I've just heard the news that Brian Cowan has decided to call an election upon completion of passing of the bailout through the Irish legislature.
What a coward; and what a travesty of consent. If you are so sure that this is the right path for Ireland to take, why aren't you going to the country first?
The European Project must not fail...
It seems to me that anyone interested in Liberty should look no further than their own constitution for guidence as to how to behave when your community faces a crisis. Churchill sought to look to British history when facing down mortal threats to our nation. In practise the liberties were temporarily removed to be restored later.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish have within their constitutional settlement a long history of referenda (especially on Europe) and as they face down the single greatest threat to their economic soveiegnty so far this century, it is surely the hope of all libertarians that they will look to thier constitutional heritage in the future on how they relate to the EU.
However, now is not the time. They have an insecure government who will surely fall and they need strong decisions prior to the extended horsetrading of coalition building. In the same way that Churchillneeded to suspend some of our liberties, (including a general election) until crisis was averted, so the Irish need to grab the sward of Damacles before it falls and face the public on the basis of decisions taken.
The unavoidable fact that we need to consider is that Ireland has never enjoyed true Economic independence, being either tied directly to the Pound or forced to endure economic cycles which directly reflect the British economic ups and downs.
It is their misfortune that they are emotionally unwilling to restore the previous situation as it damages their long term economic prospects, but for all that it is understandable and I applaud any decision taken by the Irish which seeks to look to their own constitutional historical heritage to face the continuing 21st Century decline of the Nation State as a resevouir of economic power.They will face the humiliation of IMF intervention and the Government will stand before the people and probably fall on the back of the decision.
But they will have taken wholly necessary decisions on behalf of their electorate which will stand them in good stead to restore their tradition of Referenda in the future.
Like you, I can see enormous structural disadvantages of Euro Membership for any country like Ireland who's economy is destined to shadow a larger neighbour. But similarly, while liberty is illusiory without economic stability. They need to restore their finances before they can once again restore their political freedoms. Hopefully just in time to vote in a referenda to leave the Euro.