Sunday, June 08, 2008
Your vote counts...vote NO
As I mentioned on Friday, the Lisbon Treaty result could still go either way and recent developments have confirmed as much. Following on from Friday's poll in the Irish Times which showed the No vote in the lead, in contrast the Red C poll in tomorrow's Sunday Business Post has the Yes side in front.Those of us against this document shouldn't lose heart just yet however. The poll in the Sunday Business Post gives the Yes vote a marginal lead - 42% versus 39% against. Another encouraging sign is that the Sunday poll, like Friday's poll, shows the No side making gains, with the latest poll showing a 6% surge.
It seems interest in the vote is spreading across Europe too and I spotted this incisive article in The Times putting across some more reasons why we in Ireland should reject this undemocratic document. What particularly caught my eye was this bit:
"Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French president and architect of the constitution on which the treaty is based, said “public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly”.
Now if that doesn't sum up the undemocratic nature of the political entity we're dealing with then I don't know what does. How can Irish people think of backing such a mindset? How can Irish people expect Brian Cowen to be able to fight for our corner under the current muddled, meandering mess of proposals we are being offered by Brussels?
I must say I am pleasantly surprised at how things have turned out thus far as I honestly did not expect things to be this close in the run-up to the final days of the vote. I think it's a great testament to the intelligence and defiant spirit of the Irish people that they have not been fooled by the EU's or the main Irish parties' attempt to pull the wool over voter's eyes.
To any undecided voters who may be reading this I would simply ask you to think long and hard about what this document could mean for us in this country. The referendum on Thursday is about giving ourselves the best possible future in Europe. Does the Lisbon Treaty offer us that? I don't believe so.
Each citizen must make his/her own mind up. I hope that the Irish people will do the right thing this Thursday and, to me at least, that means following in the footsteps of the French and Dutch voters who gave the EU's proposals a big thumbs down.
This Thursday make your vote count and vote No to the Lisbon Treaty. We can find a better way.
# posted by United Irelander @ 1:26 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
