Is It A Government's Responsibility To Convince People How To Vote?
Until today, I was unaware that a referendum was held in Ireland that could have changed their constitution. My expertise is in viral immunology, not politics. Unfortunately, however, I have observed how politics can be used to trump objective science over the past four years. So, I recognize a connection between poor governance and a society failing to ‘follow the science’.
I was aghast when I read the following quote that was attributed to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar…
"...It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote 'Yes' and we clearly failed to do so."
I find this exceptionally troubling.
If people are presented with a choice, is it really the responsibility of a government to convince the people which choice should be made?
I thought the mandate of democratic governments was to listen to people and then attempt to govern based on their understanding of how people want to be governed.
In my non-expert opinion, the only failure of the Irish government was that they obviously did not have their finger on the pulse of the people prior to heading into their referendum.
Should a government that so clearly misunderstands the wishes of their people be in charge? Is the quote from the Irish Prime Minister not indicative of a conflict of interest with the needs and desires of the Irish people? What happened to the concept of objectivity in Ireland’s referendum?
No wonder the politicization of science over the past four years has ended so badly in terms of public trust in science.
In Australia recently we also had a referendum vote to drastically alter our constitution. The people also voted no. However, states and local councils have decided to go ahead anyway!! To me this is even more than them trying to convince of us as “yes” vote for this change, it’s also, “If you don’t do as we tell you, we’ll railroad you anyway because clearly you choose wrong.” I’m pretty sick of current governments.
Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown isn't a politician or a scientist, but this quote makes sense: "Following the science is the most unscientific statement imaginable, questioning science is how you do science".