Voting None Of The Above

Until very recently I found it unthinkable to "spoil my vote". However, faced with a political menu full of candidates and ideologies which are well past their sell by date, I feel I have no choice. Rather than simply not turning up at the polling station, I will turn up and cast my vote and it will be counted. My hope is that the total valid poll will be significantly lower than the total poll. This will show that a lot of people chose to turn out and register their disaffection with the state of our political system by enhancing their ballot papers with their vote going to "None Of The Above".

In many democracies "None Of The Above" is a valid option on ballot papers. The rationale behind this is that voters should have the option to register their disapproval of all the candidates or parties being put before them. If the recent troubles we have endured have taught us anything it is that our political system is in need of serious reform. We have so many overpaid public "representatives" that it is possible to make a lifelong career from politics without ever working a proper job (take a bow Eamon Gilmore). Our politicians are not in touch with the people. They live in a world of vast salaries, state cars and expense accounts while we deal with redundancy, pay cuts and poverty. We need a political system that allows us to reject all the dross put in front of us in an election - None Of The Above would be one such mechanism.

Why should we be forced to vote for some Fine Gael, Labour or Sinn Féin muppet just because we are outraged with the mess Fianna Fáil made of the country. The truth is that the opposition would have made just as bad a job of things as Fianna Fáil. The politicians of this country are cut from the same cloth - selfish, arrogant and greedy. I refuse to endorse any of them. If enough Irish voters have the courage to enhance their ballot papers on election day we will see a massive proportion of "spoilt votes". This will send out a message to the rotten apple cart of Irish politicians. While they might have a technical electoral mandate - they will have no moral authority to govern us. They do not represent us, they do not know what is best for us and, if they are not careful, a mass of spoilt votes will be the least of their worries.

So if you find yourself torn between voting for Fine Gael and its simpleton leader, the communist manifesto of the Labour Party, the fantasy island politics of Sinn Féin or if you are planning on voting for Fianna Fáil because that is what you always do. STOP. You have another option - ballot paper enhancement - vote None Of The Above.

Lunar Eclipse

You would imagine that something the size of the moon would be hard to hide. However that is exactly what has happened this week as our Minister for Health and Cream Cakes has disappeared. With the country's hospitals at breaking point due to severe lack of funds and the wasteful dinosaurs in the VHI deciding to rape their customers with massive premium increases you would imagine that Fat Mary Harney would be here showing a bit of leadership. Instead she has chosen to follow the Noel Dempsey approach to crisis management - go to ground and don't emerge until the problem has sorted itself out. Bad enough that Harney's failed right wing reaganomic principles have destroyed not only the health service but the wider economy. But now she's off sunning herself while the people
of this country die on trolleys in hospitals that are more akin to concentration camps than centres of healthcare excellence.

It is quite evident that the government of this country is a dead man walking but you would think that the likes of Fat Mary would at least have the good grace to pretend to care. Given her complete failure to lead or even feign empathy with people during this crisis it would appear that she won't stand for election in March. Just like Fianna Fool rats such as Mary Wallace, Noel Dumpsey and Betray Ahern, Fat Mary acts like she too will jump from the ship that she has helped to sink. Just as well she has stored up 30 years' worth of cash by "representing" the people of Ireland in the Kildare Street Country Club - that should keep her in cream cakes for a while.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like things will change much after Funny Gael come to power. They've been hiding their clown prince of a leader for the last few months for fear that he will speak in public and us poor pixie Irish will realise that the opposition are every bit as inept as the government.

ENHANCE YOUR BALLOT PAPER - VOTE "NONE OF THE ABOVE" IN ELECTION 2011.