It turns out that my ancestors being forced to move against their will to help a bunch of ill mannered Irishmen keep from starving might not have been such a bad thing after all!
Some call in the European Union. Others Call it simply EU. I call it America 2020.
Whatever you call it the Irish said they didn’t want to call it their overlord and so they rejected the much praised Lisbon Treaty. Some would say they didn’t want to be ruled by the largest bureacracy in the history of the world or perhaps some would say that they just said no because they still weren’t finished reading the EU Constitution.
Whatever the reason, for now, it seems that the supposed crazed drunks of the world are smart enough to think and act for themselves. Sure, the Belgians, Spanish and Italians might have better food than the Irish but the Irish seem to have better sense at this point.
So, here’s the local spin:
We’re seeing our “conservative” candidates moving more towards the “center” and our Liberal candidates moving so far to the left, they’re almost in our blind spot. Justin’s most recent post brings this to light quite well. Our borders are disapearing on both the legal and illegal sides of the issue and global trade is finally an actual reality.
Our local politicians seem to lean more towards the “incentive’s” program to lure businesses to the County. Plain manilla envelopes recieved in restrooms passes for commerce at the state level and at the federal level we seem to be either building superhighways and promising North American Unions or promising to “protect American jobs” and punish employers who refuse to pay their employees 25 dollars an hour to make hamburgers or answer level one tech support questions.
There’s got to be some good answers out there among the Cheap Seats readers as to how we compete in the global market place and foster good relationships with our neighbors while still maintaining our sovereignty as a nation. Or, is the total sellout solution, the only solution?
So, how do we do it comprehensively at the Local State and National Level???
I’ve I can’t get any decent answer’s I’m buying a one way ticket to Dublin. Potato Famine’s be damned!
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3 responses so far ↓
1 liz poole // Jun 14, 2008 at 11:09 am
We just got back from a family vacation to Ireland.
I’d pick Galway or Kinsale instead of Dublin. Killarney is a sister city for Concord so we had the pleasure of enjoying a pint one evening with the Killarney Town Manager and the chair of the Sister Cities program. We were quite polite and cordial until my husband told them I was a candidate for county commissioner and then we had a wonderful political talk.
We saw the signs for and against the Lisbon treaty all over the country so we asked the few Irish people we met how they were going to vote. Most didn’t really seem to know the issues and most were voting along party lines and “trusting” the elected officials. That can be a bit scary for a number of reasons.
They were mostly concerned that they wouldn’t have Irish representation in the EU (they could be represented by a Swede or other small country.) The Irish have a history of being conquered and want to keep their identity.
There were very few Irish working in restaurants and shops and hotels. It was very hard to get directions. The Irish accent can be hard to understand but we mostly heard accents other than Irish. They are seeing the problem with using the Euro and not being in control of their monetary policy. The exchange rate was $1.65 per Euro. They are seeing Eastern European immigrants leaving the country, a slowdown in their housing market, rising food and fuel prices. We paid 1.40 Euro per liter roughly times 4 times 1.65 or $9.25 per gallon for diesel. The good news is we drove 963 kilometers for about 100 Euro even in a Ford minivan and saw beautiful scenery. Lunch in a pub was at least $100, a pint of Guiness was $8.50 in Dublin and $7.50 in the countryside. Modest dinners were $150. Most things were priced similar to what we would pay here but the exchange rate is the killer. Their tourist economy is suffering and the rich are making weekend trips to the US to buy since the exchange rate helps them.
With weather in the 60s, we wore Appalachian sweatshirts and all over the country people asked about ASU. Even the customs agent in Shannon Airport was an alumni.
The Killarney folks were well read about our primary and Obama/Clinton/Bush/McCain. They think our system is not very good. They have more than two political parties so they don’t understand why we have Republicans and Democrats and occasional Libertarians. They knew about the shift from left to right to center, etc. With the Sister Cities program they have traveled to Concord (and Myrtle Beach) so they have some understanding of our local government and economy.
The Clintons are loved in Ballybunion. There is a statue of Bill with a golf club, which he dedicated, in the town square. They close the golf course when he is visiting for him to play but he would walk around the town and shake hands and greet people. Bush was seen as more distant. Air Force 1 would park on the tarmac at Shannon Airport and they rented a castle near by. Bush didn’t “work the crowds.”
The Killarney folks were concerned about Obama and saw problems for the US, whether he wins or loses. They liked Clinton more but felt she would have to concede soon. One said he would probably be a Democrat based on what he knows about our politics however he would vote for McCain if he was an American.
For a perspective, we got home two weeks ago. With the 100 degree weather, I’m ready to go back but I’ll need a lot more money.
I’m also interested to read what the Cheapseats crowd has to say on this topic. I hope we aren’t going to sell out our country and go towards a new world order. We’ve got to start thinking more long term and not just for the moment because those plans eventually come around and bite us in the arse.
2 Steve Smith // Jun 14, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Ya’ll got way above me with this one. I know that Bluegrass Music has its roots in Ireland and I love Bluegrass but I don’t know much about their politics. I would love to visit there some time but if Liz is right, I couldn’t afford it. I was stationed in Germany in 1961. Gas was 2.00 dollars a gallon way back then. I’d hate to think what it is now. Glad you had a wonderful time Liz but welcome back to the good old US of A and all of our problems.
3 Justin Thibault // Jun 15, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Aaron - Good post. In my last post, I pointed out that the hard-core conservatives have pretty much failed the Party. The voters are asking for more “centrist” candidates.
Liz - Wow, that would have made a great post. Seriously. More people read the posts than the comments.
I’m sorry that your trip was so expensive; but that cheap dollar is keeping factories churning products back here.