attempting to persuade the citizens to vote for them because they portrayed the opposition leader as a person with red eyes - the devil. It was on that basis that the Conservative party thought it would be put back into Government to rule the Nation for another five years or so.

The political parties and the politicians themselves are turned into celebrities and promoted like products in advertisements. In so-called democracies presentation has a much higher importance than the substance behind it. The media are encouraged to depict the politician in all situations meeting all the various category of voters to make them appear to be one of the people. It is all propaganda. Goebbels would have admired the way the political media work in Nations like the USA. He would have been envious.

In so-called democracies the General Election, one of the most important processes within the democratic system, allowing the citizen to decide on who should run the country for the following five or so years has been turned into a show. It has become nothing more than a spectacle. An extravaganza. The fewer the real questions asked the better. The burning questions are skipped over. It has become a facade of a democratic choice by the citizens. The citizens are merely like the extras in a film. They are there just to fill out space, provide the vote, and then go back to their work, providing the means of authority and wealth for those feudal elite at the top. This is all just an imitation of what democracy should be, a window dressing of nothing less than what it is in fact - a pathetic, and very dangerous and destructive, feudal democracy.

The veneer of democracy is thin and usually rubs off as soon as the votes are counted. Political parties sometimes win and sometimes lose - elections, though within the reality of what is discussed in this chapter - they always win. The political parties ALWAYS win. The citizens - they ALWAYS lose.

I could most possibly include many examples of electioneering 'gone bad' in the USA but I think it would be utterly superfluous, except to say that the two main parties, along with their corporate backers, have sown up the electioneering system to such a degree that many American citizens aren't aware there are other political parties in existence.

Corruption In Democratic Political Systems

There is great advantage for the political parties and their elite members and supporters, especially those 'at the top', in a political system where the citizens have no say whatsoever, apart for their pathetic limited decisions during a General Election.

As it is the case that it is the political parties who set the agenda, with the peasants looking to them and hoping that some little scraps may come their way, it is to the political parties also that the wealthy business people look, for regulation and legislation which will be for the benefit of their businesses and further aid them in their amassing of wealth.

The main political parties, in ALL so-called democracies, receive huge donations from businesses. In one instance alone, an Irish politician, a former leader of the Fianna Fáil party, Charles Haughey, had been given massive donations by the wealthy business people, in one case he received over a £1 million over decades, from ONE individual businessman.

The tax laws have ALWAYS favoured the rich, from feudal times, and nothing has changed in the slightest in that regard. The tax laws, as set out by the Government, ALWAYS leave loopholes so that the wealthy - those who donate to the political parties - can get accountants to by-pass the payment of vast sums of tax which should have been paid. These wealthy individuals and businesses pay bribes to the political parties and subsequently don't have to pay millions in tax.

I don't think I need to point out that the USA doesn't do things by half measure. Their political system is so corrupt that words fail. At present Wall Street is 'donating' millions of dollars to the politicians, who in return, are giving the financial institutions billions in return. Now THAT'S is a good return on an investment!

Ireland is only a small Nation and yet the political corruption has seeped into every nook and cranny of our society - it is an integral part of the so-called democratic system. The corruption in other so-called democracies is to the same scale. Time after time, Government after Government, there is an unending list of incorrect payments and bribery to politicians and their political parties.

If it isn't a case of the wealthy, or large corporations, bribing the politicians, it is the politicians themselves partaking in the misuse and downright thievery of Public Funds. Politicians will always want to claim more allowances than they ever paid. In Britain they were claiming for all kinds of personal items, to the point where is could only be truly described as criminal activity - the politicians were robbing the citizens.

When the feudal elite decide to take from Public Funds and rob the citizens, there is very little the citizens can do. It is the feudal lord and the feudal elite who decide the rules and regulations which are to be enforced. And it is no surprise that the rules and regulations don't really cover the criminal acts committed by those at the top.

Some politicians even went as far as changing the law so they could not be prosecuted while in office. I am not only referring to Italy, or perhaps France. Corruption is endemic and systemic within all political systems, not just the so-called democratic ones and it poisons those systems. In dictatorships it is to be expected, but in democracies it defines the low level of true democracy of that Nation.

One could ask the question, why do the citizens allow all this?

Throughout history many corrupt systems along with their corrupt leaders have been overthrown, though usually only to be replaced by other just as corrupt and destructive systems. This, unfortunately, brings us right back again to human nature. It rears its ugly head again.

The problem in having a so-called democratic system in place is that the citizens, because they have been fooled into believing that they have a say on account of the system of electing their feudal lords being in place, are fooled into believing that their say can change things for the better by replacing the whoever is the present political party in Government with the 'other party', and therefore don't have the motivation or attitude, that the system itself must be overthrown.

The citizens in so-called democracies stupidly think that it is their system. They think that they own it. They think that it is pre-ordained. Therefore there is no contemplation of overthrowing of the system. Therefore no revolution. The indoctrination and propaganda works!

The politicians can sit happily on their 'good' fortune for, in general, the corrupt criminal politicians are very safe and secure in a so-called democracy. The very system itself guarantees a compliant, submissive, and passive peasant citizenry. What more could a politician want?

Although Ireland has been struggling financially over the centuries and was literally a Nation of servile peasants under British rule, one could say that since the year we attained independence, there have been those wealthy few, friends of the politicians, who have amassed fortunes, on which very little tax was paid. The wealthy financed the political parties and financed the individual politicians. The political parties and the individual politicians were indebted to those wealthy benefactors.

Business people do not spend money unless they get value for it. In Ireland, as with all the other feudal democracies, they got, and still get to this day, very good value for their political investment. In Ireland tax laws were lax. Financial laws were lax. The wealthy were even able to set up their own private bank designed specifically to bypass the tax system in Ireland, and even the politicians themselves availed of this 'service'.

On the face of it it seems incredible that a system of this type could exist in a democracy, where everyone is equal. But let us not forget, the tax system is part of the feudal authoritarian system where it is only expected, and purposely designed, that those at the bottom, the peasants, do the work, create the wealth, and do the paying, and those at the top do the squandering. That's how the system was designed and intended to work - then and as now. That is what it achieving and maintaining to this day, in 2012.

But the Irish Government decided to do one better. They decided to bring in a tax amnesty and allow their fellow associates of the hook.

In 1988, the Government decided to bring in a tax amnesty. This was for all those who owed tax on earnings which they had covered up over decades. In 1992 there was another tax amnesty. It is said that the two amnesties raised €900 million.

It is a simple fact that some of the politicians bringing in and backing the proposals for the tax amnesty, themselves, intended to use this amnesty. This truly reflects just how corrupt this so-called democratic political system is, which we have in Ireland.

We vote individuals into Government and authority, whose sole purpose and motivation for the most part is themselves and their associates, and once in power they pass laws to legalise their illegal behaviour, and also that of their benefactors and supporters - the feudal elite.

In 2002, the Government decided to bring in another tax amnesty. This was for all those who owed tax on earnings which they had covered up over decades. In 2009, another tax amnesty was introduced for those who hadn't paid stamp duty over decades.

There have been a few tax amnesties in Ireland. They ALL favour the rich. They ALL legalise the corrupt actions of the wealthy. These amnesties only ever helped those wealthy few - that strata of society who donate generous amounts to the political parties and individual politicians, with their professional tax and financial advisers, and their political party associates.

