General Election 2011 - Cherish your vote but make it work

JUST as there is no such thing as a relationship that will not end there is no such thing as a date that will not arrive.

Today, February 25, 2011, has been eagerly anticipated with simmering anger — apprehension if you are a Fianna Fáil or a Green Party deputy — for over two years by swathes of a society that feels betrayed, unfairly penalised for the recklessness ofothers, lied to and thoroughly disenchanted with how politics has so dramatically failed society and, it must be said too, some politicians.

That anger has not been assuaged by that feeling essential to cohesive society that its justice system is robust enough to protect the citizens who subscribe to it from those who do not. It is an absolute outrage that two-and-a-half years after bankers destroyed our economy, as well as vast personal and public wealth, that no-one has been before the courts in connection with this treason — and it was nothing less. Even in a society where accountability is paid little more than lip service this is an almost insurmountable affront to anyone who takes the idea of a just society seriously.

This is just one of the many issues voters will pass judgment on today and whoever is elected will not have very long to make the idea of accountability, as well as real and profound reform, real in our society. Our situation is so very critical that the days of second chances are gone.

Just as Fianna Fáil seem to be heading for, by their standards, oblivion, Fine Gael seem on the cusp of one of the great days in that party’s long history. Whether or not they can form a Government without the support of Labour — or others — will not change the fact that they face the greatest set of challenges faced by any living Irish politician. And there’s no magic wand.

The next few years will be relentless and fractious. Budgets will be deeply unpopular. Ambitions will be curtailed, promises more than likely broken and our sense of entitlement and expectation severely challenged. This remains the case even if we can change the terms of our IMF/ECB rescue package because our national income and expenditure are so out of kilter.

Despite what we tell ourselves the great majority of Irish voters have, traditionally and sadly, been little more than the supporting cast in elections. We are called upon every few years to endorse or dismiss and there it, more or less, ends. As we can see all around us, that trust has been misused and broken. In recent weeks we have heard politicians express an hitherto suppressed zeal for reform and they should be made deliver on those promises.

There must be voter reform too. Anyone who cares for this country will vote today but that should only be the start. A vote is precious thing and we must let politicians know we cherish it. Vote for whomever you will but let them know you will badger them to deliver on their promises.

If we do not we’ll be back in this mess faster than you can say five-point plan. Let the days of placid, compliant voting come to an end; go and vote but make sure you get what you’re voting for.