That's what Lisbon II has been.
It's as if every single campaigner on both sides of the debate have been possessed by demons making them lie. In the case of the professional politicians, that's business as usual. In the case of Mick 'low fares plus huge charges' O'Leary, it's to be expected.
But when Intel and fundamentalist Christians start in on the spoofing act, one really does begin to despair.
The blatant attempts by the supposedly impartial EU to buy the election have been as despicable as the attempts by foreign Eurosceptics like Bonde or the UKIP to swing the decision to what suits them.
No one comes out of this with any credit. Not the liars who have attempted to link a yes vote with economic recovery. Not the liars who said a yes vote would lead to a shredding of the minimum wage.
The bottom line remains: you're voting on the treaty itself and nothing else. Not on the 'guarantees' which don't actually exist. Not on the minimum wage, or abortion, or a federal Europe, or economic recovery, or the current government, or NAMA, or anything else. Just the treaty.
My advice? Read the treaty. Not the summaries offered by vested interests, but the treaty itself.
I did. It's almost impenetrable. It took me about four days to finish it. At the end I was extremely concerned at how much of the treaty eroded our say over our own country and how many things were open to wide interpretation.
They say that if you don't understand a contract, you shouldn't sign it. Equally, if you don't know what to make of an issue, you should probably vote against it.
For those reasons, and not for any of the dishonest, disingenuous reasons offered by both the Yes and the No campaigns, I will be voting No on Friday.
I suggest that unless you've read, understood and approve of the treaty, you should do likewise.
4 comments:
Once this ludicrous re-voting sham has blown over, what do you think the chances of getting a general election called are? Slim? Non-existant?
I'd say pretty good.
A no win would pretty much require one.
A slim yes win would also mount pressure on the government.
But the deciding factor will be the Greens meeting on October 10. If 2/3 of them don't back staying in government, we'll have an election.
Sounds great. But unfortunately (at this stage, since Lisbollocks has passed), relying on the Greens is akin to relying on a disprin to maintain integrity in water.
Depends on those magic beans, Peter.
If they get their carbon tax (definite) and some sort of fudge on hare coursing (likely) plus perhaps a nod in the direction of something typically hobbit like tax breaks for farmers' markets or wind farms, then they might sign up to more gombeen government.
But the good thing with the Greens is that they are answerable to their grass roots. And a 2/3 majority is a big ask, given the current anger in their party.
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