If you check the records in all so-called democracies the politicians have very wealthy friends. In EVERY democracy, and all other types of political systems, the politicians have very very wealthy friends and backers. That is how the system works. If you want legislation to be favourable to youself you pay the politicians for this to be done. The feudal lords has always socialised with the feudal elite - not the peasants.

When you have a feudal political system where power and authority is concentrated in the hands of a select few at the top, with no method of control by those at the bottom, then corruption and the purchasing of the political system itself is easy. In so-called democracies a Coup D'etat is never necessary. No military force is ever required. All that has to be done is to buy those few at the top and the Nation belongs to the 'highest bidder'.

In the United States the financial institutions, the bio-tech corporations and the insurance companies merely had to buy a few hundred politicians in the Senate and Congress and thus rule that Nation and reap profits in the hundred of billions. The US Nation is being run for the benefit of these companies. The American citizens have no say.

And there is one certainty - all the political parties always need funds. They are in a constant battle over power and authority and the attaining of it, the holding of it and the abuse of it. The more donations they get from the wealthy the better chance they have of obtaining that political power and the better chance they have of lining their own pockets and those of their benefactors. To the wealthy who support and donate to political parties it is an investment, pure and simple. And in EVERY so-called democracy it pays very handsome returns.

One could say that every single euro (or pound, or dollar) donated by the wealthy to a political party most likely, in real terms, costs the citizens hundreds, if not thousands of euro, because that is what the wealthy and the businesses get back in return, and what the citizens lose. The wealthy want a lot more than just 100% return on their investment, and they get it. While the citizen worries about the pennies and is contented when because of a political decision they can take home a few extra 'bob' in their pay packet the wealthy deal in millions. The scraps are always left for the peasant citizen for which they are expected to be thankful.

When you are the feudal lord all these things are easy to organise and so the political party's financial purse is always being filled.

There is another side to this corruption and bribery which in some cases is more covert and, as usual, unseen or unnoticed by the citizens.

This is where ex-politicians are given lucrative executive positions in large wealthy corporations as soon as they leave office. Whether it is the case of a pay-back and the politician is getting the rewards promised for favours done while in office, or getting paid for favours expected because of the close ties between the new fresh-faced executive and those ex-associates of theirs in positions of authority, doesn't make any difference. Either way the citizen loses out and the politicians and their associates win.

The very fact that large companies trip over each other to hire ex politicians, especially ex Finance Ministers or ex Prime Ministers, shows that there is political favouritism and those at the top in businesses have undue influence over decisions made by politicians in Government - undue if and only if there was a true democratic system in place.

The more corrupt the political party - the more resources it will be given.

The more corrupt the political party - the more determined its supporters will be.

The more corrupt the political party - the more likely it will be to be elected.

Corruption In Democratic Political Parties

Another usually hidden form of corruption and misuse of power, enabled by the democratic structure being based on political parties, is that of favouritism by the Government towards those who are members of that political party on a local level and looking after ones supporters, and more so, looking after those in control of the local political party committees and organisations.

Although this is acknowledged and taken as 'normal' political behaviour in Ireland, and I am sure elsewhere, which not only exist but also corrupts the whole political process, especially on a local level, actual specific details are far from being public because of their very nature.

It is only natural that in a political system with political parties as its core structure, where attaining power is akin to inhereting a feudal lordship, politics becomes a form of inter-gang, or inter-mafia, rivalry where each group looks to its own in the battle and as soon as one gang becomes more powerful than the other they put arrangements in place so that their supporters, and their organisers, gain the upperhand of any lucrative businesses, and appointments, available, especially any emanating from the State itself and based on the whims and the favouritism of the political party in power.

In Ireland political parties have their supporters and their local party associations setup throughout the Nation, in every constituency, in every town and community. Some few of these supporters may in fact be genuine supporters with civic intentions, and with the intention of making Ireland better for all the citizens, perhaps. Nevertheless the way the system is set up, when a political party gets into power those supporters and local organisers are looked after. They are the favourites of those in authority. They are first in line for all the rewards due, and earned, for supporting the 'winning party'.

But, like the self-focused greedy feudal elite which defines politicians, they realised they could take advantage of that local party system, some political parties more than others. What has happened in Ireland is that one political party, the Fianna Fáil party, understood that the more they organised the system so that only those who supported that party would get preferential treatment and special consideration, the more the ordinary passive citizen would come to understand that belonging to the local organisation of the party would entitle them to better pickings and so it attracted those who considered Ireland to be merely something to swindle.

As it was the case that the Fianna Fáil party held the reins of power in Government for far too many years, and became entrenched in this self-serving, corrupt and unjust system, it became the largest party with generous 'jobs for the boys'. It was to a degree, whether small or significant, similar to the method the communist parties utilise around the world. Those in the party are treated differently - better - than those not in the party. To belong to the party makes one special, more deserving - part of the feudal elite.

Worse still, when that party is the most corrupt party to have existed in Ireland, as the Fianna Fáil party is, this has a devastatingly negative effect on the already pathetic form of so-called democracy in place. The system gradually becomes one of gross incompetence throughout the Government and public system, both on a local and National level, where political favouritism and cronyism guides any and all decisions made.

As has often happened in Ireland in the past, and not too distant past at that, those with ability and drive, those with honesty and the hard working ethic, those who did not allow themselves to be swallowed up by the party system and become underlings to the local feudal party chiefs, those who had intelligence and ambition - honest ambition, would be forced to emigrate to fulfill their dreams and hopes, while those followers and supporters of the party took up the comfortable, well-paid, easy, undemanding positions given as part of the spoils of political war, with the resultant incompetence, failure, wastage and National destruction which was the only inevitable and natural outcome.

This, like all the systems put in place by the politicians in this feudal democracy, ensures that those who deserve the most, those with no political voice, those who don't follow the party, those with ability and drive, are all bypassed and those who find favour with the political party in power, and those in their entourage, are well provided for with the party's thanks and generosity. A Nation in which corruption, greed, favouritism and cronyism take precedence over ability and intelligence is a Nation doomed by its own stupidity. As I said about Zimbabwe - it is a Nation eating itself into oblivion.

Re-branding Government Departments

Most new Governments in Ireland tend to want to stamp their mark on the system to show that from this point onwards they are in charge, they are the new feudal lords, and usually both change the names of some of the Government Departments and even switch some of the functions from one Government Department to another.

This is just another whim of the political party elite, wanting to arrange things for their benefit and twist the system to suit themselves and their political egos, regardless of the efficacy of these changes in the long term. For the most part these political parties do not think in the long term because their only interests are within that short term between attaining authority by becoming the new Government, and being removed from power after the following one or two General Elections - to be replaced by . . . . the other party.

In some cases they make think it is for the long term but that is only their ego ruling their thoughts, for politicians come and go, it is only the catastrophic destructive results of their incompetent decisions which carry on for years, or even decades, to be born by the citizens. The political party which gets into Government after them will change things around again - to suit themselves, as the circus roundabout continues.

In Ireland, which may be an extreme example of this, it has come to the stage where it's difficult to know the official title of some of the Government Departments, they keep changing with every new Government. One can only presume that each of these childish examples of marking political territory costs money every time a new logo, new stationary etc have to be re-designed and printed, name plates changed and presumably civil servants re-assigned, and party associates promoted.

