Angry Political Rant
I suppose an angry rant about politics is something we all do once in a while. This has been prompted by the current debate around the failed Haass talks.
I’ve decided that Northern Ireland has been brought to this situation by a minority of people, who insist on trying to changing the status quo, by any means necessary. They have little or no electoral mandate, but they still insist on voicing their opinions at every opportunity, welcome or not. But the people of Northern Ireland are not behind them. So why don’t political moderates give up, and let society move on?
The Haass talks were all about a bit of appeasement, a bit of a show to pretend that politicians care about peaceful coexistence, but we all know that they never have, and they don’t now. Politics progressed in Northern Ireland when 2 moderate parties worked together, and the electorate has punished their crime by destroying the SDLP and UUP in every election since. The UUP don’t even count as a moderate party any more!
Fundamentally, Northern Ireland politicians can’t work together because their electorates don’t want them to work together. Politicians can’t work together because our society doesn’t work together.
Unpleasant truth – there won’t be political progress until politicians see that as being a good strategy for re-election. We, the people of Northern Ireland need to change first. We have to value peace instead of victory. We have to value co-operation instead of competition.
And that will be a long time coming.
Tags: Angry, Pessimistic