There is an excellent article in the Telegraph which serves as a splendid example of just why so many libertarians regard democracy, as it exists in most countries, with profound ambivalence.
So they are being frogmarched back to the polls to reverse the decision they reached just 15 months ago. This is European democracy, Henry Ford style: you can reach any answer, as long as it is yes. In simply refusing to recognise the outcome of the first referendum, the government makes the point of the No campaigners more eloquently than a thousand speeches.
[…]
Mr Ahern and his supporters are relying upon the electorate accepting that there was something wrong with the June 2001 referendum. Although it produced a clear 54-46 victory for the No side, the turnout was just 35 per cent. This mandate is considered sufficiently unsatisfactory for another to be sought, although nobody for a moment believes that Ireland would be holding a second referendum had the same numbers produced a Yes vote.
If you ever wanted a demonstration of the fact the last thing democracy is about is ‘the consent of the people’, this is it. It is about justifying the actions of political elites.
Don’t knock it too much, Perry. It’s democracy that knocked the EU behemoth back at the time of the first Irish referendum, and it’s democracy that is giving the Irish electorate at least a chance to knock ’em still harder.
I object to this business of not accepting the “wrong” answer as much as you do – if a man behaved to a woman like this it would be called harassment – but don’t forget that 14 of the 15 countries who signed the Nice treaty just ratified it by fiat.
My college did something similar a few years ago. Students voted down an expansion that would have raised fees. So the next semester, the school brought the same issue up on a special election. I didn’t vote the first time, and didn’t really care either way. The second vote, I made sure to vote no. The turn-out was higher the second time, during a special election, and the NO was resounding. The “elites” can try, but as long as they have to get the voters approval, the voters still have the edge.
I do hope so. Oh, my, wouldn’t it be fun if the Irish thumbed their noses at the elite once again. The trouble is that running a political campaign costs money and effort. The elite are counting on the the volunteers for the No campaign becoming worn out, dispirited and bored, while their own coffers and numbers, being supported by state money and institutions, are next to limitless.
And dangling, unspoken, is the threat that if the Irish vote “no” again, they’ll just hold yet another referendum – or somehow fudge it by some legal trick. Although we might be talking serious rebellion by that time.
I just got back from a week in Ireland with the new lust of my life and I was amazed by the unlikely alliance of people who make up the NO campaign. There is genuine anger at how cynical this whole thing is but face it, most people have shit for brains and the YES campaign is massively out spending the NO campaign.
Many are just voting NO because they do not want competition from Eastern Europe for snout room at the trough, not because they have any problem with the idea of Brussels socialist statism, so long as they think they are getting the benefit.