Trego's Mountain Ear

"Serving North Lincoln County"

Tag: Irish Democracy

  • Irish Democracy – Not The AI Search Definition

    Looking for information online is getting a bit harder – a search for “Irish Democracy” yields this commentary from search assist: “Irish democracy refers to the system of government in the Republic of Ireland, which is a parliamentary representative democracy. This means that the government is elected by the people and is accountable to them, with powers divided among the legislature, executive, and judiciary to ensure checks and balances.” Artificial Intelligence at its finest – you have to scroll down to get to https://www.econlib.org/the-pros-and-cons-of-irish-democracy/ which begins with “If regular democracy isn’t doing so well, maybe it’s time to fall back on “Irish Democracy.’ That’s what Yale political scientist James Scott calls the passive resistance of a society that doesn’t like what its rulers are doing to it. In his book “Two Cheers for ­Anarchy,” he writes, “One need not have an actual conspiracy to achieve the practical effects of a conspiracy. More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called ‘Irish Democracy,’ the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal and truculence of millions of ordinary people, than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.”

    Perhaps it was best phrased by Heinlein: “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” Another of his reminders is: “Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.”

    Henlein died in 1988 – and still made the observation “Government! Three fourths parasitic and the other fourth stupid fumbling.” The thought could describe my neighborhood in 2025.

    Still, when legislators reduce the choices we can make through voting – and our elected officials have done that, Irish Democracy becomes the only alternative. We do need to be careful that we do not accept Irish Handcuffs – the technical definition is a drink in each hand, but the hazard is holding on to something, refusing to set it down, and for that reason being compelled to inaction.

  • Voting with a Single Candidate

    Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote.  Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported.  With the elimination of subsection 7 last year, the last remaining method of voting against an unopposed, unacceptable candidate was taken away.

    Time was when we laughed about unopposed Soviet candidates being elected with no votes for the opponent.  We’re at that same stage now.  When the next primary comes out, we’ll be faced with a bunch of zero choice positions.

    P.J. O’Rourke wrote “Don’t Vote – It Only Encourages the Bastards.”  He may have been Prescient.  Our current system mandates that, in order to run for office, you must pay filing fees based on this schedule:

    From How to run for office in Montana – Ballotpedia

    Filing fees
    Office soughtHow the fee is determined
    For offices earning an annual salary of $2,500 or less and members of the state legislature$15
    For offices (except county-level) earning an annual salary of more than $2,5001% of salary
    For offices in which compensation is paid in fees$10

    By keeping the filing fee at $15 for state legislature, they – it’s more polite than O’Rourke’s tag (The Bastards) state representatives and senators don’t have to face the fact that our filing fees keep a lot of people out of the running.

    Montana County Elected Official Salary Survey shows the salaries of elected officials in most Montana counties.  It’s a year old, but I don’t have any better source to cover the state.  In Lincoln County, you can get the current salaries here.

    Probably the most interest is for the County Commissioner at $64,232.94 – so the 1% filing fee is a bit higher than $642.  It’s the same for sheriff –  and the rest of the full-time elected positions are $62,232.94.  (This is the base salary, commissioners and sheriff get $2,000 more.

    We could go on to elected state positions – but that’s for a future issue.

    It’s expensive just to file for these positions.  Write-in votes are no longer counted . . . so it is no longer possible to vote against a single candidate that you find unacceptable.  If you vote for him or her, it only encourages the bastards.  Worse, it discourages the folks who might run against them.

    Since the bastards have made it impossible to vote against an unopposed and unacceptable candidate, they have made voting less effective.  Our elections are essentially the same as the Soviet system we once mocked.  Still, the bastards have left us an alternative, and it’s a simple exercise in Irish democracy:

    If a candidate is unopposed, don’t mark that part of the ballot.  The unopposed candidate is going to win the election – so make him or her or it win with the smallest number of votes possible.  It won’t be possible to make the courthouse clique candidates win with single digit numbers – I’ll get into the socially constructed reality of the courthouse and the annex later – but it would be a beautiful protest if the county treasurer or clerk won re-election with less than half of the ballots cast.  That would encourage the opposition.

    P.J. O’Rourke was right.  They have screwed with the elections so much that voting can only Encourage the Bastards.  He didn’t take it far enough – if enough of us leave the boxes next to the unopposed candidates unfilled, it will encourage opponents.  The first step in getting the vote back is remembering P.J. – Don’t Vote – It Only Encourages the Bastards.  But don’t forget to cast your ballot!

  • Well Past Irish Democracy

    When government officials – in this case Texas Governor Abbott – begin calling for society’s passive resistance (heck, active resistance) to the conduct of the federal government and the President, things have gone past Irish Democracy.

    Irish Democracy – a situation where, with no coordination or discussion, the people ignore laws with which they disagree – has already led to legalization of marijuana.  But once politicians organized to pass laws decriminalizing weed, it had gone past Irish Democracy.   When federal pressure led Montana’s legislature to agree to a 55 mph speed limit with a five dollar fine the legislature was counting on Irish Democracy – and today  our speed limits are higher than the double nickel. 

    Is it Irish Democracy to do a job that the federal government is neglecting?  I’m a Montanan.  Historically, our legal system started at a funeral  in 1863 – and before they finished shoveling the dirt back into the grave, people attending William Bell’s funeral began organizing the Montana Vigilantes.  The Vigilantes formed just before Christmas, and by January 10, 1864, hanged the sheriff (and several of his associates).  The Vigilantes disbanded when formal law came to the goldfields.  In that case, government (i.e. Sheriff Henry Plummer) was the problem, and volunteers were the solution.  Still, it ceased to be Irish Democracy at the moment organization began – probably in a conversation between Confederate Paris Pfouts and Union Nathaniel Langford.  They found that they had more in common than the differences created by the war between the states . . . they moved from recognizing themselves as Illinoising or Texans to a higher level based on commonalities.

