Irish Democracy

That's Lady Justice up their with her famous scales. She is standing over the courtyard of Dublin Castle. She was put up there by the English when they ruled Ireland. Some funny things have happened to this symbol of justice.

When Ireland became a republic 90 years ago, it wasn't long before it was noticed she was actually standing with her back to the city of Dublin and it's parliament. It seems the Irish leave many things in place to both make a point, and have a good laugh.

That good laugh turned into a guffaw some years ago. As the 'Just Lady' aged in the damp Irish atmosphere, one of the scales (I think it was the one on the left) began to rust. In time the center of that scale rusted away. And then along came this significant rain? What happened? One scale was inundated with the weight of rain. The other just watched that rain pour through its center. The result was the scales were SIGNIFICANTLY tipped to the right. But then again it could have been to the left.

Either way I'm probably not the only one sad they got up there and fixed it.

They're fixing something else in Ireland right now that isn't getting much attention. I'm bemused that most people in this country have no idea the Irish Government collapsed two days before the protest began in Egypt. Of course it is easy to be bemused since I was there and I'm guessing a large percentage of you were not.

I hope some hard working jounalist thinks to do a comparison piece on how democracies and autocracies deal with the same issues. And don't think it is an easy proposition in Ireland.

The economy, having to borrow money from Britain to stay solvent, not enough jobs for the young people. Sound familiar? The debate starts over whose is to blame.

Since Brian Cowen is the Prime Minister,** and he's lost confidence? He dissolves the parliament and calls for new elections in two months time. That election will take place this coming Friday. Brian Cowen is a member of the Fianna Fail party. Michael Martin ends up taking over leadership of his party, and is fighting with the top candidate with the Fianna Gael party. So that's it then?

No, it isn't. In Ireland right now there are a total of five organized parties. The others are the Labour Party, The Green Party, and Shen Fein. AND Ireland, like the U.S., has plenty of independant political movements as well. Now TRY THIS in any other country. They started out with over 500 candidates for that prime minister job.

And that is just where the complexity gets going. They vote for their congressmen, aka tds, like we do. Their Senate, aka Senead? Members are pretty much appointed. A total of approximately 1,000 special voters determine its makeup.

The President? She is elected for 7 year terms by the general population. She can serve two terms in a row, and this one is the middle of her second term. And I use the pronoun 'she' because the President before her was a woman as well. But you might as well call a President a King or Queen. The role is essentially ceremonial. As I understand it, she or he doesn't get to propose or veto much of anything. It sure would look good on a resume, though.

I got a 'B" in parliamentary procedure in high school. I taught a course in it when teaching high school. It was nothing like this. I'm exhausted just trying to share it with you. I hope you're still awake.

But can you imagine the debate? And they only get two months to get in each other's faces? Oh, and they can only keep their political signs up for a month and a half of that time.

I was on a college debate team. We dreaded the days when Irish teams would travel to the U.S. and challenge us to demonstration battles. Now I know why they always beat the &*^%$ out of us.

I just hope the word gets out that if you JUST keep talking, if you use your wits, these things can always be worked out PEACEFULLY.

Let me leave you with one other light Irish note exposing what appears to an Irish way of looking at things.

One of the biggest political issues in the current debate is the joblessness. It is forcing young people to immigrate to other countries to find work.

An enterprising local TV reporter followed a few of the immigrants who'd found jobs in Australia. It was clear the reporter's expectation was he'd find miserable, homesick expatriates stuck in meaningliness, humiliating jobs.

He sought out a Trinity College graduate who was working with a road crew. She was holding up a traffic sign all day long in the heat. She was asked how she felt working this menial job. Here was her soundbite:

"ARE YOU KIDDING? I GET PAID 23 DOLLARS AN HOUR AND I GET TO WATCH MEN WORK."

Of course, she said that with a twinkle in her eye.

** If you want to appear savy, the prime minister's actual title is 'Taoiseach' pronounced TEE'shuck. In Irish it means Chieftain.