Creating New Ministerial Positions

It is not uncommon, it is not unnatural, for each new Government to consider that the political system belongs to them. Temporarily they are the feudal lords and elite. When a 'leader of the house', the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) needs to keep some of bes colleagues happy, be sometimes just creates a new Junior Ministerial post, or appoints them as chairperson on some committee or other, or creates a new quango and appoints the new executive, at the expense of the citizens, with the Taoiseach happy in the knowledge that be is the new lord of the kingdom and bes whims become fact - Governmental, political and National reality. The costs are of no concern.

This certainly happens when there is a coalition (when two political parties each don't have enough seats to form a single party Government and agree to form a Government together). Then the parties decide how many Ministerial posts each of the parties should get and if there are not enough Ministerial posts to placate all the political party pride then new Ministerial, or junior Ministerial, posts are created like magic, and shared out among the new 'kids on the block'. In some cases new committees are created, or executives of State bodies are retired early with suitable party replacements.

The whole system is set up so the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and bes political party rule not only the Nation but rule the system, as such. They ARE the feudal lords. It is THEIR system, to do as they please. But all the time it is the citizens paying for all these posts and appointments. If the feudal lord wants to reward a supporter, or colleague, be uses Public Funds to pay for it. This is the reality of Irish democracy.

Political Appointees - Friends To High Places

It happens all too often. In Ireland it happens all the time.

The newly elected Government appoint supporters and associates to executive positions on the boards of semi-state bodies and committees, and sometimes this happens even just before that political party in Government has to hand over power to the new Government - the 'other party'. This is a flagrant abuse of power and it is publicly acknowledged, by every citizen in Ireland, that this is the norm. This is feudal executive power - power used by an individual, or political party, solely for the benefit of that politician or political party - usually at the expense of the wellbeing of the citizens and paid for by the citizens.

The term used in Ireland is - 'jobs for the boys', or 'cronyism'. Ability is of no consequence. Competence doesn't count for anything. Expertise is not seen as part of the criteria. Loyalty to the party, and loyalty to the party leader - that is all that counts, beginning and end, nothing else.

To make matters worse, these positions tend to be very high salaried positions, with generous bonuses, with generous golden hand-shakes, and very generous pensions. ALL these positive benefits are given regardless of success or failure on behalf on that political appointee.

To a certain extent this all sounds a bit like the communist states, or a dictatorships, where the 'leader' has the say - total and absolute, without any opportunity of the citizen ever having any say or input into those decisions. And this also is how it all works in these feudal democracies - where Public Funds are being used, and wasted, in a personal and whimsical manner. People loyal to 'the party' are singled out for promotion and reward for that loyalty.

This has a negative effect on two levels. Firstly an incompetent individual in charge of these public bodies will not provide the service which the body was set up to deliver. Most cronies they appoint will also be part of this inept favoritism process. It will give the semblance of a Governmental body being put into place for the benefit of the citizens but because of its setup will be dysfunctional and ineffective from day one, and the service it was setup to provide will not be effective, will be wasteful, and its mere presence and existence will prevent a more functional body being set up for that purpose. The citizens will lose out.

Then, secondly, this incompetent individual will waste and misappropriate Public Funds, because they are part of the corrupt political infrastructure, with the motivation of 'looking after oneself' - that is why be supported the political party in the first place. This is utterly predictable and inevitable, because they have been appointed for reasons totally unconnected with their ability. The citizens yet again will always be the ones to lose out, while having to pay for the useless service.

We have seen this is Ireland where millions of euro have been utterly wasted and misused, time and time again, as if the money was flowing from public coffers which could be replenished at will, very much like the feudal lords of old, when they could increase the tax take anytime. To these feudal lords and feudal politicians, Public Funds were their personal funds, to do as they will.

Then to make matters even worse, if that were possible, and in this case it actually is, these individuals who should be publicly fired, arrested, tried and imprisoned for wasting and abusing and misusing Public Funds are forced to retire early, before they possible would be prosecuted or fired for their behaviour, and as a result for 'retiring' early are given even more than what they would have received had they remained in that position for the full period.

It is truly difficult to believe this, especially to those who live outside Ireland, but this has happened. In some cases these executives got even more Public Funds for corruption and for failing, and subsequently being forced out of their comfortable state positions than if they had succeeded and retired in the normal course of events. Their golden handshakes and pensions were actually increased because they had to leave office prematurely. This, in effect, rewards corruption and incompetence in the public service.

In a feudal political system the associates of the feudal lord are paid no matter what they do, no matter how corrupt. In a feudal political system the feudal elite don't have to earn the money they are being paid from Public Funds. In a feudal political system favourites of the feudal lord are paid even more for failing than succeeding.

This is an incredible situation. Waste, incompetence, criminality by those appointed by the politicians - and what happens on behalf of the citizen? NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING. The citizens are expected to shut up, be submissive, be passive, and keep on working to provide the Public Funds for more and more waste and misuse by the feudal elite. That is what democratic feudalism is. This is why the political system in Ireland can be described as 'rotten to the core'.

Political Parties With A Vision

Usually the only vision politicians and political parties have is their own continued political success and that of amassing more wealth and favour. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

The true nature of the level of how undemocratic the present political systems are in Ireland, Britain and other Nations is revealed in many ways but when a political party becomes the new Government and if it happens to have a specific policy, or party mission it wants to achieve, then the citizens truly become little more than passive bystander peasants and serfs to this ego-driven determination to change things as an experiment without any due regard for the future. It is a case of while they are in power. and they know it will only be a short time, they will overturn the status quo and bring in policies and legislation, based on their totally blinkered, and in some cases diehard viewpoint, which will be difficult to reverse and correct - by the 'other' party who will replace them.

This type of arrogant fanatical political policy is not necessarily just confined to the more left wing political parties but tends to be seen as being dominated by them, though this is certainly not the case. Some political parties want to nationalise the railways and spend a lot of Public Funds on the process which burdens the citizens with the cost, twice, for it is often reversed by the subsequent party in Government with the opposite viewpoint.

In Britain there were the coal mines, the railways, the domestic water infrastructure, health services, education services, law and order etc and everytime there are major changes the citizens are never allowed to have any input in that decision. The political parties come and go on the swings and roundabouts, and bring in sweeping changes, oblivious of and totally unconcerned as to their long-term consequence, and it is the citizens who are stuck with the longterm costs, disruptions and failures.

Our present financial troubles in Ireland, Europe and the United States was directly caused by politicians undoing and weakening regulations put in place to protect the citizens from the greedy reckless fraudulent behaviour by the financial institutions. Their criminal decisions for which I presume they received very generous donations have literally bankrupted Nations.

It is the feudal elite making arbitrary decisions without any regard or consideration as to the effect those decisions have on the citizens, both in terms of freedom, society, or financially. It is the mere whims of those in authority, ruled by their political egos and guided by their benefactors.

The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, in 2004 announced during his budget speech that he wanted to start a plan of decentralising part of every Government Department and transferring 10,000 civil servants out of Dublin (the Capital).

For some reason or other, or not, Charlie McCreevy (and some members of the Fianna Fáil party, and others), got it into HIS and THEIR heads that the Government Departments should be decentralised and spread throughout the country.

This involved the purchase and renting of property throughout the country. It involved enormous upheavals for many civil servants. Some were transferred from one Department to another. Other civil servants then had problems with promotion within any particular Department. Others had to be bussed every day to their new offices. It caused chaos.

