No, I’m not. There are different types of gassing. Me’s quotation is one of them.

Point well taken, Joe. However, the majority of morons here appear to be the elected representatives of the people.

Not so off topic. There is a parallel.

Alfred Sant (with a +1 seat majority in Parliament) thought he could blackmail Dom Mintoff by making Sant’s concept of a Yacht marina in Cottonera a vote of confidence, where Sant had expected to win the vote. He lost.

Lawrence Gonzi (with a +1 seat majority in Parliament) that he could defend against JPO et al.’s bill proposing divorce by skuttling the issue in a referendum, where Gonzi (with very good odds) had expected to win the NO vote. He lost.

Now what transpires in Parliament regarding the referendum’s post-referendum execution by MPs and Party leaders may lead to the electorate’s vote of “no confidence” in elements or in all of Parliament, come the general election whenever it comes.

If the worst transpires in Parliament, then the no confidence of the electorate may ignite a logical, but unpredictable course, with consequences yet to unfold.

For those MPs already declaring to vote NO in parliament, some of these have already chosen to not stand for re-election. But they certainly would remain as symbols (along with the other MPs who may choose not to confirm the decision of the electorate with their YES) for an angry electorate, if they should attempt to stick around till election time.

So some MPs may be singing their “swan songs,” others may attempt to stay on as “lame ducks,” or if they do stay on they may become the “albatross” around the necks of their respective political Party, of those currently in parliament.

Who in their rational analysis is willing to bet that an angry electorate would stand still until the next election? It’s the PM’s decision.

Is the present PM by his own actions going to be consigned to a similar fate in history as the former MLP PM (because of his own actions)? In both the past and present cases, the electorate decides (unless democracy looses).

And democracy looses when Parliament is in a mess. What political parties yet may win or lose depends upon their actions. I’d say that general confidence in the status quo has left the building.

The status quo seems to represent the hegomony of the political classes, which has fostered a sizeable level of previous popular discontent, which now is even higher. The political alternatives to the status quo are yet to emerge. The changing character of the electorate seems to have produced its most recent electoral victory.

You must be too young to remember when this same poem was intoned in the Independence Arena by Dr. Louis Galea when we were gassed and shot at. I was there.

[Daphne – So was I, and I cringed. Even as a teenager, my sense of pathos was too finely tuned for that sort of ‘Oxford Book of Quotations’ drama. Imagine if Churchill had gone at the book of quotes instead of coming up with words of inspiration appropriate to the occasion. Back then, the quotation struck me as wholly inappropriate because it clearly refers to the oppression of the Maltese as a whole by an outside force, and not to a pitched battle between one half of the population and another.]

Oh, eff off. I know you mean the quote ironically, but this isn’t William Wallace and Scotland.

Correction . . . as history amply demonstrates, Malta will have a totally buggered future with Labour in Government . . . ! Especially when one considers the acumen of the current crowd inhabiting the glass ‘people’s palace’!

How you ask? Because it is all to easy to govern responsibly when the other side has made a mockery of democracy for so long and when the majority are also on the right side of history. The minute the PN has been faced with the reverse situation it is simply mirroring the opposite side rather than rise to the occasion by claiming that all MPs will vote a resounding YES with bullies like Austin Gatt and mystics like Tonio Fenech accepting to resign. Only that way would they have lived up to their billing!

Min ma jaccettax l-opinjoni tal-poplu jirrizenja mill-parlament u jekk joghgobha Mrs. Coleiro Preca titlaq minn issa u mhux tistenna sentejn ohra.

Dr. Vassallo mhux jistenna li jkeccieh il-partit imma jirrizenja. Jekk Mrs Coleiro Preca ma tridx tikkontesta l-elezzjoni li gejja affari taghha. Imut Papa u jilhaq iehor jghidu. Hekk turi li kienet fil-parlament ghas-sodisfazzjon taghha personali u mhux veru biex taghti sapport dak li jixtieq il-poplu.

Bi sfortuna ghal dawk li vvutaw LE imma IVA rebah. Huwa dak li l-poplu jrid mela ir-rieda tal-poplu trid tigi accetta.

Mela nonfqu l-miljuni tal-euros f’referendum, il-poplu jesprimi ruhu imma min qieghed fil-parlament irid jiddeciedi. Dan ghalija forma ta’ dittatorjat.

I will not accept lessons on democracy from Varist. We have already had our version of Tahrir Square – when his party was in government. Didn’t he notice?