In addition, the overemphasis on the local man and woman underlines another important axiom about Irish elections: they are in fact 43 separate byelections, often fought on localised issues.
It is also a reminder that there is one axiom of Irish politics you should never forget and that is to never, ever underestimate the Soldiers of Destiny.
Mr Hubbard notes in passing, as though it were a universal axiom brooking no dissent: "raising revenue is about raising average tax rates, not marginal tax rates, as Barack Obama's campaign suggested.
Axiom either seconds some of its hundreds of lawyers to a company, takes on a whole chunk of a client firm's legal work (such as commercial contracts), or performs "discovery" (reviewing documents for litigation).
Trevor-Roper, later Lord Dacre, summed up "Leviathan" curtly: "The axiom, fear; the method, logic; the conclusion, despotism".Hobbes would probably have acknowledged the first part: he admitted to being a fearful type.
By making defence planners worry about fighting two nearly-simultaneous wars like that against Iraq in 1991, this rule-of-thumb has made it harder to prepare for the much broader range of threats which lie ahead.Dropping the two-war axiom is regarded as essential by those who want to spend more money on "transformational" weapons—especially those which can "see deep and shoot deep".
It is a similar axiom of democracy that politicians should be subject to the rule of law.
THE usefulness of standards is embodied in a simple axiom: when everybody else is doing A, it is not such a good idea to do B. Take driving.
Freedom of conscience is an axiom of liberal thought.
In 1996 Brazil acted with Argentina and the United States to forestall a coup in Paraguay a recognition that the defence of democracy in the region should take precedence over a tradition of non-intervention in the affairs of neighbours.The search for a stable South America has long been an axiom of Brazil's foreign policy, but demographics have given it greater urgency.
This position is a long-established axiom on the Israeli right.
