In a long line of David-versus-Goliath political victories that includes Trump, Brexit, Orbán, Milei and the recent Voice referendum in Australia, Irish voters have delivered a stunning rebuke to their political betters by voting down two proposed changes to the country’s constitution.
“[P]eople most resoundingly voted no” in the heartlands of Sinn Fein and Labor, where the working class dominates.
Held simultaneously, the two referendums sought to downgrade marriage in the definition of a family, and delete women from the center of home life — all masterfully scheduled to coincide with International Women’s Day. (READ MORE from Kurt Mahlburg: Trudeau’s Orwellian Dream: Deploying ‘the Trump Treatment’ to Destroy Canada)
But it turns out the Irish prefer families and women over DEI and wokeness. The first proposal was rejected by 68 percent of voters, and the second by a resounding 74 percent — the highest ever no vote percentage in an Irish referendum.
The Irish Constitution, drafted with strong Catholic influences and ratified in 1937, defines the family as “the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society” and “a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law,” adding, “The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack.”
The government, led by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, had hoped to edit this definition to frame family as an institution “founded on marriage or on other durable relationships.” Irish voters rebuffed the exercise in irony, deciding instead to guard with special care the institution of Marriage and protect it against attack by voting no — and in spades.
In language unusually honoring of women though alien to modern ears, Ireland’s national charter likewise declares that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved,” and that therefore “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.” Freedom to choose over obligation to work, in other words.
Varadkar’s Fine Gael government had proposed a modern alternative as sterile and unimaginative as you might expect: “the state recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.” This gobbledygook redefinition was the least popular of the two, attracting support from barely a quarter of voters.
From the vantage point of the political establishment, the recent double ballot should have been a cakewalk. All the mainstream parties were on board, whether Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labor, Greens, or Sinn Fein. The media was in the bag, of course, including state broadcaster RTÉ. Not to mention that the two most recent referendums, held in 2015 and 2018, gave the blessing to the progressive causes of same-sex marriage and abortion respectively.
The lesson of last weekend is that the gulf between the Irish people and their ostensible leaders could hardly be wider. The country’s major political parties, institutions, and establishment media have been exposed as being entirely out of step with the sentiment of the public.
Journalists and newsroom editors hardly knew what to do with themselves. “Confused Irish voters reject bid to rewrite constitution’s view of women and family,” scowled one Politico headline, before it was stealth edited to sound less insulting. “Ireland’s referendums: what went wrong, and what happens now?” preached The Guardian, as though a yes-yes vote was the only correct decision the isle’s despised plebs could have made. “Irish government loses public votes to update ‘sexist’ constitution,” CNN moaned in an insulting headline that was soon mimicked by smaller outlets globally. (READ MORE: Dr. Phil Is Based Now?)
The only party to oppose the constitutional amendments was Aontu, led by Peadar Toibin, who expressed delight at the result despite having “battled against the political establishment and all the groups and the NGOs that receive funding from the political establishment as well.”
Toibin likewise highlighted the irony that “people most resoundingly voted no” in the heartlands of Sinn Fein and Labor, where the working class dominates and where poverty and single parenting is commonplace. “It looks like the leadership of those parties are marooned from their supporters,” he quipped.
After the historic result was announced, independent media outlet Gript interviewed prominent No campaigner Maria Steen outside Dublin Castle.
“It’s a great victory for common sense,” Ms Steen declared.
She heralded the result as “a rejection by the Irish people of the political elites,” as well as “a rejection of a campaign of misinformation by the government, who would not engage with the reasonable concerns of the No side.”
“It’s also a rejection of a government that seems more concerned with social media plaudits than actually getting on with the business of governing the country,” Ms. Steen explained.
More than that, the no-no result was “a very positive statement, and it’s an expression by the Irish people, of gratitude and of love.”
“Gratitude to women for the work that they do in their homes that’s often unseen and unsung. Gratitude to mothers for the unique and irreplaceable role that they play in their children’s lives and in the lives of their families. And a recognition of the special place that marriage has in our constitution and that they want to retain there.”(READ MORE: Ramaswamy is Absolutely Schooling Woke, Inc.)
“Coming up to Mother’s Day tomorrow, it’s just the best Mother’s Day present ever,” she beamed.
Welcome to Women’s Lib à la 2020s.