For God’s sake, give me someone I can vote for.
March 7th, 2007 by FrankIreland will be having elections sometime between now and the Summer, I am registered to vote but know nothing about politics – so I have two questions.
- Where can one find a dummies guide to how government & elections actually work in Ireland?
- Who the hell should I vote for?
When it comes to question 2, please bear in mind that my absolute ideal candidates are as below:
In 1970 Thompson ran for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado on the “Freak Power” ticket promoting the decriminalization of drugs (for personal use only, not trafficking, as he disapproved of profiteering), tearing up the streets and turning them into grassy pedestrian malls, banning any building so tall as to obscure the view of the mountains, and renaming Aspen, Colorado “Fat City.” The incumbent Republican sheriff whom he ran against had a crew cut, prompting him to refer to his opponent as “my long-haired opponent,” as Thompson had had an “incident” with an electric razor (see the Gonzo Papers vol. 3).
With polls actually showing him with a slight lead in the race, Thompson appeared at Rolling Stone magazine headquarters in San Francisco with a six-pack of beer in hand and declared to editor Jann Wenner that he was about to be elected the next sheriff of Aspen, Colorado and wished to write about it. Thus, Thompson’s first article in Rolling Stone was published as The Battle of Aspen with the byline “By: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (Candidate for Sheriff).” Despite the publicity, Thompson ended up narrowly losing the election.
In the fall of 1979, Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco as a prank, using the Jello ad campaign catchphrase, “There’s always room for Jello”, as his campaign slogan. Having entered the race before creating a campaign platform, Biafra later wrote his platform on a napkin while attending a Pere Ubu concert. As he campaigned, Biafra wore campaign t-shirts from his opponent Quentin Kopp’s previous campaign and at one point vacuumed leaves off the front lawn of another opponent, current U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, to mock her publicity stunt of sweeping streets in downtown San Francisco for a few hours.
Supporters committed equally odd actions; two well known signs held by supporters said “If he doesn’t win I’ll kill myself” and “What if he does win?” His platform included unconventional points such as forcing businessmen to wear clown suits within city limits and a citywide ban on cars (although the latter point was not considered abnormal by many voters at the time, as the city was suffering from serious pollution problems).Biafra has expressed irritation that these parts of his platform attained such notoriety, preferring instead to be remembered for serious proposals such as legalizing squatting in vacant, tax-delinquent buildings and requiring police officers to keep their jobs by running for election voted on by the people of the neighborhoods they patrol.
During a TV interview (reproduced on The Early Years home video and DVD), he had this to say to those who thought less of him running for mayor: “For those of them who have seen my candidacy as a publicity stunt or a joke, they should keep in mind that it is no more of a joke, and no less of a joke than anyone else they care to name.�
He finished fourth out of a field of ten, receiving 3.5% of the vote (6,591 votes); the election ended in a runoff that did not involve him (Feinstein was declared the winner). In reaction to his campaign (and that of Sister Boom-Boom, a drag queen who also ran for mayor and handily won the third place spot above Biafra), San Francisco passed a resolution stating that no candidate could run under any name other than their given name.
Some footage about Jello Biafra’s campaign…
California Uber Alles
Entries (RSS)
March 7th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Vote for Pedro..
March 7th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
If only he was running…
March 7th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
On question 2 grill the fuck out of whoever comes to your door. Whoever strikes you as the least worst of them gets number 1 beside their name on the ballot paper. Whoever strikes you as the next least worst gets number 2 on the ballot paper and so on until you have the whole thing filled.
As for a dummies guide I’ll have to get back to you, but you could do worse than dipping into Coakley and Gallagher’s Politics in the Republic of Ireland.
But whatever you do VOTE FOR SOMEONE!
March 7th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Thanks Green Ink… I generally try to make my votes count against people I don’t like, rather than voting for anyone I like (with the very odd exception) but it’s very unsatisfactory.
I hate the idea of voting for the lesser of two evils. I’m not certain where I stand on the whole voting thing, even if I myself use my vote, I can’t find it in me to be remotely judgmental of those who can’t be bothered voting for any of the pathetic specimens on offer.
