We are not powerless! Let us act like the sovereign people we are!
Secure, Exercise and Defend Our Democracy!
The crisis is creating deep anxiety and anger in the population at large. There is growing concern about rising unemployment, renewed emigration, the number of business closures, wage and salary cuts, short-time working, family break-ups, youth suicides and the scourge of drugs. The services for the people are getting worse. Our senior citizens are facing bleak grinding poverty after a life of service.
Government and opposition parties put on a show of difference while both agree to mortgage our future to rescue vested interests. They have the press and mass media in their service with few notable exceptions. The first and natural reaction for every segment of society is to get organised and mount resistance to the cutbacks and take to the streets in protest.
Protesting against the Dáil Parties is not Enough
The harsh reality is that the powers-that-be and their representatives in Dáil Éireann are not afraid of our protests because they know that we do not have any power to effect change, under the present parliamentary system.
The main parties in Dáil Éireann openly discuss in the mass media their cynical scheme to let the ruling coalition put in place the most draconian cuts and new taxes and then replace them with the alleged ‘opposition’ parties.
Gilmore (the heir apparent and so-called ‘Student Prince’) openly tells us on national television that, once in power, his government will not reverse the savage cuts in the forthcoming budget. Fine Gael and Labour are no different to Fianna Fail, they bicker only about how the people shall be made pay.
Use The People’s Conventions to Renew Democracy
We say rather than just protesting against these parties which have usurped power and turned the legislature and other organs of the Irish State into tools for their own advancement and the enrichment of their backers, we should empower ourselves.
In order to comply with the law regarding the use of names on ballot papers we are registering An Chomhdháil Phobail l The People’s Convention (CPPC) as a political party.
We call on all democratic minded people to work to quickly establish People’s Conventions in every constituency so that the people can select and elect new direct representatives in place of the party incumbents in the Dáil.
This is the first necessary step to bring about a new reality in Irish politics with the removal of all parties of vested interests from Dáil Éireann in this general election.
The People’s Conventions have three functions
1. They will select citizens of honest character who have a record of service to the people and invite them to stand as candidates of The People’s Convention.
2. They will mobilise the vote of their fellow citizens to ensure a clean sweep of all Dáil seats by the candidates of The People’s Convention.
3. After the election, The People’s Conventions in each Constituency will become the means by which the newly elected representatives will consult and inform the voters and, most importantly, will seek a mandate for all proposed legislation, including all budget measures and international treaties and conventions.
The People’s Convention Representatives will be Subject to Recall
All candidates of The People’s Convention must agree to accept a Constituency vote for immediate recall and replacement if they are deemed to have failed to honour their solemn pledge of service to the people.
What other Policies does CPPC have?
The People’s Convention (CPPC) has one main policy and that is to place decision making and power in the hands of the people of this country – to end the corrupt system of ‘party whips’ and fill the Dáil with honest people.
It is the lack of democracy and democratic say by the people that is at the root of the corruption of power and the sell-off of our natural and labour resources. The current situation renders adopting policy positions on all other matters futile and meaningless.
Our policy is to ensure that the people exercise their sovereignty starting with the very selection of candidates for election right through to the decision making processes afterwards and to the implementation of policy.
It is the right of the people to formulate policy, to mandate their representatives on its adoption into law and elect their Government to implement it and afterward to follow through with a system of check-up and if necessary recall of their representatives.
The system that has been in existence up until now never allowed the people to create policy and even when they were allegedly offered ‘choices’ by the old parties of vested interests there was no real choice at all.
Our policy is that the people in each Constituency will discuss and make their minds up on the draft legislation proposed by their Government and Dáil and mandate their representatives on how they should vote to adopt or reject or amend the proposals.
Then What about the Solution to the Current Crisis?
CPPC‟s view is that the current crisis is a crisis of the system of vested interests who have been gambling with the system of the ever rising tide of construction speculation. They have got caught out and this Government is determined to make the people pay for this gambling.
Even the insurance policies the infamous Bond Holders have taken out to protect themselves against default are untouchable. We are told by world financiers that in no circumstances will they tolerate the situation whereby the Bond Holders should have to call in these policies.
It is our view, that only when we have a Dáil of people’s representatives, who are determined to inform the electorate about the real nature of the crisis and the choices that favour the people, will we be able to take decisions on NAMA or not and how to deal with the Bond Holders, Europe (EU) and the IMF.
Even the economic commentators are saying that it is grossly unjust that the Irish people should pay for the gambling of these avaricious moneybags.
Will the People Make Mistakes if they Dare to take Power?
The trump card the powers-that-be will play is that in this new way of governing ourselves we will have no experience and we may (will) make mistakes.
In the first place, this country has a very experienced civil service that has decades of experience and they are after all the sons and daughters of the people . The change of political leadership will allow them to serve the people at every level and not corrupt masters and vested interests as at present.
Secondly, there are many economists and other specialists who do not agree with the present headlong rush to the abyss and the life of sackcloth and ashes for our people for generations to come. They too and others will place their skills in the service of the people.
It is possible that mistakes will be made but the difference is that we do not have to be victims of any policy that proves to be wrong. We will have the power to correct it and we do not have to wait for an election orchestrated by fraudsters.
We must take our destiny into our own hands!
What we are proposing is not easy, but we must take our destiny into our own hands and instead of the countless hours of organising to pressurise corrupt politicians we can spend the time discussing and solving the problems we face and generating hope rather than despair.
