The airwaves this evening seem to be full of junior Green Party members moaning and complaining about the compromises their leaders made as part of the proposed program for government. I've never heard so few people complain so much. Some of them are so fanatical about their beliefs it appears they would happier to sit in a tree and sulk for the next 5 years than give an inch on a single idea or policy.
I don't envy Trevor Sargent, John Gormley and co facing these people and getting the program passed by a 2/3rd majority but the bigger challenge will be getting their party members to grow up and join the real world. If they want to have a bigger say in a government then they should either stop complaining, work harder and win more seats at the next election or move en-mass to one of the Aran Islands, declare independence and live their Green utopia.
Update: The Greens voted 86% in favor of the deal, shows I'm talking through my arse most of the time :-)
I don't envy Trevor Sargent, John Gormley and co facing these people and getting the program passed by a 2/3rd majority but the bigger challenge will be getting their party members to grow up and join the real world. If they want to have a bigger say in a government then they should either stop complaining, work harder and win more seats at the next election or move en-mass to one of the Aran Islands, declare independence and live their Green utopia.
Update: The Greens voted 86% in favor of the deal, shows I'm talking through my arse most of the time :-)
3 comments:
I presume these junior members worked their socks off for the election not just for their party, but also for the very foundations of that party. So I believe they are justified in complaining if they feel the need to.
As for growing up, I think you should read your post again and decide whether you need to take heed of your own advice.
I got annoyed listening to some of them yesterday. They probably did work hard during the election, but if they are going to win more seats next time they need to work hard outside the election as well. They should be looking at taking the 1000 members and turning that into 10000. They should be aiming to win big in the local elections.
The people they had on the radio yesterday were unwilling to compromise on any single issue, except for the guy who would said he would happily see the Hill of Tara bulldozed if the War in Iraq would be stopped. They didn't view being in government as a stepping stone to getting what they wanted, they expected to get what they wanted now and in full and then they would be happy to negotiate.
As it turns out while they were on the radio, sane Green party members were in the Mansion house voting to go into government.
For that very reason party have voting procedures. If party members didn't have diverse opinions then their policies would be much weaker.
Debate and conflict are generally good in this scenario as it means every decision has to be properly thought out rather than simply ratified.
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