The simple question is this: who wanted or asked for this disruption and tumult? Was it the citizens? Of course not. It basically was one individual - Charlie McCreevy, backed by his political party - Fianna Fáil who, under the impression that he, and his accomplices, were the feudal lords of all they surveyed, without any need, or obligation, to seek the opinion of the citizens - those people who would have to pay for all this egotistic blundering, before making these costly mistakes. This decision was made regardless of the effect on the citizens.

Another aspect to all this is that there was a 'feeding frenzy' among the politicians as to what part of the country the Government Departments, and State Bodies, should go. Not surprisingly at all, most if not all of the Departments went to the Constituencies of the Fianna Fáil politicians, and their PD coalition partners - in crime. It is the politicians using public money to further their own politician careers, by looking after their constituency, to ensure their re-election. It was yet again using Public Funds to bribe the local peasantry - buying votes, paid with the money taken from the citizens.

Another twist in this story is that the Fianna Fáil party, during the run up in the subsequent General Election promised to set up Government departments, or State Bodies, in some areas in order to persuade the local voters to cast their vote for that party with the typical result, and subsequent inevitable disappointment, that these promised new advantages to the region never materialised after the election votes were counted.

According to one report:
The Fianna Fáil Government has spent €331 million on acquiring and renting property so far in the scheme to re-locate 10,000 civil servants around the country. It seems that thus far, only just over 3,000 civil servants have actually moved out from Dublin.

The plans seem to have come to a halt. A badly planned, fanciful, egotistical political scheme has cost the citizens a lot of money. This is political arrogance, though this is only the tip of the iceberg of the utter contempt the politicians have towards the citizens. This could very well be compared to the attitude of the feudal lord as he made decisions and rulings oblivious to their impact on the local peasants. If he wanted to waste money on some fanciful scheme he could. He would. He did. His whims became law. His whims were law.

To end this tale of decentralisation here would be to leave the sorry saga of the abuse of the citizens of Ireland partly untold. That would be an injustice - to the citizens of Ireland.

In 2004, Charlie McCreevy was appointed, by Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach and leader of the Fianna Fáil party at the time, to the position of European Commissioner which he held for 6 years, retiring in 2010. At present he is getting a pension paid for by the Irish citizens and another pension paid for by the European citizens - which also includes the Irish citizens. HE has no worries at all. He is not paying for his mistakes.

According to reports: during his five years as EU Commissioner he earned more than €1.4 million, including a salary of €238,000 and a €35,000 residence allowance. Upon retirement he received a €537,000 step down payment (golden hand-shake) over a three year period to ease the loss of salary. He will receive a €51,000 per year EU Commissioner pension on top of his €70,000 a year Irish Ministerial pension and his €52,000 per year Irish TD pension (for being elected to the Dáil). For awhile he took up another post on the board of a new banking firm, NBNK Investments, but Mr McCreevy was force to resign from the board after an EU ethics committee found a conflict of interest with his work as a previous commissioner in charge of financial regulation. On top of all that he was offered an executive position on the board of Ryanair at a reputed €32,000 per year.

I think I can safely say that Charlie McCreevy has no financial worries. He is certainly not paying the price for his stupid crass egotistical criminal wasteful mistakes while in political office in Ireland.

THOSE AT THE TOP NEVER HAVE TO ANSWER FOR THEIR RECKLESS BEHAVIOUR.

They never have to answer to the citizens. EVER.

Addendum (26th January 2012)
According to the 3rd Report of the Organisational Review Programme published today by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, decentralisation has badly damaged the civil service. It finds that the policy, announced by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in 2003, led to a major hemorrhaging of corporate knowledge.

So, after paying well over €300 million for decentralisation, it turns out it was money WASTED.

The term utter waste is about the only suitable description for this fiasco. In 2002, or the previous year - part of this story is clouded in mystery, someone in the Fianna Fáil party decided that instead of using the paper ballot as in all the past elections, a system of electronic voting would be put in place. The Government ordered electronic voting machines.

They were used on a trial basis in the General Election in 2002 in 3 constituencies. There was some concern over the security of the electronic voting system and to make a long pathetic, costly, story short, it was finally decided, in 2009, to formally scrap the proposed electronic voting system for good.

On 6 October 2010, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen said that the 7,000 machines would not be used for voting and would be disposed of. As of October 2010, the total cost of the electronic voting project had reached €54.6 million, including €3 million spent on storing the machines over the previous five years.

This is what happens when the ego and personal whims of a few incompetent politicians dictate the decisions as to how Public Funds are squandered. In a feudal democracy the politicians make decisions without any regard for the citizens, and any failures which are both acceptable and inevitable will be paid for by the citizens. The politicians never pay for their mistakes.

No politicians has ever had to answer for the decision to spend so much Public Funds on something which was never used. In most, if not all cases of Public Funds wastage there is never the possibility of the politicians being punished. Even if they lose the following election, though this rarely happens for reasons to be explained later, they go away with a generous pension and leave the loss, or costs of the debacle, for the citizens to pay and sort out, as usual.

To truly depict the wastefulness of this disgraceful episode in Irish politics, just imagine piling up €54.6 million in O'Connell Street, the main street in Dublin, the capital city, and putting a match to it all and seeing it all go up in smoke. That is what may as well have happened.

€54.6 million for NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING.

The frightening aspect to this is that this wastage of €54.6 million was the result of merely ONE mistake. If we added up the cost of all mistakes over the past twenty or thirty years how much would it total? Tens, if not hundreds of billions of euro. I think it is a good thing we actually do not know. Though it wouldn't make any difference anyway.

(The Fianna Fáil party has attempted to fool the citizens into changing the voting mechanism in General Elections from Proportional Representation to 'first past the post' twice, in the 1950s and the 1960s, because they considered it would create a situation where that political party could possibly be in Government indefinitely. I wonder if the fact that there wasn't suitable security in the eVoting machines was seen by them as being in THEIR best interests!). See chapter 8 of this Feudal Democracy section (later!).

Example: Margaret Thatcher

This is a very good example of how an individual and her Government can be put in power and decide to utterly turn things upside down. In this case sowing the seeds of future catastrophe.

During her tenure in office the stock markets were deregulated, allowing the greedy to satiate their desire for more and more wealth. Many national industries were privatised and sold off to the wealthy private sector. Protection for the citizen was seen as irrelevant. The markets ruled. Quality of life was not judged to be as important as the quality of the bank balance of the wealthy and greedy.

That is not to say ALL her policies were incorrect, but rather, that in a democratic political system the notion that one individual politician, or even one political party, can be put into power and utterly change things 'forever' without any recourse to the wishes of the citizens is nothing other than a feudal dictatorship.

The fact is that her encouragement of the market and the unleashing of their power and force without regulation, could not have had any other result but the one of negativity and financial upheaval as occurred, and which was ultimately to the detriment of the citizens. The British citizens will be paying the price for her stupidity and arrogance for decades to come.

In fact things are still becoming worse day after day for the British because their Government is still under the influence of the City of London and are mesmerised by the propaganda from the financial institutions.

As always, those who made the reckless decisions do not pay for their failures. Margaret Thatcher never had to pay for her mistakes. It is the British citizens who are losing out.

Ruaírí Quinn, our present Minister for Education intends to see to it that education is taken out of the hands of the religious. He also wants to change the points system (marks awarded depending on the results achieved for different subjects in the National Leaving Certificate Examination taken by all students before leaving the Secondary Education). He also want to make the 'continuous assessment' an important aspect of the student evaluation system.

