The stability mantra is just the clarion call of the establishment

At last we have an election date and we have two more weeks of campaigning before we get a chance to elect a government for the next five years. All kinds of focus groups will have been employed by the government for the last six months to find out what the voter wants before they decide to bribe us with our own money.

Oxfam has just produced a report stating that globally 62 people own as much wealth as half of the population and that 1% own as much as the other 99%. This gap has widened considerably since the recession in 2008.

Are we surprised?

It has been facilitated by right wing governments and favourable tax arrangements throughout the world and most definitely in Ireland.

Much of the world’s media is owned by the very rich who, with few exceptions, will write about stability and markets for the next two weeks and urge us to vote for the tried and tested.

I would suggest tried and failed.

Since the foundation of the state many honourable governments did great work for this country. I think of De Valera, Sean Lemass, early Jack Lynch and some of the earlier Fine Gael led coalition governments.

However, since the 70s it has been mostly downhill by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. These parties helped widen the gap between rich and poor and the interests of the developers and big business have been of more concern to them than the interests of the wider populace.

What I thought was the worst government yet, the last coalition between Fianna Fáil and the Greens was followed into power by this coalition who promised to provide universal health care and to take on the legal professional elite and burn the bondholders, none of which they did.

They now propose to abolish USC and introduce PRSI for people earning as little as €13,000 a year. You could not make this up!

A revolution can take place in this historic year without a shot being fired by voting for candidates of the left.

Do not be put off by the scaremongering of the media and government parties warning us about stability.

If we elect enough left minded people of principle, they will have three weeks to put together a Programme for Government for five years.

I have no problem paying my water and property taxes, but want fair distribution of resources, decent healthcare, housing, education and infrastructure for everyone.

John Dillon

Ballyhea

Charleville

Co. Cork