Irish buildersIn my last article, “Modern political betrayal: All smiles and handshakes” I outlined how vitally important it is to understand what a good society looks like, before we are able to decide upon a political direction to move in, toward that good or ideal. We have so many politicians and leaders out there who throw out every year these grand ideas and policies designed to impress us with all the work they are doing. It is like they are baking a cake and throwing all sorts of mad ingredients in, hoping that the result will be a fine tasting cake. They do this however, without knowing first what a good and ideal cake should look and taste like first. These men sell us what society could be rather than showing us what society should be. As a result we never end up with a good and ideal society, but rather we have to settle for something much less acceptable and much less beneficial.

Today I would like to describe to you the type of man we should be looking for as a true leader, a man who knows a good and ideal society before he starts adding ingredients and selling us manifestos. These men seek to show us how great society should be, not how great they are. These are the men for whom smiles and handshakes mean nothing and for whom the only acceptable compromise is one that helps the people and society reach their potential greatness.

Some of the most valuable experiences I have had in my life where served on building sites throughout the lands with foremen good and bad and jobs dirty or clean. I have difficult memories of those times, for the work was hard and the expectations tough for a young man used to the comfort of the living room. I also heard much conversation that would unlikely have impressed my mother. Still, the experience I gained became invaluable. From the characters who laboured around me, I learned much about men, about being Irish and about being human.

It was fascinating for me to watch the interactions between younger apprenticed hands and older hardened heads as they exchanged, elaborated and embellished tales of weekend behaviors and encounters involving mostly fighting, drinking and women. I heard stories of past present and future, kinship, friendship and workmanship. It was not all bad but despite all this banter there was one interaction in particular that intrigued me the most. It often took the younger lads by surprise at first that no matter how much messing around might have gone on and how lightly the older heads appeared to take life, they still talked about and went about their work with the utmost seriousness and respect.

These men would be joking in one second and the next they would be focused intently on the job at hand. It came as a sudden change of character and it took me off guard when I first noticed. In time, I developed a strong admiration for those men because of their superior practical knowledge and their devotion to achievement in their area of expertise whether that was electrician, joinery, plastering or brick laying. Their trade was their pride, their life and their mission in those moments.

Now these men where not perfect men. They had many deficiencies, irregularities and vulgarities and they tended to harbour deep intolerances for defects or differences in the personalities of others. Also, even though they held themselves as men of knowledge and wisdom, it was more often the case that their scope of insight was fairly limited, though not always of course.

I remember once, three of four men, standing around staring for hours at a freshly dug hole in the ground having a smoke, scratching their heads and other parts, reciting the inevitable “boys o it’s tara” conversation filler every couple of minutes and discussing the weather occasionally. A pipe had burst, and though they knew they must move forward they were at a loss on how to proceed. They could hear the water running but no source could be found. After a while and a few more smokes they lifted the phone and called in another man. Now, this man was different in many ways. He appeared after fifteen minutes, took one or two looks and described very purposefully exactly what was wrong, how things should be and what they needed to do to move forward. After that, work started up again and the job was completed. That, my friends, is the way of the world. There is always someone else out there who sees the bigger picture. These are men gifted with vision and so can be aptly called visionary. They will know how things should be and they will outline them so the practical man can get them done. We must accept that we do not know everything, even though we may think we do.

This, then, is how I see modern day Ireland. Everywhere on television and at every major event in our community we see these practical politicians who can’t wait to think up and tell us what practical policy they are going to implement next to make life better. Apparently they think they know it all. Where oh where are our great leaders? Those men who envision a good and ideal society and who our practical men can follow to give us what we need?

Ireland is still running on the old “United Ireland” steam. While this issue remains important for so many it is not primarily what we need. It is no longer the most pressing threat to our freedom. It is not what continues to keep us enslaved. Today we must look to education for our children. Our system is failing them. We must look to economic prosperity. Our system is failing us.

When a politician thinks the answer to the education and economic crisis is to increase taxation and give the government more power to regulate, he is not a visionary working for the good of the people, he is a practical man who has run out of ideas. When a politician thinks abortion (the killing of our next generation) is good for women while ignoring all the evidence to the contrary he is not a visionary working for the good of the people, he is a practical man who has run out of ideas. When a politician thinks gay marriage is good for society despite all the evidence to the contrary, once again, he is not a visionary working for the good of the people. These are practical men who have run out of ideas, or worse, men working for their own good and not our good. These men all claim these policies are the way to go but they ignore the clear evidence that plainly show these actions are disastrous for families and individuals. Our politicians join the European Union looking to other practical men for answers and all they seem to get are more problems while they sell our liberty and the very soul of Ireland.

I am here to tell you – visionaries exist. They are in Ireland today. I am convinced they are there. Unfortunately, our political system is designed to suffocate their voice. The stranglehold that the same old faces and same old parties have on our media and the flow of information prevents these young minds from emerging. The current policies cause so much economic hardship, many young people are forced to emigrate for better opportunities. Internal party politics typically prevent young people gaining positions of influence as the old dogs greedily hold on to their positions of power and prestige. At no time have we needed more these young leaders than today, to use all resources available to them to get their message to the people.

Their message is that we need to build, or go back to an Ireland built on goodness, virtue and Truth. We must look to our strength in community, camaraderie and faith rather than looking to the worldliness of European governments or further, for it does not suit our culture. These young people must impel us forward and viciously resist all forces that present barriers to the freedom and peace of our people. It is no longer men with guns and balaclavas who threaten our peace but men with smiles, handshakes and practical quick fix policies; men who would sell their own souls for power, wealth or prestige. These men want us to believe they are our leaders but they have become stale. Their vision brought us to this point but they have no vision to bring us to the next step. They need to step aside but, selfishly, they refuse.

We need new blood, men with vision who know what a good society should look like, men who care nothing for power, wealth or prestige but only for the good of their people. That is a man worth following, a man who would give his life for us and a man whose vision we would give our lives for.

Let us pray for good Irish leaders.

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