Like it or not, Trump victory shows democracy at work

Based on some of the hysteria surrounding the US election last week, it must be time to head off on the Wild Atlantic Way armed to the teeth and equipped with a bomb shelter.

A narrative has unfolded that is worse than a bad spaghetti western where the bad guys take over and the good guys are mauled.

This cartoon extended into apocryphal headlines that suggested Americans, in aggregate, are incapable of making a wise decision and instead are deluded about the real issues of substance.

As a result we are all, apparently, on the precipice of social and economic disaster.

This handy storyline happens to be, in my opinion, wrong.

Democracy is a powerful force that generates results which are often contrary to those being advocated by powerful minorities in the media and elsewhere. Democracy reaches into a population and extracts some hard and uncomfortable truths.

It can be particularly effective in surfacing the true — if unspoken —opinions of voters who neither have the resources or wherewithal to dominate the airwaves. This is what happened in the US last week.

The so-called “ordinary” American who lies at the heart of that democracy has had enough of being lectured about why he or she must accept years of inflation adjusted and nominal reductions in wages.

He or she has lost patience with the view that their economic livelihoods must be permanently undermined by waves of free trade too.

The remorseless growth of regulation and big government may also have played a role in the pushback which this election has delivered.

There are obvious parallels with Brexit, too, where people who are often laughed at among the chattering classes have shouted out that enough is enough.

The Global Financial Crisis, which ignited in 2008, may have been quenched by the actions of Central Banks worldwide but it has left a residual bitterness that is now surfacing across the western world.

Establishment politicians have to either acknowledge and react to these revolutionary forces or they will not survive future elections.

This is the backdrop against which Ireland must now forge a future.

We are positioned uniquely as a nation that is dependent on international trade while our location between the UK and US makes changes in those two powerful economies of immediate consequence.

Moreover, the track record of Ireland’s economic expansion is marked out by repeated forays into both Britain and North America. These have been, are and will be cornerstone end markets for Irish goods and services for many years.

Managing the challenges will be a huge task but there are elements of the plans behind both Trump and Brexit that are of value to Ireland.

It may be unpopular in parts of Dublin 4 to say this but I think the ending of inversions, a mechanic used to arbitrage between US and Irish tax laws, is no bad thing.

Equally, paying corporate taxes that are in line with the official rate of 12.5% in Ireland is not a bad idea either.

Ireland, with a 12.5% tax rate, will remain a highly potent location for mobile investment, especially for companies developing markets outside of America.

There are other issues that both Brexit and Mr Trump have raised that chime with many reasonable people.

Over the past decade I have witnessed a remorseless push towards regulation and intrusion into people’s lives which has become an accepted norm despite its impact on entrepeneurship and privacy.

If Brexit puts a halt on Big Government endlessly dictating what a citizen can and cannot do it would be welcome.

The EU project, more recently, had also veered towards an expansionary strategy which seemed intent on inflaming tensions in the East.

Both Brexit and Mr Trump contain many policy views and attitudes that are anathema to me and huge numbers of people.

Democracies, thankfully, provide the institutions of state, including parliaments, elections and a free media to fight the battles needed over many of these issues, including race and sexism.

Alongside these issues, Brexit and Mr Trump have revealed a large cohort who struggled to find a voice that reflected deep and considered views about the society they inhabit.

The headless chicken brigade have to accept that these citizens have a role in a democracy too, however uncomfortable that may be.

Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. 

His views are personal