What happens in America tends to be repeated in other countries a few years later. The big socio-economic trends play out first in the United States, then drift across the Ocean and repeat themselves in a local form here. That’s the received wisdom.
If this is the case, might the future of Irish politics look less like Leo Varadkar and more like Conor Mc Gregor?
As The Notorious wrapped himself in the tricolor in Vegas the other night, this is a question worth considering.
Ten years ago America elected Obama. He was everything the liberal establishment wanted. Black but not too black, left wing but not too left wing, fresh but not too radical and above all, he was respected abroad by all the serious media outlets. The vision of America that Obama projected to the world was straight from the playlist of educated America. He was the ointment for a wounded and divided society.
Sophisticated Americans held up a mirror to themselves and they saw Obama. They loved what stared back at them. In the great American culture wars, they had won – or at least that’s how it seemed initially.
But just when they thought it was over, the electorate went and voted for Trump.
We know what happened in America. The white working class had only lent their votes to Obama. These votes were rented — not earned — based on a brilliant marketing campaign rather than a tested product. The white working class gave a conditional endorsement to cosmopolitanism.
Unfortunately, the American coastal elite mistook the transitory Obama electoral phenomenon as a permanent shift in American politics. From the vantage point of Wall Street, Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the elites believed that this movement would be impervious to the underlying economic trends and so they engineered a recovery based on asset prices rising. This they assumed would make everyone feel better and then over time, the recovery would trickle down to the grateful masses below.
However rising asset prices only made those people with assets feel better off. And who do you think owns assets, rich people or poor people? Rich people of course, that’s why they are rich, because they own assets.
Inequality amplified.
The marginalized white working class might not have had any assets, but they did have a vote. And they used it. When it came to the time, they voted for Trump.
It is crucial to note that they didn’t vote for the guy who said he was going to give them handouts — as liberals expected and encouraged. They voted for the guy who said precisely the opposite. He was the guy who was going to cut taxes for the rich.
One thing liberals don’t understand about the American working class is that while the working class hate professionals, they love the rich.
They spend their working lives taking orders and want to be the guy who gives orders; Trump gives orders. They want to be like him, rich enough to give everyone the two fingers. That’s the American Dream.
Now let’s look at Ireland ten years after Obama’s first Presidential campaign. Is there an Irish Dream? And, if so, who embodies it for whom?
In Ireland we also have our elite.
Whereas in the US they talk about the liberal coastal elite, here we have a professional/managerial elite.
These people work in both the public and private sector. They can be on the liberal Left or establishment Right. They are the people who go into hysterics over the annual CAO “points race” whipping themselves into a frenzy of familial achievement.
Such a reaction is not surprising because the annual points’ race is the entry point to the professional/managerial class. The stranglehold of the professional/managerial class on the Irish education system is asphyxiating and the grind system reinforces their position, giving their offspring maximum advantage, making their caste almost hereditary.
They are the aristocracy of Ireland’s Respectocracy, living a form of the Irish Dream — the Dream that is set out by the system. Being respectable is neurotically adhered to; it’s part of the deal.
Affection for the points race is mirrored by their almost visceral dislike of Conor Mc Gregor.
Has there ever been an elite Irish sportsman, in this sports-mad country, who so splits public opinion? The real dividing line in Dublin is not the River Liffey, but Conor McGregor.
Where you stand on Conor McGregor reveals a lot about the type of person you are, what class you belong to, what generation you were born into and how you see the future of the country.
Conor is a threat to the Respectocracy because he is a working class lad, taking his chances, genuflecting to no one. As a product of the Facebook generation, he understands the urgency of now. His west Dublin, trash-talking swagger embarrasses the Respectocracy — particularly when he’s abroad. To borrow from Hillary Clinton’s phrasebook, for them, he is the King of the Deplorables.
But he represents a forgotten class. His tribe also gets up early in the morning. They are working people — which the patronizing Respectocracy regularly confuse with poor people. They don’t feature often on radio or TV. They’re rarely editorial writers. They go to Spain on their holidays.
They compete with immigrants in the job, housing and health markets. Their kids are in class with immigrant kids. Their wages in manufacturing are stagnating due to competition from abroad. And Conor’s people get on with it.
They work for themselves. They too are ambitious and want their kids to do well. They want their children to have stuff they didn’t have. They just go about it in a different way. Maybe because they see a system rigged against them, they choose to go around it.
Like McGregor, they are not waiting for someone to give them permission to dream, work hard and get results. Theirs too is an Irish Dream.
