Elections

Once again we are off to the polls to elect those politicians who will represent us in Westminster, the mother of all parliaments. What kind of leaders do we want and what kind of leaders do we deserve? Some have said that a people get the leaders they deserve, is there any truth in that? If we look at those who represent us at the moment at the various levels of government what do we find? On the nationalist side we have those who refuse to take their seats because they still do not acknowledge the right of "England " to be ruling in Ireland and continue with a "Brits Out" mantra, even though it is less often heard quite like that. What we have to ask is- what about those people who are just as Irish as the republicans and nationalists but consider themselves to be British? And who are the real republicans anyway? In the usual understanding of the term a republican is a democrat and a democrat is a person who accepts the result of the ballot box minus the armolite. Is it not strange that in politics we have those who are republican and yet they are monarchical in church matters and those who are monarchical in political matters are very often democratic in church matters and that the most democratic church gave the structures of government to even the democratic loving Americans. On the unionist side we have two parties who are made up of very middle class people, with a proponderance of soliticors and barristers, who seem to find it more difficult to get on with each other than they do with their traditiojnal enemies. What about the working man? Who or which political party in Northern Ireland is putting his case before the mother parliament? Can anyone answer this question? When do the people become more important than political creed? Which of the parties are going to help us to live together and to be reconciled to the way of life of the other side of the community?