(The Nationalist, 31 May 2002)
Adolf Hitler, in his autobiography, Mein Kampf, made clear his hatred of Jews and contempt of Slavs. It was published in 1927. Dachau concentration camp, near the German city of Munich, opened three weeks after Hitler came to power in 1933. Were the German people a nation of racist thugs with a penchant for mass murder? Surely not. But they placed their destiny in the hands of a man who, in their name, carried out the largest and most systematic genocide in human history. The German people said they didn’t know.
Are the Irish bishops and heads of religious orders cold, cynical men who don’t care about sexual abuse of children? I don’t believe it. But by their inaction they allowed it to continue.
Are the Irish people corrupt? No. They are mostly decent, honest people. But decent, honest people have a way of allowing terrible things to be done in their name. Edmund Burke, a famous Irish parliamentarian wrote, ‘Nothing is required for the triumph of evil save that the good do nothing’.
Consider the elections that have just concluded:
- Michael Lowry was described by the McCracken Tribunal as being ‘able to ignore, and indeed cynically evade, both the taxation and exchange control laws of the State with impunity’. He was re-elected by the voters at the top of the poll.
- Beverley Cooper-Flynn was found by a jury to have colluded with tax evasion. She was re-elected by the voters.
- John Ellis was given over £25,000 of public money by Charles Haughey. He was re-elected by the voters.
- Martin Ferris was caught gun-running for the IRA in 1984. He was elected by the voters.
- Jim Mitchell headed the Dáil Public Accounts Committee which quickly uncovered corruption among various public officials. He was rejected by the voters, who gave more votes in the same constituency to Nicky Kehoe, a man arrested as a member of an armed gang trying to carry out a kidnapping.
If we get more corruption and violence in politics in the future, will we say we didn’t know? If the young are cynical about politics, as the lowest turn-out in over 20 years seems to indicate, have we not given them reason to be? We get the politicians we deserve.