In McGregor they see a hero, a man who has achieved extraordinary things, who doesn’t hide his ambition and understands that he is in it for the cash. They also understand his fragility.
Remember they too despise the professionals — because frankly, the professionals despise them. In contrast, they respect the rich — particularly the self-made man. That is what Conor is. The system wasn’t on his side and now he is on top through courage, hard work and more hard work.
But his isn’t the sort of achievement Respectable Ireland recognizes because of the accent, the bragging and the crudity. But what do you expect from a man who beats the shite out of people for a living?
McGregor is the nightmare knock on the door that every “respectable” establishment mother fears for her daughter.
As for Leo, he would be their perfect son in law.
When they see our fit, tanned, photogenic, educated, well spoken, intellectual, half-Indian, gay Taoiseach, who also happens to be a doctor, walking arm in arm with Justin Trudeau, speaking French at Montreal’s gay pride last week, they think that’s what their Ireland looks like.
Leo is gay but not too gay, he is Indian but not too Indian, he is socially Left, but economically Right — so he will follow their social agenda without threatening their wallets.
If he didn’t exist they’d have to invent him.
But both men represent an Irish Dream. Both men are Outsiders; both are emblematic of our country and its various tribes. As befits the blurring in modern Ireland, Leo is the Northsider who is refined and polished; Conor is the Southsider, who is rough and feral.
But both tribes vote.
The real challenge for Leo is to lead his tribe into a political union with Conor’s tribe. This is what Bill Clinton did in the US from the Left and what Margaret Thatcher did in the UK from the Right. Could Leo Varadkar appeal to everyone who gets up early in the morning? Could he do it from the centre? If he does this, he will be a real leader.
By the way, the odds on Leo prevailing are probably shorter than Conor’s were on Saturday night. But that would be cool too, wouldn’t it?
Very perceptive David.
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Hi.
First, I have to say thanks for your tolerance. I feel bad that you felt the need to delete your last article thread. I feel bad that you felt insulted by some of the posts I made. I am endeavouring to rectify this. I am not perfect. This article is flawless so on the pulse. Economic forces have their roots in realpolitick and this is a brilliant expose of Ireland right now. As for leo and conor; I cringed at the thought that the man you described (Leo) is our pm. I don’t want conor either. His skills are for… Read more »
McGregor > Varadkar
Trudeau joined by Irish PM at Montreal Pride parade Trudeau danced and waved a rainbow flag as he walked with Leo Varadkar, the first foreign head of government to join the prime minister in a Canadian Pride celebration. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/20/trudeau-joined-by-irish-pm-at-montreal-pride-parade.html The only surprise is that they did not walk hand in hand, arm in arm. As for McGregor. 100 million is a great payday for some one “in it just for the money” You’re a fightin’ man Billy McGhee.” Oh me fame went abroad through the nations, And folks came a flockin’ to see. And they cried out without hesitation, “You’re… Read more »
The rich get richer, they have assets, and the poor have all the debts
https://www.facebook.com/freedomfreeforall/photos/a.623675407778148.1073741830.512416152237408/1045154742296877/?type=3
Leo, is polished, urbane, and sophisticated. And he studied Med in TCD. But….Leo is useless. And let’s be honest, unless you were already part of the top 1%, or on the urban welfare plantation, or illegally in the US – so was Obama. Leo never fixed anything. His decision to locate the Childrens Hospital in the most inaccessible location in the entire Island, outside of the Atlantic coast, was astounding. The reasoning was clear – Leo wanted it to NOT be in his constituency, so that he would NOT be a parish pump politician. Leo is bailed out by the… Read more »
McGregor ia a show man like Paul Hewson – except as far as I know, McGregor is tax resident here. He plays the Irish thing, plays the media hype thing, and provides entertainment to some people (but talks arrogantly as if it is of universal relevance).
Regarding the election of Obama – his opponents were
John Edwards [ who was exposed as a lying hypcrite ]
Hillary Rodham Clinton [ Rotten, corrupt, and deceitful ]
John McCain [ Bomb-Bomb-Bomb-Bomb=Bomb-Iran ]
Mitt Romney [ The King of Bain].
Obama did well out of that.
I suspect that the Media made Obama inevitable, by preventing serious opposition, based on key substantial policy difference.
Obama did not need the DNC to fix matters, to prevent a Sanders personality from undermining his voter appear.
