Madam, - Paddy Stack's complaint (April 9th) about a lack of political philosophy in our political system is accurate, yet his ire is misplaced.
It is not the fault of the party system or the electoral system but more the fault of the innate conservatism that afflicts so many Irish voters.
That the citizenry are thoughtless regarding political philosophy can be seen in our ever-in-crisis health system. Philosophically there are only two ways to provide health care. We pay for our health care either as consumers or as taxpayers. The Progressive Democrats believe we should pay as consumers, while the Labour Party believes we should do as as taxpayers. Two diametrically opposed, yet equally valid views.
Unfortunately these two parties are and look like remaining small entities. On those occasions when they get to be the junior partners in a coalition government they can only ever hope to have a truncated version of their philosophy implemented. That, however, despite the protestations of the ideologues, is democracy.
If Irish voters truly wanted radical solutions then the thought-free Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties would disappear and in their place we would have the liberal-social democratic divide that the Progressive Democrats and the Labour Party represent. - Yours, etc,
PAUL BOWLER, The Bridge, Lixnaw, Co Kerry,