So our Lords and Masters are flogging off as many of our national assets as they can, some of the proceeds of which will doubtless trickle into their party coffers in preparation for the next election, (because there's always a next election).
Enda's blue shirts barely got across the line the last time out and a motley crew of unlikely allies had to be cobbled together to ensure they kept their jobs. The current arrangement for governing Ireland is precarious and unstable but they did sneak a budget through so we'll see.
But the Mayo Moron is back, coming on all statesmanlike, as he gazes benevolently down on his adoring flock. He even used the "M" word the other day. Yup! Enda says he has a mandate from us to rule. Of course he didn't get it from me and if you are reading this then I doubt he got it from you either. But let's give the old bluffer the benefit of the doubt and say he has it, (for now).
I've mentioned in the past that the only jobs a politician does is make laws and do anything for re-election. They serve no other purpose. For years I have felt we have enough laws to go around so we no longer require a Government. Once a law is on the books they tend to be damned hard to rub out, don't they.
Then I had a lightbulb moment. Why not only permit a law to remain in place as long as the mandate of that lawmaker is valid? Any law enacted by any Government should only last as long as the tenure of that Government. As soon as they are kicked out, the law is scratched. There is some logic and not a good bit of common sense to this idea. Politicians would be a lot more careful drafting laws that are unpopular with the people for one thing. The five year mandate can end with calls for an early election. But wouldn't it be beautiful is all of Enda's pointless laws went with him. The next crowd would have to start again and try to get it right or they too could be "Enda-d."
This brings up another delicious project as well. Just say one Government sells Irish Rail for example. Regardless of what's paid for it by the new owners, their ownership ends abruptly as soon as that Government falls. You see, all political decisions while in power are nullified by losing that power. The mandate ends and with it go the decisions made during that mandate. The clock is back to zero as it were.
This is particularly pertinent while the fate of Irish Water hangs there. We're not paying for it and the Government say they can't. If you're a politician, the easy way out would be to offload it to a foreigner, pocket the cash and throw your hands up in despair saying, "There's nothing we can do about it now!" But is the decision died with their mandate then we simply take it back as soon as the offenders are voted out.
Look at it another way. Why should a party and its leader get in for a term, make stupid decisions before we realise we were mistaken to elect them and then when they sail off with their bloated pensions, the rest of us have to honour those bad decisions? There's hardly a single decision were make in our lives that's carved in granite, is there? So we tell Nestle or whoever comes calling that, yes, Irish Water is a license to print money and yes, they can have it for almost fuck-all. But if the idiot who sold it to them is dumped unceremoniously out of office, then the Irish take back their asset. We can't say fairer than that! We could do the same with the land sold by NAMA to the gougers.
It would make voting for a Government a far less stressful occasion for all of us, it would make our Lords and Masters more prudent and it would keep the vulture funds away too. We might even have to solve our own problems ourselves. That'd be novel!