Whether these aims are suitable and necessary, and whether they will be productive in the long term is not the point here. Many may personally agree with some of the aims, but the problem is that it is, yet again, the case of one politician putting his aims forward and deciding to change the system, at HIS whim. It is HIS agenda. These changes may last for years, or decades, or be reversed within months after the 'other party' gets into Government. The cost of all these changes will be born by the citizens whether it is successful or not. It may even end up being detrimental to both the finances of the Nation and the education of young Irish citizens.

Some of these proposed changes to the education system were put in place in Britain some years ago under the Labour Government. Now, in Britain, these changes are being reversed. Whether it is Britain, or Ireland, or any other so-called democratic country, changes of this nature should not be dictated by any temporary politician filled with a self-inflated opinion of beself, or even by any political party temporarily in power.

Politicians come and go, and end up with generous pensions no matter what they do. It is the citizens who are left 'holding the baby'. It is ALWAYS the citizens who are left 'holding the baby'. At present, in this feudal democracy, the citizens are expected to live under conditions altered at the whim of individual politicians - the overlords.

Update: In July 2014 he resigned during a cabinet reshuffle and left politics at the following general election. Now he is retired and living on a generous pension and the chaos, which he started, and which he has left behind in the education system continues. It is not his worry. Why should he give a damn what happens now? Now, it is the problem of the next few Ministers for Education. The citizens and students just have to put up with it. That's the nature of the system. This is a very typical example of just how dysfunctional a Sham Democracy truly is.

In Ireland Government after Government have 'played with' the number of Civil Servants and Public Sector workers and increased them in bad times, to help lower the unemployed figures, and when times were good to theoretically improve services for the citizens.

In Ireland, the previous Fianna Fáil Government, led by Bertie Ahern increased the numbers employed in the Public Service. From a certain viewpoint one may be misled to believe that this increase would be a good thing for the citizens and would guarantee a better service and a better Nation. This was never the case. and was a typical example of more and more spending on less and less quality returns.

Firstly, when an inefficient organisation becomes bloated the inefficiencies increase and the attitude of those working in the Public Sector become more disconnected with the actual raison d'etre of the existence of the Public Service - providing a service to the citizens of Ireland. Secondly, the power of the Public Sector unions increased and so all the reforms that were necessary, and even more so every time the Public Service increased, were made more and more difficult to achieve.

Those working in the Public Service ended up with better and better working conditions and arrangements to the point where for many in the Public Service they were being treated far better than those workers in the Private Sector who are the ones paying the taxes to fund this semi-elite service. The amount of leave some state employees receive can be double that of ordinary workers. In one State body staff can get up to 44 extra annual leave days in the two years before their retirement. Sligo Regional Hospital has a staff of 1,368 but an absenteeism rate of 6.92% - leaving it 94 employees down every day. According to figures for 2007 the average number of sick days per employee across the civil service was 11 days. There is absolutely no possibility of that being allowed to happen in the private sector but in the Public Sector it is the norm.

Time and time again there were revelations as to the comfort and extraordinary benefits which the workers in the Public Service have as compared to those workers in the Private Sector. But all this is just more of the same - the squandering and wastage of Public Funds. Most Governments don't want to tackle that problem and so they leave it for . . . the other party.

As was often the case when the Fianna Fáil Government, who always managed to create great wastage in the short few years they were in Government, was replaced by the Fine Gael and Labour party coalition, changes were made to decrease the numbers in the Public Service. Yet, time and time again, all these attempts to bring the Public Service spending and numbers under control itself cost money, with generous redundancy payments. To show how useless it was when they were replaced by 'the other party', Fianna Fáil, many were re-employed.

In 2011 the Irish, thinking they were punishing the Fianna Fáil party by putting it out of Government and replacing it with the Fine Gael and Labour party coalition, are hoping that they will bring in the changes necessary to put a stop to all this squandering of Public Funds. And this is what the coalition Government are trying, in their pathetic and limited way, to do now, in 2012. But all these changes are TEMPORARY.

It is an incredible fact that there are some people in Ireland who actually think that Ireland has 'turned a corner' and will get back to a streamlined and useful Public Service. Those who think that are among those desperately forgetful citizens I've already mentioned. NOTHING CHANGES IN A FEUDAL DEMOCRACY. The only 'corner to turn' leads one to a roundabout. . . . and the swings . . . and more of the same. But there are the fools. . . .

Enda Kenny (Taoiseach) speech - 17th Nov 2011
To make Government leaner we are going to reduce the total number of people employed in the public service back to more sustainable levels and make Government more cost efficient by merging agencies together or back into Government Departments.

Not part of the speech itself, but added information:
The published document confirms that the number of public sector workers will have been reduced by a further 23,500 from the beginning of 2011 to 2015. There are currently just under 300,000 public service workers.

Now, on a superficial level, all this seems very laudable and positive and may give all those who have no concept of how this feudal democracy works a totally incorrect and misinformed, and utterly foolish idea of what the future holds for the Irish Nation.

Of course the numbers working in the Public Service need to be reduced. Of course the pay and conditions need to be reformed. These things need to be done.

The problem is that all these reforms are an utter waste of time. They are merely temporary window dressings. The unquestionable, guaranteed, dependable, certain and inevitable fact of this feudal democracy is that all the reforms, all the controls and all the limiting of Public Service employee numbers will be overturned within a few years of the next Fianna Fáil Government coming into power.

IT HAS ALL HAPPENED BEFORE when the Public Service was bloated under Charles Haughey's feudal term of office, and was subsequently cut back with plenty of severance pay etc, only to be rehired in some cases very soon afterwards. It will all happen again, in about ten years time when the . . . . 'other party' get back into Government.

As I pointed out earlier, this Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, is a temporary Taoiseach and all the reforms and all the streamlining and all the cutbacks are temporary, for this political system is based on the political parties and it is they who control the destination of this Nation and it is they who will change things to their liking without any regard for the citizens and it is they who rule the peasant citizens - that is how a feudal democracy works! They rule us - we don't rule them.

In reality, all these reforms are temporary and as such a waste of time. The political system as set up in Ireland gives the political parties carte blanche. The Nation is their plaything. Public Funds are THEIRS to use at their will.

Minority Government

This has happened on many occasions in so-called democracies and calls into question, even in the minds of those who foolishly consider they are living within a democratic political structure, the strength of the political system itself.

What happens is that one of the major political parties obtain just a few seats less in the Dáil than what would be required to form a majority Government. The party, on the brink of feudal authority, desperately requires the backing of a few independent politicians and is willing to sell, not only its own soul, but will also willingly, without thought of the consequences, promise anything they have, or intend to get their hands on when in power, to these independents in order to become the Government majority.

Whether the handful of politicians backing the minority Government are a political party or individual politicians, makes no difference, either way these few individuals obtain more power than they ever should be allowed to have, if based on the votes and wishes of the citizens in the General Election.

But the wishes of the citizens are of no account whatsoever to a political party frantically grasping for power. The leader of that political party, the 'future Taoiseach', will promise anything, anything at all, to get bes hands on the reins of power. Be will give anything. Be will spend any amount of public money to attain that exalted position of feudal lord.

There are many instances in the last twenty or thirty years in Ireland's political history when independent TDs were able to demand funding for projects in their constituency and also chairperson-ships of committees - the former to ensure their re-election, and latter to ensure their pockets are lined, in order to secure their support for that minority Government.

