Does anyone in the media know anything? This piece in the examiner today states that Ireland does better under republican presidents than under Democrats. Really? Did anyone do any fact checking at all?
The 1950s were times of bleakness matched only by the huge rate of emigration with that nice Ike (Rep) what people said they liked in the White house. Most people reckon the 60s were pretty good here economically with Lemass and his plans and the general opening up of the country, but weren't Kennedy and Johnson Democrats? And then when things went to hell in handbasket in the early 70s that Nixon chap (Rep) was commander in chief. We had a brief boom in the late 70s due to the government getting drunk on tax cuts and inflationary public spending but the chickens and most forms of farmyard fowl came home to roost in the 80s. That would be when Ronald the non-McDonald (Rep) was letting things supply siding it up and trickle down.
Times were even tighter here under Bush I (Rep). Most people place the emergence of the Celtic Tiger from the undergrowth (though it's birth pangs were probably felt in the latter days of Bush I) at some point between '94 and '96 when Clinton (Dem) was still paying attention to non-cigar related activities and our recent housing related boom and bust was under Bush II. So, I don't there is any solid pattern there but if you were making any kind of correlation it would be more plausible to suggest that we do better when the Dems are in charge. Though we need a period of republican rule to prepare us.
As for the future it is not completely unreasonable to suggest that if Obama pushes a protectionist agenda that it may will harm our position but there is nothing in recent history to support the actual tone or title of the article.
If we want to be taken seriously as a sovereign country (and Irish people struggled long enough to gain their independence) we should stop looking to other countries - and especially the USA - for reasons of success or failure, good or bad times.
ReplyDeleteAfter more than 86 years it is about time that we come up with a concept of our own.
Of course the economy is now global and many things are interlinked and influence each other. But there are many other small countries - some a lot smaller than Ireland - who have managed to be prosperous and stable on the basis of their own policies and ideas.
If we always look and wait for the "big brother" or "Uncle Sam", this country will never be really and truly independent. Is that what we want?
We should treat the USA like any other foreign country and begin to develop a sense of national pride and proper nationalism.
I often hear some Irish people and parties described as "nationalists". Well, I am still waiting to meet a true Irish nationalist. All I encounter are tribalists who can be played out against each other. And they are, by big business and by the USA and the UK.
So stop worrying about who will be US President. It is more important who really rules and controls this country, and with what results.
This was great to read thank you
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