Sir, – It has long been established that politicians’ measure of success is first and foremost predicated on their wages/allowances and perks. Progress depends on politicians’ ability to extract taxes while keeping unrest to acceptable minimal.
The real patsy here are SMEs and the middle class who are paying for politicians’ wages with no mechanism to exert pressure for change (reduce politician numbers, scrap Senate, introduce single-seater constituency, scrap RTE2, cut allowances to all State employees, etc). We should not continue to expect change from politicians, who want to maintain their wages/pensions by keeping peace while exacting as little disturbing pain as possible.
We need a strong taxpayers’ alliance and a willingness for organised tax revolt to waken up this shoddy system. In addition, we need the democratic option, as in multiple choice exams, to pick “none of the above” options in all future elections.
This change would give a democratic voice to the dissatisfied. If such a mechanism is good enough for exams, it’s good enough for political hopefuls. – Yours, etc,