    Similarly, Ireland now has the Óglaigh na hÉireann – the country’s national defense force.  The group began as Irish Volunteers in 1913, and are remembered for their service in the Post Office in 1916.  Organized, the Irish Volunteers took care not to include John McBride, since he was under near constant surveillance from the British Army – his involvement was indeed spontaneous rather than planned.  Around 1919, the Irish Volunteers took the name Irish Republican Army. 

    Back to Texas – the argument is, at its simplest, barbed wire.  The Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Government has the authority and power to cut the barbed wire that the great state of Texas has put along in the southern boundary.  Texas continues to put in more barbed wire.  As an aggie, this seems like taking the old open range v barbed wire disagreement from personal to government . . . making it a states rights v federal authority.  Definitely not Irish Democracy.

  • The Petit Bourgeoisie Role in Irish Democracy

    Karl Marx thought the petit bourgeoisie would have a decisive role in the revolution – and I can’t think of better, more salt of the earth, examples of petit bourgeoisie than owner-operator truckers, farmers, and ranchers.  To Karl, the petit bourgeoisie were the small merchants, the self-employed artisans . . . folks who owned at least a part of their means of production.

    I’ve known quite a few owner-operator truckers, and met a whole lot more.  A CDL alone and the driver is a proletariat.  A CDL, with a down payment and a bank loan, and you’re looking at a member of the petit bourgeoisie.  The social distinction between proletariat and petit bourgeoisie isn’t hard to cross in the trucking business.  I doubt if there are a whole lot of haute bourgeoisie in the trucking industry, but the business converts the proletariat to petit bourgeoisie overnight.

    And truckers are near-natural participants in Irish Democracy – uncoordinated, wide-spread civil disobedience.  The multitude of regulations over the industry create awesome opportunities for civil disobedience.  The petit bourgeoisie with a restaurant has to stay put and conform.  The trucker, with 18 wheels, is harder to locate. 

    It is hard to think of an occupation more likely to bring Irish democracy into a political rally.  I have often listened to owner/operators who explained the need to keep two separate sets of books to make a living.  I recall the popularity of CB radios that announced where the bear was on the road.  I recollect radar detectors. “Irish democracy”  may be more pervasive among truckers than in Ireland.  And the Canadian government decided that they would need to quarantine for two weeks after crossing the US border.  If you look at populations (the old demographer talking here) about 70 percent of Canadians live further south than I do in Trego.  Somewhere around 85% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border.  Geography and demography have a lot of influence on where truckers drive. 

    Truckers – particularly owner-operators – are an occupation that can be described in Marxist terms.  A member of the lumpenproletariat with a commercial drivers license, a bank loan and a used truck moves into the petit bourgeoisie.  Equally important, if the truck goes and there is still money owed to the bank, he is back in the lumpenproletariat.  Close to the bottom margin of the petit bourgeoisie, the owner operator is in a position where carefully picking which regulations he (or she) observes makes the day more profitable.  The two week quarantine would end that trucker’s ability to make the payments on the truck.  Heck, a couple of hours beyond the legal allotment helps the bottom line.  Trucking is an industry that practices Irish Democracy during the good times.

    So I’m watching my northern neighbors – they started with a Freedom Convoy driving to Ottawa, and now trucks and tractors have closed the main 24 hour crossing between Montana and Canada, over by Sweetgrass.  By Stalin era definitions, the petit bourgeoisie are right wing – so I can understand the cartoonist who labels the trucks fascist, and how the national media calls the convoy “right wing.”  Different ideologies have differing definitions. The libertarian sees a fascist as someone who comes up with, or enforces, rules that interfere with freedom. 

     It seems a bit strange that left-wing politicians turned out unable to use Marx’ definitions, class descriptions and the dialectic to see that the truckers were the social class, the industry, that could bring the protest to the capitol.  The small businessman with the restaurant, motel or grocery store is stuck in place.  Eighteen wheels and a diesel engine is a business that makes Irish Democracy more natural than compliance.

  • Irish Democracy

    I started looking for a definition of “Irish Democracy.”  Found all sorts of descriptions of government in the Republic of Ireland – but nothing that described the unorganized ignoring of laws that lack popular support.  The term “Irish democracy” refers to uncoordinated, wide-spread civil disobedience.  An example is a sign in the window requiring face masks by order of Governor Bullock – and once you’re inside, you’re the only one masked.

    I started into a store, pulling my mask on.  The guy in a Stetson alongside me was humming “Desperados waiting for a train.”  I haven’t seen so many public scofflaws since they repealed Nixon’s 55 mph speed limit.  Heck, even Montana’s legislature got into the act, limiting the fine to five bucks.  It cost more than that for police to stop a car and issue a ticket – and that was when it started.

    Meanwhile, back east, New York’s governor gives orders that churches can’t hold services with more than ten people in attendance – and the Supreme Court rules 5 to 4 that it violates the first amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom.  In Canada, a guy named Skelly opens his bbq joint and serves sandwiches – he gets busted, they start a gofundme account to pay his fines, and folks start bringing their propane grills from home to his parking lot.   

    I didn’t need to find the definition – it’s all around me.  When our leaders come up with orders that won’t be obeyed, civil disobedience becomes the norm.