The elite moaning about elitism

The Seanad is "elitist." I just can't get over how many times I've seen that on Twitter. What exactly makes it elitist? Oh yeah, there are six seats reserved for university graduates.

OK. I guess that settles it then. The Seanad is eitist because those with university degrees are the "elite."

It's a laughable argument. Not because it's not true, because it is, but because nearly all those who are making that case are graduates. They have the better jobs and the higher salaries. That is, they are the 'elite.'

The killer is that almost all of those who make that case are graduates who benefited from an entirely or almost entirely subsidized college education. {And, yes, €3,000 per annum is nowhere near the full cost of your education. €15,000+ would be closer to the mark.} Yet I've heard precious little from any of the political parties or even from the media (no elite in either of those groupings, I'm sure) demanding an end to the government subsidy for third level education.

So before you bellow like a starving animal about the injustice of the elitist Seanad perhaps you should consider whether those who do not have a third level education, who fill the ranks of those jobs graduates don't want, whose children have little hope of getting a place in university might have a far bigger gripe about having to pay taxes to subsidize the education of the elite than they do with the fact that 10% of the members of the powerless upper chamber of parliament are reserved for the elite.

In other words, give me a break with your elitist moaning about elitism.

2016 – "More charismatic than Scott Walker, more conservative than Chris Christie"

I'd actually forgotten about Mike Pence. I had no idea what he was up to until I came across this column from the Daily Caller.

I have no idea if the columnist is right and that Pence would make a formidable candidate for 2016. Truth is I'm about 2+ years away from giving much thought to 2016. However, I would be keen to see how the Irish media reacted to candidate Pence, who is a grandson of an Irish immigrant, and who

spent the better part of a year working in Ireland when he was younger. He bartended and cut turf in County Clare and almost stayed there.

"Irish" or not, I suspect most in the Irish media would run a mile from the 'teavangelical' Pence.