We don't have to wake up like this again in 4 weeks (or 4 years) time

In Ireland we have our own election in less than 4 weeks time, and this time we will have a vote, and we have agency over how that election goes.

News from the US is grim, grim, grim.

But

In Ireland we have our own election in less than 4 weeks time, and this time we will have a vote, and we have agency over how that election goes.

Let's use that agency to make sure that we are not having to wake up like this again within the month.

It is not too late to check the register

Firstly; today is the day to make sure that you - and anyone you are in a WhatsApp group with - is registered to vote - in a place that they can access on Nov 29th (so not "home-home", or that place you moved out of).

Check the register AND update your address if you need to here: https://checktheregister.ie/en-IE/

Promotional material from the Electoral Commission

Get involved

I won't repeat myself on my plea to find someone you like and get out canvassing for them (except I just did).

Also consider throwing a few Euro their way - based on previous spending data, we can expect a few million to be spent in this GE. Make sure that the person or party you support can compete.

Push back against easy answers

Lastly, let start paying serious attention to our own petit trumps over here.

A lot of the coverage of the election will be on the top of the table, but it is further down the vote tallies that the seeds of a potential future US scenario (or Austrian, Italian, French, or frankly UK scenario) may lie.

We are not yet at the point where there is a charismatic leader uniting those who scapegoat the vulnerable and offer easy answers could gain real traction.

But we are now in the moment where the conditions for that kind of person to emerge are being laid down.

We need to be wary of someone offering easy answers - on housing, on climate action, on cost of living - and we need to be bold and forthright (and understanding, and sometimes kind) pushing back on those in our lives to are absorbing these messages from all around them.

This is about 4 weeks time, but also 4, or 10 years time too.