Minister Varadkar: Too much democracy is bad?

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, does not approve of referendums.

Some quotes:

I don’t think referendums are very democratic.

I think an unnecessary referendum would be a huge distraction from what should be the real work of government.

We’re a parliamentary democracy, we elect a parliament and that parliament has the power to ratify treaties.

My difficulty with referenda is that they are often hijacked by political parties, either looking to promote themselves or by interest groups looking to make a protest or looking for certain concessions.

Here’s my interpretation of the above quotes:

Government knows best.

Too much democracy is messy and inconvenient.

All political power should be placed entirely in the hands of the very small number of people who actually make decisions within the Cabinet.

In functional democracies Minister Varadkar’s extreme views would be rejected out of hand.

In our corrupt political system, where politicians do pretty much as they like, his views are positively dangerous.

3 thoughts on “Minister Varadkar: Too much democracy is bad?”

  1. It’s OK. Leo’s in good (sic) company. Europe doesn’t believe in democracy either. Otherwise they would not put a clause in the new treaty to say (in so many words) that any country that doesn’t ratify it gets no more money from the ‘Fund’.

    How can Ireland hold a democratic referendum at the point of a gun like that?

  2. Didnt you read the obituary anthony im sure it was in all the papers yesterday?
    “Monday 30th of January 2012 it has been announced that Democracy
    passed away quietly over the weekend after a long illness.
    It was known to Friends as “the voice of the people” or “an inconvenient rigmarole”
    to its enemies and had for a long number of years been struggling with a debilitating
    condition caused by arrogance, ignorance and corruption amongst
    those who had professed to serve it and the public good.
    Although the condition made it lethargic most of the time, Democracy had periods of
    energetic activity brought on by “election fever” every few years,
    these rallies would be short lived however as the beneficiaries of Democracy
    would have the fever suppressed after the election until they needed it again.
    This was of course for the peoples good as Democracy (being only an ideal) had a
    tendency to cause an inflated sense of self worth amongst voters,
    a dangerous delusion that their vote was actually worth something
    and that the people controlled the own destiny and that of their country.
    Often this would lead to people voting the wrong way in a referendum
    causing distress and embarrassment to their betters,meaning referenda would even
    have to be repeated until the right answer was given in a tragic waste of public servants time.
    Democracy finally gave up its fragile hold on life in Ireland due to the declaration
    by a government minister and one of the foremost political thinkers of our time
    that “Democracy is undemocratic” this New Truth has reverberated across Europe
    so much so that it is now the accepted policy of the EU.
    Democracy left no will as it had been sapped long ago, its heirs live comfortable
    on their wages, expenses and pensions and expect to do so for the indefinite future.
    The interment is invitation only and not open to the public.”

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