Are you a member of a party? Why/why not?

[Saoirse go Deo]

As most of you probably know at this stage I'm a member of SF. I joined because I am a republican and want to see the Irish Republic declared in 1916 a reality. I think SF are the most likely party to bring this about (perhaps thats not saying much)

I'm interested to hear what parties, if any, you are members of and in particular I'm curious about those who have a big interest in politics, read/write about it yet are not members of parties. Why not?

[fluffybiscuits]

As most of you probably know at this stage I'm a member of SF. I joined because I am a republican and want to see the Irish Republic declared in 1916 a reality. I think SF are the most likely party to bring this about (perhaps thats not saying much)

I'm interested to hear what parties, if any, you are members of and in particular I'm curious about those who have a big interest in politics, read/write about it yet are not members of parties. Why not?

Great post SgD

Found the idea of joining a party unappealing however was quite happy to vote for a party that would think along the same wave length. Mostly this has been the ULA and have flirted with the idea of joining them for a while but I dont have the patience nor the time. Social issues Im well up on but when it comes to economics my head just aches, I try to understand but only ever get a rudimentary understanding. The ULA needs more of a focus on the social issues for me but at the moment and rightly so the economy is taking precedence.

[Baron von Biffo]

Joining a party seems to rot the brain.

Perfectly normal, intelligent, decent people become moral and intellectual gymnasts in defence of the official line immediately upon becoming party members.

[DCon]

As Grouch Marx once said

"I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member"

[ang]

Not a member of any party. Have never seen the need, free thinking and Independent.

Whip system is one of the biggest obstacles to democratic freedom in this Country.

Not comfortable being labelled or stamped.

[eamo]

As most of you probably know at this stage I'm a member of SF. I joined because I am a republican and want to see the Irish Republic declared in 1916 a reality. I think SF are the most likely party to bring this about (perhaps thats not saying much)

I'm interested to hear what parties, if any, you are members of and in particular I'm curious about those who have a big interest in politics, read/write about it yet are not members of parties. Why not?

Jaysus Saoirse!!
You were asking how to change your PW handle a while ago.
Well if you do manage to change it how about "raisearow" as your new handle

Not sure if I am still a member of The Worker's Party of Ireland. Been inactive for ages, (family, work, struggle against economic oppression by the government, unwilling to keep hitting my head against a brick wall, one too many stabs in the back, lack of energy, noooo not cynicism, well I hope not) still got a (very) small standing order going to them every month.
Joined many moons ago because I considered myself (and still do) a Republican Socialist. Agreed totally with their class analysis. Also agreed with their opposition to the provos vicious, sectarian, murderous and futile terror campaign. Well you did ask.
Seems to me SF have come around to agreeing with a lot of what the Worker's Party were saying 30 years ago. So much misery and horror inflicted while waiting for some people to grow up. Yea, the "some people" are the SF leadership.
Good to see SF develop. Best of luck for the future. I fear you have no idea what treachery lies ahead for your party. You will only avoid it by avoiding any coherent political ideology, and then your future is Fianna Fáil nua.
But then again I could be wrong.
Hope springs eternal
Best of luck Saoirse..

[ZeroWedge]

Whip system is one of the biggest obstacles to democratic freedom in this Country.

The whip system is an inevitable outcome of any parliamentary system.

We need to get rid of all professional politicians. Direct democracy at a community level, just like in Switzerland, is the only answer.

[Shaadi]

No, never have been. I would have seriously considered it but I've had serious family commitments that came before everything else and still do.

Nothing will change unless people get up off their asses and make it happen. I've done my time as a shop steward, so I understand what the good and bad sides of representing people are.

When people band together for the right reasons it's brilliant, when they just use the collective bargaining process for themselves it's enough to turn you off being involved.

Hunger is a great sauce. Hopefully people will band together for the right reasons when things start to get really tough. We may discover a nobility in adversity that was absent during prosperity.

[Kev Bar]

Whatever the alleged ideology, all political parties seem to attract a genre of person with a particularly odious form of ambition in such numbers that they act as a corrosive agent on the vision and dynamism of the slim few who actually might do some good.

And here those who declare themselves the alternative to the systemic corruption of the traditional body politic end up shoplifting the tax-payer's stationery shop for an average industrial wage or two worth of ink cartridges or short changing the tax man for the odd million or two.

Whip aside, the silence of fellow party members in the face colleague's scumbaggery highlights the prevailing moral bankruptcy of our parties.



Politicians seem to be as bad as pop stars in being losing themselves amidst the clamour of fame.
At least celebrities don't claim to do anything more than pander to your moods.
And then the cliche tells us all about what power tends to do to those who cling to it .
Most politicians in this country seem to be a bizarre hybrid of the feudal lord and the thieving servant.

I'd be somewhat baffled as to where a republican should go in this town to find true representation.

Irish politics.
Jesus.
Where else would a man go on hunger strike - no mean fear - for an identity he idly jettisons when the walls of his world of ruthless development and reckless disdain come crashing down on him.