By the way… I think they avoided my door before the last election when the word went round I was asking difficult questions and expecting straight answers on immigration policies…
I’ll have a look at that link, and do get back to me with any more info you have…
March 7th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
I appreciate what you’re saying but it boils down to it’s the only show in town. And there are decent people putting themselves forward for election all over the place. Remember what they’re actually saying is “I’m willing to put my life on hold to administer the running of this country on your behalf”. We take that on trust and unfortunately that trust is abused by many. An opposition essentially exists to police that promise but the real responsibility for policing falls to us, the public. There is no protest to be had in not voting. Nor is there a refuge for the disillusioned. Corruption and honesty aren’t polar, they’re scalar, and if you do nothing the pendulum creeps along towards corruption that bit easier. Haughey’s one true legacy might be as the source of that “ah sure they’re all the same” mentality, and that is damnable because it has polluted this population’s relationship with the state. The mass apathy that’s occured in that relationship is like a body lopping off its head because it doesn’t like its acne. Whoops, they’re both dead.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
…if it brings any level of consolation to having to deal with this experience i think you’re wonderfully lucky to get to rank candidates. in canada we have to simply choose one candadite, which means that if you don’t vote for one of the two major parties you are effectively wasting your vote.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I was going to wax about how PRSTV is the best system in the world but I thought Frank might start fiddling with his fake moustache in boredom.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Well at least tell me what PRSTV is? Sounds like a satellite channel…
March 7th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Green Ink, I missed your comment above earlier…
I appreciate what you’re saying – and as I said, I do use my vote… but while your arguments make sense, so does the common, and simple, argument ‘I am not aware of anyone I want to vote FOR.’
March 7th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
It’s either a gospel channel or it’s Proportional Representation by a Single Transferable Vote. Now stop twiddling.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Not being aware of who to vote for implies finding out who’s running. A little exercise: what external elements beyond your immediate control would you like changed? Do you pay too much tax? Are you stuck in traffic for four hours a day? Did your aunt have to sit in a trolley in A&E for two days? Are your utility bills too high? That’s your wishlist. Now compare the commitments of each candidate to your wishlist. The one that aspires to deliver the most from your wishlist is probably the one to vote for. If one aspires to these things but has been in government for ten years and delivered nothing, don’t touch them with a bargepole.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
And this is a list of candidates!
March 7th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Green Ink… I don’t want anybody putting their life on hold to run the country. It should BE their life as far as a career is concerned. Why would you want an amateur in such a critical position ? Also I don’t want the people elected to run the country “administering” it either, I want them to manage it ….a completely different skill set.
You seem to imply that not voting is the same as doing nothing. Wrong. I seldom vote but have been politicaly active in many more effective ways.
When i don’t vote it’s not as a protest, but simply because it will not further the way I want the country managed. I then seek other ways to achieve that. It’s quite possible to change the way “the only show in town” functions without voting.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Green Ink – sorry about all the questions, but this is great stuff… how does one ‘compare the commitments of each candidate’ – I assume one would have to trawl their websites or contact them directly and tease these out?
March 7th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Rich, TDs are amateurs, but make collective decisions that are enacted by the professional class of the civil service (who some would argue are really in charge, but that’s a debate for another day!). And TDs do put their lives on hold, there isn’t a TD who doesn’t have relationship difficulties or doesn’t get to spend enough time with their kids. As far as the distinction between management and administration is concerned, the government of the day make the big decisions, but the management necessary from those decisions is handled by the civil service.
Your second argument is one I hear frequently and it’s based on a misconception that you either participate in the electoral system or you engage in direct action. Isn’t it more effective to do both? BY not voting you’re DEFINITELY doing nothing with one of our greatest priviledges, being able to vote. Direct action is more effective if you have someone in Leinster House willing to fight your corner from within the system and you’ll certainly not hinder that by voting.
“You seem to imply that not voting is the same as doing nothing. Wrong. I seldom vote but have been politicaly active in many more effective ways.
When i don’t vote it’s not as a protest, but simply because it will not further the way I want the country managed. I then seek other ways to achieve that. It’s quite possible to change the way “the only show in townâ€? functions without voting. ”
I can’t respond to this without knowing two things: what way you do want the country managed, and what your more effective means are.
Frank, yes I’m afraid it does require a little research! You’ll probably whittle it down to five really important issues for yourself, and the best way to get the knowledge is on the doorstep. Be careful though- they’ll often try to find out where you stand on an issue before answering! If you don’t get to meet them on the doorstep their election literature should contain what you’re looking for and if it doesn’t I’d be quite brutal: consign them to the bottom of the page.
