Vagaries of election process most confusing

STOPPED at traffic lights while cycling on Saturday, I spotted two men armed with election posters, cable ties and a ladder. I smiled, complimented them on their endeavours and said that I was impressed and went on to say that they must be convinced of what they were doing. I suggested they were conviction politicians. One of them quipped: ‘And also maybe conflicted’.

All three of us thought it funny. They got on with the job-in-hand, the lights turned green and off I went.

That brief engagement spurred something in me and I’m now paying more heed to election posters than I might usually do.

Poster spotting is fun and I can only imagine it’s a fount of material for psychologists and anyone who has anything to do with the workings of the mind.

Do election posters work? They must, otherwise politicians would not be wasting money erecting them. Though I have been told, this year because of our awareness of how we are destroying the planet, there may be fewer lampposts festooned with posters.

What do you make of the Fine Gael nationwide slogan, ‘A Future to Look forward to’? Is it not reprehensible to finish a sentence with a preposition?

I phoned the constituency office of a government minister and asked the person at the other end of the phone what the Fine Gael slogan was. To his embarrassment he was not able to tell me.

Then there is the Fianna Fáil one, ‘An Ireland for All’. Certainly it’s far easier to remember, crisper and clearer than the FG one. And it might even do something for GAA followers who go to the All-Ireland.

But what exactly does it mean? Who are the ‘All’? Underlying tones of a united Ireland hidden there somewhere?

And then all the mugshots. Are there rules and regulations whereby candidates have to pass certain photogenic standards before they are allowed throw their hat in the ring? Looking at all these posters I’m reminded of something in Canon Law where candidates in the past could not go forward for priesthood if their looks were repellent. A candidate for priesthood could not have damaged hands.

Without knowing the first thing about a candidate I am finding myself looking at mugshots, making judgements and coming to conclusions about the person on the poster.

How does the media coverage, all the debating on radio and television, influence us?

I kept asking myself was I any the wiser after the first Leo versus Micheál debate on Virgin Media 1 last Wednesday evening. And then all the analysis afterwards, I find my head spinning in confusion.

Winston Churchill’s words on democracy are worth noting: ‘The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.’

I’m back thinking about my encounter with the two men putting up posters. They were pleasant and friendly, well-mannered and funny too.

Could that interaction be the cause of my voting for their party? Is the whole exercise as ephemeral as that? That’s democracy for you.