After the Irish General Election in February 1982, when the Fianna Fáil party failed to obtain an overall majority, the leader of that party, Charles Haughey bought the support from a Dublin politician, the independent Socialist TD, Tony Gregory. What was promised for his support was estimated to be a total of £100 million (if carried out in full), in the form of a £100 million of investment in the Dublin North Inner City. This deal came to be known as 'The Gregory Deal'. (It is reported that £850,000 was offered by Garret Fitzgerald of the Fine Gael party, which obviously wasn't quite as enticing as the £100,000,000 offered by Charles Haughey!).

To think that a political system where one individual, or even one political party, could promise to spend £100 million (or even £10 million) of Public Funds so as to bribe an independent politician in order to obtain bes 'support' and thus acquire a majority in order to be able to form a new Government, could be described as a democratic system, not only by the politicians but also by the citizen victims is beyond belief. Yet it is so. This is feudal dictatorship even Mugabe would be envious of.

This was just one example of the utter contempt which politicians have towards the citizens of Ireland. That the citizens accepted this perverse abuse of political power with their usual passive, submissive, peasant attitude should fill every citizen everywhere in the world with despair and utter shame. To a degree, the citizens must be given the benefit of the doubt - it wasn't only a reflection on the citizens' meekness and peasant-like attitude, but rather the acceptance of the futility of complaining by the neutered citizens in this feudal democracy.

Charles Haughey was in no other terms, a feudal lord, ruling his domain. Public funds were HIS to squander, to be used to bribe politicians for political support, and misused in any manner he so decided. He BOUGHT political power and authority using Public Funds - the money the citizens had to pay towards the running of the Nation. To Charles Haughey, this wasn't money for the running of the Nation. As feudal lord, he considered that this was money which he could spend at his whim. This was HIS money, to squander at HIS will.

King Louis XIV of France is reputed to have said "L'Etat, c'est mois". In order words "I AM THE STATE". I'm not sure if Charles Haughey spoke French, though during the time when the Irish were told they needed to wear hair-shirts and cut back on their spending, he travelled to Paris and bought very expensive shirts from a very expensive 'shop', the money used being from the leader's allowance, in other words, Public Funds. He may not have said those words in French but he certainly had the same feudal lord arrogant frame of mind.

Minority Policies

Apart from the abuse of Public Funds to buy support from a few 'outsiders' in order to gain enough votes to form a Government, there is an even more undemocratic aspect to minority Governments.

Usually these few independents force the Government to adopt some of their policies and it has often been the case that regulations are brought in which the citizens NEVER VOTED FOR. More often than not it is the Greens or some other marginal party who become the 'king makers'.

The citizens will be subjected to the policies of these few individuals despite the fact that these policies were not supported by the majority of citizens. This is unbelievable in a democracy, but the political party desperate to get those few extra votes will cast aside democratic principles (they never really believed in democratic principles in the first place, anyway), will promise any amount of Public Funds, and will even subject the citizens to regulations which the citizens do not want, just in order to become the new Government and begin to settle in to five years of feudal excess and wastage.

To them it is a price worth paying. Of course it is not they who pay that high price for feudal power and authority. It just comes out of the pockets of the citizen peasants.

Waste Of Public Funds

This is only the tip of a massive unseen iceberg of waste of Public Funds to buy power. In Ireland there is the so-called 'leader's allowance'. The allowance was introduced in 1938 and was only given to party leaders and was based on the number of sitting TDs each party had.

In 2001 however, it was extended to Independents, when the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats coalition was dependant on the support of four Independents, and were willing to use Public Funds to buy their 'loyalty' and attain political power. This allowance did not have to be accounted for, or vouched for - it was just given, with no questions asked. At that point in time the leaders of the two parties (Bertie Ahern and Mary Hearney), desperate to become the new Irish Government, didn't care what was done with the bribery money as long as the independent politicians supported their elevation to feudal lordships. They didn't care what was done with the money stolen from the citizens.

So now, all independents who have been elected in the General Election 2011, are entitled to claim a €41,152 'party leaders allowance' which is paid annually. This is on top of their €92,000 salary. If the Dáil runs for the five years period allowed per Government term they each will receive the €205,000 leader's allowance tax-free and no accounting whatsoever for what they do with the money.

Legislation was introduced by former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy which forced all leaders of political parties to show the Standards in Public Office Commission how the money had been used. This ruling however did not extend to the independent politicians. A proposal to audit the allowance for independent TDs was dropped, for they still required the support of the independents. These independents still get that money without any strings attached.

This is a good example of how a decision by one, or more, politicians or political parties during their period in office, though in this case it was a bribe in order to attain that political authority, can carry for decades and to some extent be impossible to stop. This began as nothing less than bribery using Public Funds and is now, in these financially bankrupt times, National thievery.

The Irish politicians, elected by the Irish citizens are robbing the very same Irish citizens day after day after day. There are people working in Ireland for less than half that amount, on the minimum wage, and yet these independents get this €41,000 TAX-FREE on top of their €92,000 salary and that is not even taking into account all the other allowances and all the other expenses they receive.

This is NOT democratic politics. This is NOT a political system where the citizens reign supreme. This is a political system where the citizens are expected to go out and work for little pay and generate Public Funds which the feudal lords can waste and squander at their will, without any opportunity whatsoever for the citizens to be able to say STOP.

To have a political system like the one we now are burdened with in Ireland, where a few independents can dictate to the major political party turns democracy on its head. A few individuals can upturn the decisions of the citizens and hold THEM to ransom. In this type of political system the term passive, submissive, victims as a description of the citizens of Ireland is a gross understatement.

Titbits For The Electorate (Divide and Conquer)

I am sure very little has to be said about the promises each politician and bes political party makes during the run-up before a General Election. But if you stand back and consider the situation as a whole - the absurdity, and pettiness, the greediness, the childish stupidity of it all you could easily come away with the conclusion that the whole system is a frightening example of just how absurd and inadequate the so-called democratic system has turned out to be.

It could very easily be compared to the usually comic situation portrayed in some films where two people, on opposite sides of a room, are trying to entice a pet dog, sitting in the middle of the room, to come over to them rather than the other person by saying silly things, or making stupid sounds, and trying to entice them with a piece of their favourite food etc. We have all seen it. It's a good laugh. It is comical. It's funny. And why? Because IT IS RIDICULOUS. It is PATHETIC. It is a FARCE.

Yet that is how politics and electioneering is carried on in so-called democratic countries at the present time. The citizens are treated like morons and stupid children and the politicians, desperate for power, make whatever promises are required to bribe, though the term fool would be more appropriate because these promises are rarely actually carried out, the citizens into giving them their vote.

Whereas in the films the people trying to entice the pet to come to their side of the room are the ones depicted as being childish and petty, with the pet seen as sensible or disinterested, in the case of this so-called democracy, it is not the politicians who are the childish ones but rather the citizens, hoping to be enticed by what little empty promises the politicians will make in order to get them to part with their vote.

In Ireland new schools, or the upgrade of schools, in a local area are promised and guaranteed by the politicians standing for election. Promises are made to keep the local hospital open. Promises are made to decentralise a State Department to the locality. Promises are made for road repairs. Promises are made for a reduction in tax for property transactions (this was not only a bribe by politicians to get back into power, but had a devastating result in the encouragement in property dealings which contributed to the present financial destruction now experienced in Ireland). Promises are made for anything the politician can think up. Promises are made for everything which the stupid, short-memoried, selfish, backward local Irish peasant can think up.

