What does government do when it fears the people who elected it?

[still-life]

I think you need to consider the difference between what's in people's interest, as distinct from what they claim to want. Its like the analogy about a child stuffed to the gills with sweets, giving out when the parent takes the sweets away. Is that parent a bad parent for not doing what the child wants, or a good parent for acting in the child's interest? The answer is obvious. The same applies in government - there are lots of measures which, if taken in isolation voters would vote against (like tax increases, spending cuts etc), but which they will often vote for as part of a wider aim of achieving a particular outcome - for example, voters gave an overwhelming majority last February to two parties who proposed getting the Budget deficit down to 3% of GDP within a short time via spending cuts and new taxes, any of which would probably be rejected if put before the people in a referendum.


I doubt that, mainly because our constitution can only be changed by referendum, so its not up to the "elite".

The Shills are Alive with the Sound of Music - welcome to the Nanny State.

[He3]

“We drafted the text for the treaty so that he has a chance to avoid a referendum,” senior EU official quoted in IT.

The Taoiseach denying this, said if it were true 'it would show Ireland had enormous influence in Europe'.

We mustn't have, after all.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today denied that Government officials were instructed to minimise the prospect of a contentious vote here in negotiating the treaty.

Mr Kenny said the officials, who had worked intensely with those from other countries since Christmas, were not given a mandate to frustrate anybody's democratic rights. "What they were given was a mandate to maximise Ireland's interests," he added.

Mr Kenny was replying in the Dáil to Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald who referred to today's Irish Times article which quoted a senior official as saying “we drafted the text for the treaty so that he has a chance to avoid a referendum,” in reference to Mr Kenny.

"We do not deal with anonymous people or anonymous reports,'' Mr Kenny told the chamber. However, Ms McDonald said the Taoiseach's line was that he had nothing to fear from a referendum.
...
Mr Kenny said the Irish Times reporter who wrote the article was a very good and a responsible person. He added that he had no idea in the world who the official quoted was.

If the report were true, it showed Ireland had enormous influence in Europe.

Link

[goosebump]

The Government isn't afraid of the people who elected them.

It is afraid of the media commentariat and well-heeled spoofers like Declan Ganley, for whom referendums present an opportunity to exert undue influence over the electorate.

The Government has a duty to protect the common good from forces that would seek to undermine the State for their own self-interest.

Its for this reason that we have electoral spending limits, which nobody seems to have a problem with.

[kerdasi amaq]

This country was born with direct democracy provisions in articles 47 and 48 of the constitution. When the Irish elite got their hands on the power they promptly did away with these articles because the elite has no interest in real democracy. They only want us all to believe that we have freedom and a say.

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I doubt that, mainly because our constitution can only be changed by referendum, so its not up to the "elite".

You're wrong there HBAP.

That was the old Freestate Constitution which the Cumann na Gaedheal(Fine Gael) government amended by parliamentary vote to prevent de Valera calling a referendum to remove the Oath of Allegiance from the Freestate Constitution.

de Valera was careful to ensure that no such Articles were contained in his own Constitution.

However, a good point about de Valera's Constitution is that it can only be amended by a plebiscite. I.m sure our professional politicians(aka enemies of the people) are gnashing their teeth because they cannot amend the Constitution by parliamentary vote.

[He3]

The Government isn't afraid of the people who elected them.

...

Arthur Beesley returns to this.

The last thing Kenny wants is a referendum - The Irish Times - Fri, Feb 03, 2012