Before 2011,
Michael D. Higgins
of the Labour Party
was one of
the leaders of anti-capitalist, anti-American and anti-Israel
politics in Ireland.
For decades he attacked the free market,
and attacked the West's two frontline states - America and Israel -
with his trademark divisive, self-righteous rhetoric.
In 2011, he was elected as Irish President.
The Irish Presidency is
(or was) meant to be a ceremonial role, with little power,
meeting and greeting people and promoting Ireland
and not offending anyone.
But since Mary Robinson
in 1990,
the position of President has become increasingly politicised.
Presidents now feel the need to deliver pious and annoying little homilies,
like Pope Francis or Prince Charles.
And if there is one thing Michael D. likes, it is delivering
pious and annoying little homilies.
But I must say it has not been as bad as I feared.
He has been an incredibly annoying President.
But he was worse before 2011.
The position has put some restriction on his opinions.
He was far more offensive before 2011.
The two faces of Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
(Left) Demonising US President George W. Bush and the US military.
(Right) Mourning Palestinian terrorist leader Yasser Arafat.
Maybe the main reason Michael D. won the 2011 presidential election
was that the media did not do their job.
Like Obama
in 2008, the Irish media loved Michael D. and almost never raised any of the issues on this site.
They could be found on the Internet, but that isn't enough.
The Irish media never bothered explaining to young voters (or even old voters who have forgotten)
where Michael D. stood on Arafat and Hamas
and Reagan and Bush
and so on.
The media regarded it as a non-story.
Isn't it the media's job to vet candidates before elections?
But that did not happen in 2011.
The silence of the Irish media in 2011 was a disgrace.
How this paper played pivotal role in probing candidates, Irish Independent, October 29, 2011.
The Irish Independent
congratulates itself on "probing" the candidates.
None of the "probing" involves the winner, Michael D. Higgins.
Even their "probing" of former front-runner
David Norris
never touched upon his extremist politics.
Too late, the Irish media covers Michael D.'s background:
David Quinn
broke with the consensus and covered Michael D.'s background, but too late.
He
references this page
on 15 Oct 2011, and wrote a piece about this material after the election:
Catch-all Gallagher was hit by 'Catch 22' problem, David Quinn, 28 Oct 2011.
A good piece about Gallagher and Higgins, which references this material, but published after the election.
It's a shame no journalist managed to examine the winner before the election.
As Quinn says:
"frankly I can't see how a Fianna Fail past, even if downplayed, is so very much worse than a past spent lending moral support to organisations like Hamas, dictators like Yasser Arafat, or venting your anger on the United States, not the Soviet Union. But apparently in Ireland for many people, having a Fianna Fail past is very much worse than any of this."
Elected: Michael D Higgins - Ireland's most anti-American President, by John Fay, IrishCentral, 28 Oct 2011.
A good profile of Higgins:
"Overall, it would probably be a good thing if the next seven years did not include any Irish presidential visit to America."
Published too late - after the election
- but still puts the Irish media to shame.
Why did the Irish media not do this?
Tim Johnston
sums it up:
"Ireland is having its Obama Moment now, having realised the media, er, forgot to probe MDH's past properly the way they did with other candidates, and having elected a complete loon to a high position. Fortunately, MDH has little power as president, but he will go off abroad on the taxpayers' dime spouting his worn-out brand of mindless slush to all and sundry on our behalf."
How dare I criticise the Irish voters for electing Michael D. Higgins?
Do I not respect democracy?
Well, here is how I dare.
Here is
Michael D. himself showing a lack of respect for the voters' decision in 1986,
when the voters rejected legalising divorce.
From Irish Times,
June 28, 1986.
Showing a lack of respect for the voters' decision is just normal democracy.
Like all politicians, he speaks for the people who voted for him.
He does not speak for all of us.
Michael D. Higgins has for years used his platform as President
to attack the free market and promote his socialist ideas.
Not my President.
Not my ideas.
Michael D.'s inaugural speech, 11 Nov 2011, shows his contempt for the Celtic Tiger and Irish prosperity:
"it is necessary to move past the assumptions which have failed us and to work together for such a different set of values as will enable us to build a sustainable social economy
...
in more recent years, we saw the rise of a different kind of individualism - closer to an egotism based on purely material considerations - that tended to value the worth of a person in terms of the accumulation of wealth rather then their fundamental dignity. That was our loss, the source in part, of our present difficulties. Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom".