Naturally enough as soon as the votes are counted most of the promises are forgotten and the feudal raid of Public Funds carries on unabated.

But do keep in mind, that even if the politicians DID carry out some of their promises, made only with the intention of being re-elected, for example the decrease in property transaction tax, or the increase in pensions, it is the citizens who will be paying for these election promises. It will be the citizens paying for these election bribes. It will be the citizens paying for all this feudal political largess.

The most destructive type of promises made by politicians during electioneering are those connected with the welfare state. The welfare state can only exist if it is regulated and controlled - for the benefit of the citizens paying for the system but the politicians see the welfare state as something to be used as a bribe. Increases in pensions, unemployment rates, medical cards, child allowances and whatever else they can promise to increase will be used by the politicians to buy that extra vote. It is literally a case of stealing from the citizens in order to bribe voters.

Nevertheless the citizens will be expected to be thankful for the political party's generosity. A feudal peasantry should be expected to be thankful for the petty scraps thrown by the feudal lord. In a democracy the citizens should not be expected to be thankful for anything done which is paid from Public Funds - their own money.

It is important to step back from this typical scenario and truly see just how twisted this so-called democratic political system works. Despite the fact that, as stated above, the theory of democracy is that the citizens have ultimate power and authority in a democratic system, they are powerless, they are truly passive (though some still are under the impression that because they have a say in an election that they are in charge), it is the politicians who have taken total control over the system and they promise tit-bits to the citizen - the citizen who should have these things AUTOMATICALLY (depending on resources etc).

The politicians have the upper hand with the citizen scrambling in the dirt to grab what little they can. This IS divide and conquer. It fools the citizens into thinking in terms of what they personally can get from a politician during an election, rather than as a citizen, thinking of the Nation and what is good in the National interest.

This is not a political system where the most deserving are given the most from Public Funds, but rather, the evaluation of what a person deserves is based solely on what the politicians, themselves, can get out of the deal. It is the citizen who must meet the criteria to deserve this political largess, and the criteria is unquestioned support, loyalty and fealty to the feudal lord.

Merit does not count for anything in a feudal political system. In a feudal political system the purpose of that system is designed for the benefit of the feudal lord and the feudal elite - NOT the citizens.

Peasants scrambling in the dirt for pennies thrown from the public purse by the politicians is a good and fair description of the situation in so-called democracies in 2012.

Secrecy - Keeping Citizens In The Dark

One of the main reasons these political parties get away with the corruption and mismanagement and abuse of Public Funds is this veil of secrecy which has been built up over the decades by all the political parties. Though yet again, this is just a continuation from feudal times where the peasants and serfs had no right whatsoever to question, or even be made aware of, the feudal lord's actions and behaviour.

Since the foundation of the Irish nation, as with most other so-called democratic countries, secrecy has been the method used to guarantee an ignorant and submissive citizen peasantry. Year after year the politicians and their associates feather their own nests and the incompetence grows and grows exponentially. The misuse of Public Funds grows and grows exponentially. And yet there are no revolutions in the West. There is no attempt to overthrow the system. The peasant citizens accept their fate, for the most part passively, though possibly aggressively and despairingly, discontented.

Basically it cannot be any other way. Most of the truth as regards the political incompetence, misuse of Public Funds, and corruption is hidden. It is very difficult to get the information. The citizens are kept in the dark. Some news media do, on occasion, publish information which causes consternation among the citizens but what is revealed can only be assumed to be a small tiny fraction of what is being covered up.

There is a freedom of information act but it is not designed for information to freely flow to the citizen. Rather, it is set up so the citizen must know what to look for and what to ask for in the first place.

In so-called democracies, like in Ireland, the citizens have put these politicians in positions of authority and control and that is definitely what they do - they certainly do control the information fed back to the citizen. So, on the one hand they are hiding negative information about their activities using Government secrecy, and on the other, they hire PR and advertising companies to disseminate false positive information about themselves - paid for by the citizens.

It is no wonder that this is happening. The politicians do not have to answer to the citizens. In a feudal democracy the citizen cannot question, or judge, the feudal lords and the feudal elite, except at election time. The citizens are treated by the politicians from the lofty viewpoint of the masters who make the decisions, on the pretence that it is for the benefit of the backward childish citizens, and do not expect those citizens then to have the impertinence to want information as to what these politicians are doing behind closed doors.

For the most part the citizens in so-called democracies decide which politician and political party to vote for based on misinformation, propaganda and secrecy regarding all those activities which the political parties do not want the citizens to be aware of. In so-called democracies it is the political parties who decide the level of information available to the citizens. This is an unbelievable and astonishing situation - if this was a democracy.

The Budget - Continuous Failure

The Budget is a extremely good example of all the things that are wrong with these so-called democratic systems, when run by political parties.

Each political party has its own ideas of what it wants to use the Public Funds for (apart from lining their pown pockets). Not only that but each Minister for Finance has bes own ideas of how to use the Public Funds. Not only that but in the past Governments have recklessly borrowed internationally, usually with secrecy as regards what the money is spent on, with the result that the Nations end up being in so much debt that a large portion of revenue went towards paying the interest on those loans.

In other words the Government can not only misuse, squander and waste Public Funds but can also, without any controls or regulations, borrow more money from international banks to misuse at their will. There are no regulations whatsoever in place to prevent a Government from bankrupting the Nation. Once the citizens elect the new Government, that new Government can do absolutely whatever it wants to do as regards the finances of the Nation. The citizens just have to passively accept their lot.

WHAT UTTER MADNESS!

In the past, the 1980s, Ireland was repaying huge interest on loans. There was no banking crises to blame. This was caused directly by the Government, elected by the citizens. This was wanton abuse of political power to borrow money for two reasons. Firstly, a Government which borrows and maintains a good standard of living for the citizens will most likely be re-elected, so they put the citizens, or future citizens, in debt in order to bribe those citizens to vote for them. Secondly, a Government with 'spare cash' can be generous to both themselves and their associates and can cover up failures.

In the past we had dramatic increases in the number of people employed by the Public Service, to be followed, when the good times came to an end and the opposition got into power, by the reduction in the Public Service numbers with the added cost of severance pay, redundancy etc. Then we had the decentralisation wastage.

We had a Government bringing in legislation which not only ignored the financial bubble that was growing during the 'celtic tiger' years but actually promoted and enticed its insane unregulated expansion, to be followed by the inevitable opposite - ruination.

Then we had budget after budget increasing the cost of the welfare state by increasing unemployment payments - in one case at the same time when there was a hue and cry nationally for extra workers from abroad. We had budgets increasing pensions, increasing eligibility for the medical card, increasing benefits for ex-Prime Ministers, creating leaders' allowances and generally trying to find any random reckless avenue whereby the extra revenue created by the property and financial bubble could be wasted - as long as it was seen as feudal political - party political - largess.

Just on the Budget alone one could write a book listing all the wastage, all the errors, all the stupid decisions and subsequent contradictions and reversals, culminating in our present predicament - a dysfunctional political system and a bankrupt Nation.

So, in simple terms, a political system where there are political parties, each Budget will be different. That is inevitable. That is inherent in the political process itself. Each Budget will have different aims. Each Budget will have different weaknesses and errors. Thus there will be no continuity whatsoever. There will be no stability whatsoever. There will be no steady improvement in the wellbeing of the citizens.

