Sir, – I agree with Prof Eoin O’Leary’s statement in his letter of February 2nd that there is much to abhor about US president Donald Trump.
However, his characterisation of Mr Trump’s election victory as symptomatic of mainstream politicians hiding behind insincere soundbites and delaying action is too simplistic. It is also a generalisation, and there are several exceptions that spring to mind, including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Nicola Sturgeon and several domestic politicians.
I am perhaps a little less cynical regarding our elected leaders. I think most mainstream politicians are sincere and, in many cases, delayed action on their part may arise from gathering evidence before decisions are made. The type of shooting from the hip and rapid decision-making that is lauded in Mr Trump is the opposite of considered, evidence-based decision-making. I would choose delayed competence over narcissistic stubbornness any day.
The most critical problem for democracy now, in my opinion, is not insincere politicians, but electorates that are unable or unwilling to reward sincere and competent politicians.
Populist politicians that value opposition for its own sake, and are found wanting when successful, are very good at “exposing” what they claim is insincerity, which instead is the reality of governance.
We saw in Ireland for example a government that inherited the worst economic situation in the history of the State, taking power in the middle of a bailout required to keep our economy going. That government delivered exactly what it said it would do – stabilise the economy, reduce public debt, and reduce unemployment. When it sought re-election, it was decimated, largely for the sake of a €160 bill for water charges. What we have now is Fianna Fáil, the party that led us over the cliff, as the most popular party again.
The difficulty we face is not that we “continue to fail to produce leaders who show courage, conviction and genuine leadership”, but rather that when they do so, electorates are too quick to replace those leaders with others whose promises are more shiny and probably unrealistic. – Yours, etc,
Dr DECLAN JORDAN,
Senior Lecturer
in Economics,
Cork University
Business School.