"This pampered and cosseted member of the political elite thinks that Ireland somehow was demeaned by being the Celtic Tiger. Does this mean he wants to go back the mid-1980s, before Ireland began to reform? Back when government was consuming more than 50 percent of the nation's output? Back when the the corporate tax rate was 50 percent? Back when other tax rates were at extortionary levels?
If that's true, he wants to dramatically reduce the living standards of the Irish people.
...
Prior to the market-based reforms of the Celtic Tiger era, Ireland was a relatively poor nation with per-capita income and output well below $10,000. Today, by contrast, output and income are four or five times higher."
Sad that the foreign press has to do the job because the Irish press won't.
Speech by President Michael D. Higgins, Jan 2012, attacks "unrestrained market dominance".
He says (amongst clouds of hot air)
that the free market (not the EU and the euro) is "a failed paradigm of life and economy".
By the end of the vague, rambling text, you're not really sure what, if anything, it means.
But one thing you know - you don't want anyone like this
anywhere near running the Irish economy.
Speech by President Michael D. Higgins, Nov 2012.
"Right-wing economists have created a neo-liberal philosophy that seemingly cannot now be questioned and that leaves control in the hands of a faceless market, President Michael D Higgins has said."
President's shame over Tiger excess, article, 28 Nov 2012, reports on an
interview in Ireland's Own.
"President Michael D Higgins has told of the lasting shame he feels at the way people acted during the Celtic Tiger era.
He said he is embarrassed over the arrogance of many who made their fortunes during the bubble.
"I think it's probably fair to say that during the period of the Celtic Tiger, there was a certain amount of boastfulness by some of the Irish about our economy.
"They were inclined to give lectures about how others could be as good as the Irish. I've always felt very unhappy about all of that. It's quite embarrassing really, and that was picked up on abroad," he said."
"Mr Higgins said the impact of climate change and the depletion of natural resources meant economies had to change
...
"The shift to sustainability, if managed ethically and fairly, offers the possibility of making economies more inclusive and of directing new economic opportunity towards people who are currently excluded from economic growth and prosperity"".
He has not one clue how to make Africans prosperous. Total drivel.
President Higgins, Oct 2020, uses the Covid pandemic to launch an attack on .. capitalism and the free market.
Of course he does.
See text.
"COVID-19 has magnified the shortcomings of our failed paradigm of economy with all its imbalances, inequities and injustices."
The same old script.
How the Celtic Tiger improved Irish quality of life.
From Daniel J. Mitchell's piece above.
"Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I'd rather live in a "selfish" world that gives me doctors, cars, and central heating.
But to a member of the political elite like Mr. Higgins, this kind of prosperity probably spoils people
... Better for people to live noble lives of poverty and deprivation."
Here we go: Years of headlines like this,
portraying a terrible image of Ireland abroad.
Michael D., you don't speak for me.
To me,
Michael D. Higgins is the political heir of Eamon de Valera -
the leader of an inward-looking,
neutral Ireland
that refuses to support our western democratic allies,
but views itself instead (absurdly)
as some kind of innocent peasant ex-colony
that should be allied with the Third World.
Dev's 1943 St. Patrick's Day speech praising
a frugal Ireland
that rejects materialism
sounds pretty much like
Michael D.'s attacks on the greed of the Celtic Tiger.
This poster
is trying to celebrate Michael D. Higgins.
But in fact I think they nail what is wrong with him.
If you reject - like Pearse, De Valera and Higgins
- Ireland's place as an ally of the democratic West,
the West led by Britain and America that has fought titanic struggles against fascism, communism and Islamism
to defend freedom,
then what is left to you?
Irish nationalists that reject this narrative always end up portraying Ireland
as some dull boring backwater of impoverished illiterate peasants, as this poster does.
It is a deeply unappealing view of Ireland, and quite imaginary.
I prefer the modern, globalised, Celtic Tiger Ireland
of US high-tech multinationals,
booming city centres
and soaring house prices (because everyone wants to live here).
That's my Ireland.
"I am effete and proud of it. I am also a lefty pinko. I was told that by no less than our mutual friend, Kader Asmal, and coming from him, it was the greatest compliment I ever received in my life. Myself and Deputy Michael D. Higgins are two old lefty pinkos. I am an effete lefty pinko and I was part of the commentariat as well for a period."
- David Norris
sums it up in his usual style in Mar 2007.