Concerning the points system, and the CAO – it is about the most meritocratic measurement system in Ireland. Seriously. And yes, it can be circumvented, via the various specility locations that advise kids on how to maximise their points. In addition, there is a problem that some courses simply do NOT have enough places for the demand – at any measurement of points. Uni, Med, being the prime example. We simply are not generating enough graduates. And a lot of those that are in it, are at it for the wrong reasons. They get disinterested, and in some cases ended… Read more »
The challenge is not to merge Leo’s sector with Conor’s. The challenge is to make Leo’s sector a lot less protected, and a lot more likely to gain the respect that they are repeatedly demainding from Conor’s sector. The problem is that those who are in control, do not cede control, and they do not accept the consequences of their own misadventure. Whether it is Annabels kids avoiding imprisonment, or banks being bailed out – consequences are for Conor’s sector – but not for the insiders in Ireland. They can be useless, and get away with it. In fact, they… Read more »
SF hold an enormous footprint in the McGregor sector. One only has to listen to the aggression in the SF rhetoric, from it’s West Dublin based candidates. And it’s conversion to the cause of “equality”. For some strange reason “equality” according to SF does not extend to financial matters, and large sums of money in aligned criminal organizations behind the political wing of a complex set of entities. At this stage the SF footprint is considerable, and is immovable. The manner in which b FF, and the ILP verbally attacked the establishment, to only later grant them all their wishes,… Read more »
Haven’t had time to read the article yet but one thing I notice about McGregor is that he’s quite normal, approachable, respectful and modest once the fight is done – doesn’t seem like a bad lad at all.
Obviously he has to talk a lot of shit in the build up to the fight so that they can create as much interest and revenue in the fight as possible, all part of the show and it’s his job after all.
It is interesting to compare the two and relate it back to politics in Ireland. After an absence of 5 years from Ireland I can see that the divide between the”me have” and the ” me no have” is clearly on the way to a juicy escalation. The gap between the people who are just in the nick of time to get on the property ladder and those who are just a few months to a year too late. There is also an older generation whose children have left the nest and are so called “scaling down” to a smaller… Read more »
Canada goes to POT. Make love not war.
https://www.outsiderclub.com/huge-advantages-for-canadian-pot-companies/2274
supply and demand is the story of the fight. ticket prices were high because of the demand. There were no government quotas to distort the market. no regulation on “gouging”. No prevention on scalping. Just as there should be no derogation of saving (hoarding) or buying what is not needed (thrift).
The prudent have savings and resources the imprudent have nothing yet expect to be bailed out. BUT Texans for instance went about helping each other, no questions asked. Volunteerism works . It benefits both the receiver and the donor. Most of the first responders will be volunteers.
http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/be-thankful-for-price-gouging-in-houston/
Banks:
ECB’s supervisory arm fines Irish bank Permanent TSB €2.5M: The FT reported on Monday that the ECB’s supervisory arm has imposed its first fine on a Eurozone lender, giving a €2.5M penalty on Permanent TSB, an Irish bank, for breaching liquidity rules. While small, the FT said the fine is significant because it is the first time the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has bared its teeth and fined a lender since it began operating in late 2014 as the watchdog of the single currency area’s largest and most important banks.
posted at http://www.lemetropolecafe.com
The Irish establishment have convinced themselves that they can live with SF, and have them inside the tent. The problem is that they do not understand the SF modus operandi, game plan, or resource base. At some point the establishment in Ireland will be fighting for their very existence against Provisional Teo. Look at the list of defeated entities, to date. The SDLP, the UUP, Alliance, FF, the ILP, to a certain degree the RCC, The Irish times, Pravda-RTE, UTV, Newstalk, the gardai, the RUC, and countless localities, etc…. All have taken on the “Provisional Republican” eco-system and have been… Read more »
[ The real challenge for Leo is to lead his tribe into a political union with Conor’s tribe. This is what Bill Clinton did in the US from the Left and what Margaret Thatcher did in the UK from the Right. Could Leo Varadkar appeal to everyone who gets up early in the morning? Could he do it from the centre? If he does this, he will be a real leader. ] Hw won’t. SF will take him out. And they will knock out Coveney. And the current MoF. And the Tanaiste. And indeed the entire FG front bench. Like… Read more »
The Holter Report The bluff will finally be called… This was written for JSMineset subscribers and published Tuesday. David Schectman is undergoing a medical procedure and asked if I could publish a couple of articles in his absence. I gladly obliged as we still have close ties between Miles Franklin and JSMineset. If you enjoy this, please consider subscribing here https://www.jsmineset.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ . A little over four years ago, gold and silver were blasted with sales from “the Jolly Green Giant” that caused major price declines. If you recall, this happened immediately after a closed meeting between Obama, the Treasury secretary… Read more »
@David McWilliams mcwilliams
I thought nothing left would shock me David about how dysfunctional the Irish state has become but this shocked the life out of me;
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/devastated-farmer-who-watched-army-8370971
The irish army was sent in to shoot 5 heifers in a farmer bankruptcy case. Couldnt send in a vet to humanely destroy the animals could they?
