Madam, - It is interesting to contemplate the collapse of the Progressive Democrats and the parallel implosion of the global capital model which they successfully promoted over the past decade and a half.
Appealing to individual self-interest with a mantra of reduced government, low taxes and deregulation is all very well in times of plenty but the reality is that one cannot build a sustainable society without substantial commitment to the collective and regulatory processes that are the yardstick of progressive democracies.
While having a couple of jeeps rammed up the driveway and a holiday home in the Dordogne may seem like nirvana in the short term, it would have served people better had these PD-influenced governments invested in a proper health system, affordable childcare and adequately resourced schools.
Whereas many countries, such as Spain (which experienced a boom similar to our own) invested heavily in social and economic infrastructure during sustained periods of growth, we chose to squander the wealth in the belief that pandering to people's individual excesses could drive an economy.
The rejection of the European integrated model of development and the fixation with Boston rather than Berlin under successive PD-influenced governments also leaves us on the periphery of a Europe that has been much more prudent in its management of financial systems, and therefore much better able to ride out the present financial crisis than we are.
It is ironic that the very regulatory institutions so derided and reduced by neo-liberal parties such as the PDs must now step in to restore order to economies. Unfortunately it is public money that will be used to shore up the system so abused by the market zealots.
Thanks to the PDs we are stumbling into the 21st century in a fairly ragged state. It has been a salutary lesson, but good riddance to them. - Yours, etc,
AIDAN LLOYD, Sallins, Co Kildare.