Each Budget will be random. It will be random in its effects, may contradict or attempt to reverse aspects of a previous budget, will be haphazard in its successfullness, will squander and waste vast amounts of Public Funds, and be detrimental for the citizens in the long term.

Politicians come and go. They end up with huge pensions and golden hand-shakes. Political parties come and go in Government. Political parties have two aims, to further themselves and to further the party. For them, the future wellbeing of the citizens is not their concern. It is the citizens themselves who need to be thinking about the longterm because it is they who will reap the devastation for the failures in the decisions made without their agreement, and in some cases without their knowledge, in the Budgets implemented by the political parties.

If you consider past Budgets in most Nations there is only one conclusion that can be reached. THEY ALL FAILED. They all, slowly but surely, had a catastrophic negative effect on the Nation.

Another point here, and connected with the previous section, and that is on more than one occasion in Ireland, and this also happens in other Nations, a new Government on obtaining office was shocked when confronted by the debt of the Nation because the amount of this debt had been kept secret, because, for the most part, Governments can do what they like once they obtain that majority. They answer to no one. The Public Funds are theirs to waste and squander at will - like the feudal lords of old.

Summary

To view the political system in Ireland, and other so-called democracies, with un-blinkered and clear vision gives one an astonishing and incredible truth - a frightening truth.

Because of the existence of political parties, the citizens can only choose a set of pre-packaged proposals, which may or may not be actually carried out after the election, and end up switching betwen the party which promised all but failed, to be followed by the party that promised all and failed.

The citizens, giving away their absolute power and authority, elect individuals, usually based on the political party they belong to, who become part of the new Dáil and become one of the new feudal elite to exploit the position they were elevated to, for their own benefit and that of their associates.

As soon as the politicians are elected, all the power and authority is totally removed from the citizens, and it is abused, controlled and defended to the point where the citizens, supposedly the masters in a democracy, become the submissive, passive, subservient, peasants who are expected to be happy with their lot, and thankful for the largess of the politicians, if they so decide to be generous.

Because of the whole structure of the political system there is no useful control or rational order because each of the political parties change things on a whim when they get into power. Everything is random and haphazard. The whole political system is detrimental to the future well-being, prosperity, and freedom of the Irish citizens.

Then, when things get bad and the citizens realise that the whole political process is corrupt, and this is the only true description of what happens, the citizens, like the peasants of old, submissively and passively wait for the feudal lords to hopefully, and possibly, condescend to enact laws or put in regulations, or amend the system, for the benefit of the citizens. How foolish can a people be?

Another aspect which is totally revealing as regards the lack of any democratic nature of the system is that in reality one could foresee 100 years into the future and in Britain there will still be the Conservative. Labour, and perhaps Liberal Parties. In the USA there will still be the Republican, and Democratic parties. In Ireland there will still be the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Labour parties (and Sinn Féin).

Political parties hijack the political system and make a mockery of the term democracy.

In effect, not design, in effect - political parties are a conspiracy against the citizen.

In reality, a so-called democratic political system with political parties at its centre, can only ever be a dysfunctional political system, with inbuilt financial, social and regulatory instability.

IT IS STARK RAVING MADNESS TO HAVE A POLITICAL SYSTEM WHERE THE POLITICAL PARTIES RUN AND OWN THE SYSTEM.

IT IS STARK RAVING MADNESS TO HAVE A POLITICAL SYSTEM WHERE PEOPLE IN TEMPORARY POSITIONS OF POWER ARE THE ONES WHO MAKE THE DECISIONS WHICH HAVE LONGTERM CONSEQUENCES.

IT IS STARK RAVING MADNESS TO HAVE A POLITICAL SYSTEM WHERE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE AFFECTED BY LONGTERM DECISIONS HAVE NO SAY IN THOSE DECISIONS.

It is THEY, the political parties, who own and control the whole democratic system, from start to finish. In truth, it is as far from any true form of democracy as any political system can be.

It is literally a case of THE CITIZENS MEEKLY ACCEPTING THEIR FATE at the hands of those who rule and control them.

In so-called democracies, the existence of political parties with their fixation on their own survival and growth, and desire for the grip on power, their political party favouritism, cronyism and their rewarding of their 'loyal' supporters, guarantees continued eternal destruction for the citizen and the system. This is inevitable, for generation after generation after generation.

Rather than the Nation progressing and evolving with conscious purposeful design, stable Budgets, and rational long-term planning with the aim of improving both the organisation of the Nation along with its resources, and also the wellbeing of the citizens for their own benefit, Governmental rule within the political party feudal hierarchical system is a mish-mash of kneejerk reactions to previous failed incompetent egotistical party political decisions, for the most part secret misuse of Public Funds, appointments and promotions of incompetent loyal party followers, designed extreme unaccountability, along with all the propaganda, lies and deceit, to be followed by more of the same, to be followed by more of the same, to be followed by more of the same, to be followed by more of the same, until this Nation eats itself to oblivion and bleeds to death.

It is truly the most stupid, unproductive, irrational, mindless, useless, destructive, wasteful, destabilising, undemocratic political system one could devise.

This sums up the democratic political systems in many Nations of the world.

This sums up democracy in Ireland in 2012.

As I was putting the last touches to this chapter I noticed something in the Irish news which totally and absolutely confirms what I have been saying in this chapter.

A new opinion poll shows the opposition is gaining support at the expense of the Government parties in the wake of the Budget. This harsh budget brought in by the Government of the Fine Gael and Labour coalition is a direct result of the financial destruction cause by the Fianna Fáil party over the past decade. Yet the popularity of the Fianna Fáil party is ALREADY increasing by 5% to 20%, less then one year since they brought this Nation to financial ruin.

The stupid Irish citizens today are blaming the present Government for the harsh Budget rather than realising the truth of the matter.

I knew that the short-sighted, shot-memoried, backward and stupid Irish citizens were going to forget about what the Fianna Fáil party had done to this Nation (and not for the first time), but I could never have guessed that it would begin to happen within one year - WITHIN ONE YEAR - of them destroying this Nation!

The Fianna Fáil party members, and their loyal followers, can rub their hands with glee and can have confident smirks on their faces. Not only is there a good chance that they will be put back into Government in two General Elections time, but it seems a possibility that they will be put back in Government in the NEXT General Election - five years after they made this Nation bankrupt!

This makes me want to cast away my Irish citizenship in shame. What a stupid, backward, foolish citizenry this Nation gave birth to. Even taking our past history into account, as per another chapter, there are times I truly believe the Irish citizens deserve to be treated with contempt by the politicians - they deserve contempt - they have earned it. It is justified.

The Egyptians, the Syrians, the Libyans, the Tunisians and citizens of other dictatorial Nations REFUSE TO BE SUBDUED and demand a better political system, and the Irish - the pathetic Irish - each one just thinks of beself - the peasant Mé Féin attitude.

Sadly, this Nation in fact may not be suitable for a Democratic 1.0 political system - the citizens are just too backward, blind, and politically ignorant to even be able to realise that what is in the best interests of the Nation is also in the best interest of the citizens of that Nation.

I truly despair.

Lou Gogan

31st January 2012

18th February 2013: I feel I have to add this.

Although I am angry with the Irish citizens, time and time again I have to keep reminding myself that the problem lies NOT with the citizens but with the political system itself. The system creates a situation where the corrupt political party will ALWAYS gain. That is why this feudal political system needs to be changed - destroyed and rebuilt on Democratic 1.0 foundations.