Begs the question was the army deployed to terrorize the farmer?
The nincompoops from the Anti-Irish Times are wrecking their heads with this recent headline: “Is Ireland in danger of creating another housing bubble?”. As their censorship rules are as strict as in the Nazi Germany, I cannot answer them with a letter: so I decided to answer it this way: what can you rent for $1,500 a month in San Francisco, Edinburgh and Dublin? San Francisco (city centre): https://www.apartments.com/1255-harrison-st-san-francisco-ca/fstdgps/ Edinburgh (city centre): http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-61414705.html Dublin (90 min wait and commute to the ?city centre on Europe’s worst and most expensive public transport, no places to get any decent food that are… Read more »
And this is about the crypto-currency sector. To me it is obvious that this is another racket. It is driven by low interest rates. And anything that reveals the utter bankruptcy of low interest rates gets censored, as that would lead to questions about the entire policy mandate of politicians looking after banks to the detriment of wider society. In any case, this is now getting obvious. https://www.sovereignman.com/investing/theres-literally-a-token-called-fck-thats-up-370-in-the-last-24-hours-22355/ Yet another bubble. Low cost Monetary policy has produced more bubbles, than a monetary policy that has an interest rate that is designed to facilitate an intelligent combination of funding allocations. In… Read more »
My advice to those in virtual currencies is to minimize your vulnerability and get out. There is no value proposition.
It is a bigger joke than the Euro – a currency who essence is “who exactly owes you nothing”.
You are all hopelessly out of touch lads. If you are going to comment on something at least do the most perfunctory of research on the facts. Luddite central here.
https://needtoknow.news/2017/08/uk-pakistani-men-grooming-young-white-girls-sex-rings/
Take your pick and read any of a dozen Orwellian stories.
https://needtoknow.news/2017/08/video-proof-undercover-police-posing-antifa-inciting-violence/
Well it looks like Mr bonbon (aka Truthist) has slung his hook – good news if he’s putting his time to good use – but somehow I doubt that he is.
Btw, I’ve found the earliest discussion on Bitcoin on this blog – it’s surprising that Bitcoin wasn’t actually mentioned on this blog until March 2013… This is the earliest mention of Bitcoin on this blog: “33square March 15, 2013 at 8:49 pm has the monetary value of bitcoin gone through the roof since the latest “crash”? (currently ~36 euro per bitcoin) why? are bitcoins just another bubble/fad?” No one answered him or her though, even though I spotted: “Adam Byrne March 14, 2013 at 10:56 am subscribe.” And this is the first discussion on Bitcoin on this blog: “whatamess December… Read more »
Also interesting – last night saw the largest sell-off in the cryptocurrency markets since July 15 – $13bn (7% of all crypto market cap). 7% sell-off of the entire crypto supply: that would only indicate that very few people own a large percentage of all crypto supplies (it would be so funny if it was central banks after all; interestingly, when in September 2016, the FBI shut down the Silk Road online drug marketplace, and it started seizing bitcoins belonging to the Dread Pirate Roberts — the operator of the illicit online marketplace, it made the FBI the holder of… Read more »
Also, reports from anonymous sources in China indicate the country’s top financial regulator may be close to cracking down on initial coin offerings.
David’s comments in the past indicated a belief in anthropomorphic climate change.
s
Some of us, perhaps the majority, respectfully disagree.
Climate change regulations and carbon taxes are just more ways to divide us among each other in order to exert more control of the globalist agenda. Tribe v. tribe.
Here is an opportunity to read the info on the differing perspective. Nobody “denies” climate change but there is strong opposition to the view that mankind is the source of the change. Change has been continual since the big bang.
https://realityzone.com/inconvenient-lie-introduction/?affiliates=9
http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/how-society-grew-cold-dependence-on-cold-institutions/
“”Radical experimentation in governance is required to heal society and correct the trajectory. Stagnation is the best we can hope for with the current model of government and corporate collusion.
We need to restore the community structures of the past. We cannot simply do away with institutions people rely on and expect no turmoil. Rather, a model of a better society needs to be created.
This is why the next movement that will drastically improve civilization will be a period of decentralization of institutions, marked by voluntary association.””
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Which tribe will you choose for your association.
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