March 7th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Yes, I’ve experienced that – I asked straight out ‘where do you stand on immigration’ (this was close enough to the time of the citizenship referendum) and was met by awkward shifting of feet, and some vague statements or questions which were aimed at finding out where I stood before they answered.
I am fairly capable of being brutal, even on the doorstep, so I didn’t give them an inch and as a result I got no straight answers.
I did not vote for those men. Unfortunately, I don’t now remember who they were…
March 7th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
You were probably the talk of the Cumann for weeks after and you’re still trundled out as the one to watch out for in canvassing training. You and the old lady with all the cats.
This has been an interesting chat.
March 7th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I personally wouldn’t have made it through the election season without electionreporter.com, which works overtime to keep the politicians honest…
Try to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen in electionreporter.com..!Elections
March 7th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
As someone who would actually like to run for office I would really like to know what it is people are looking for?
There is a tendency in this country to say one thing and do another… We want change and honest politicians but we keep electing the party which time after time proves to be anything but than honest!!!
To all you non voters, it is you guys who will make the change. It is you guys who are the floating vote because those who do traditionally vote are still voting along civil war lines etc… So as Green Ink said above, make sure you vote for someone.
PS Green interesting that you said Cumann above re vague statements etc.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:55 am
Green Ink: Yes, thanks for all the info – I might come back to you for more
schowie – I’ll check that out!
Dave OB – yes, you’re right about saying one thing and doing another. I think as a nation we are quite hypocritical – for example for years we sneered at Americans and there environment eating 4×4′s, but as soon as we get the cold hard cash we want two each.
Perhaps I will formulate a post on what I want from a candidate – but I’m not joking when I point to Hunter S and Jello Biafra.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
What would you hope that Hunter or Jello would achieve for you or the other people living in your constituency?
March 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Well, if you look at the text above Hunter S had strong feelings about preserving the locality and protecting it from rampant consumerism.
Cork could do with some of the same treatment – where are all the local businesses going on Patrick Street? The signage on our main street is pretty awful also.
I read about towns in the states that managed to bring in very strict laws about signage and about the presence of multinationals on the main streets.
And if you look at Jello Biafra’s platform, I think it would be no bad thing to get cars out of the city centre and ensure public transport was up to scratch instead.
Jello’s thoughts on the police force might be worth looking at also…
And they’re just a couple of thoughts off the top of my head based on the texts above
March 8th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
ps – a campaign song like ‘The People’s Republic Uber Alles’ would be nice too
March 8th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
For the most part that would be the remit of the City Councillors… There is also the fact that local people need to support local business or it goes bust! That goes back to your comments about 4×4’s, we want the “bestâ€? of everything now. And because we have so much disposable income the foreign chains come in to liberate it from our heavily burdened pockets!
Part of the problem I think is that people don’t know how or where to complain or express their opinions. Do you know who your local City/County Councillor is? Would you know how to contact them if you had an issue with which they might be able to help? Would you know the issues with which they could help?
PS Rhetorical questions I’m not tryin to pick on ya Frank!
March 8th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Dave OB: “To all you non voters, it is you guys who will make the change. It is you guys who are the floating vote because those who do traditionally vote are still voting along civil war lines etc… So as Green Ink said above, make sure you vote for someone.”
That’s a really important point: there are legions out there who vote along traditional lines rather than meritorious platforms, which results in a lack of accountability; nobody should back a candidate just by dint of party membership. The civil war lines are eroding, but rather than a cosmopolitan voter appearing in replacement we have a swathe of apathy and indifference- so that a (albeit diminishing) party faithful are the motivated voter and the ‘aul parties get carried. The thing is that the apathetic non-voter could really mix it up by voting!
As far as your platform for running is concerned, again I would suggest you see where you stand on local issues and take it from there. That implies firstly, finding out what the local issues are. And you should have conviction in your own beliefs rather than casting about for the populist stance: if you’re honest and realistic in your aims people will respect that.
As for the Cumann reference that may have been a slip of the keyboard.
Frank, you’re welcome and I think this has opened an interesting debate.
Bit tired at the moment but I’ll kick back in later if there’s any more feedback.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Green… You’re spot on. I’ve no intention of building any platform based on one blog thread… But I do think its worth asking as many people as possible what it is they are looking for. That is after all how one finds out what their issues are. It’s not the only one of course! And I’ve a lot of hard work to do before I put myself forward for any election.
Governing, in my humble opinion, is about striking the best balance between what people want, what is possible and what is in the best interests of the future! And that’s my conviction.