This basic idea comes up so often in literature that one might begin to think it is inate to the human condition, and that Sinn Fein are a real-world example of the phenomenon.
Zero Covid did not work, anywhere it was tried. The Government was smart enough to realise it was a stupid idea then, but it’s dumb enough to appoint one of the chief proponents of the idea today.
“The big structural issues, like planning backlogs or health capacity crises, or wider EU migration policy, are viewed consistently as being above the political pay grade.”
Oh, by the way – fill your car with diesel today. If the Greens get their way, it will cost you more tomorrow.
The bike shed story is about as clear an indication as any voter could hope to have about how the present system works, and how those responsible for managing it have managed it.
Those of us who opposed this bill made a good and effective argument based on rationality, logic, and an ability to persuade the public that we were correct.
We got a Government and a society that is both institutionally incompetent on the big problems, and institutionally tyrannical on the small stuff.
The stunning thing here, really, is that the polling consistently now has Sinn Fein on course to lose seats, rather than gain them, at the next election.
Before the debate, all of the fundamentals pointed to a very tight election decided by a handful of votes in a few states. After the debate, that remains the case.
The budget surplus for this one year alone in Ireland was projected by the Minister for Finance in April to be in the order of €8billion.
Only a fool meddles with a system that is producing good outcomes
In modern democracies, political offices are just one of a whole series of interlocking institutions that wield political power. Capturing one of them is not enough. There are no shortcuts.