“The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” — Jean Giraudoux

This coming May election does not augur well for democracy or for the youth of the land.

The obscene display of money politics, the personal insults, faking of surveys, character assassination, and misuse of media, all tend to expose the dark side and negative characteristics of the so-called western democracy that Philippine politics is patterned after.

This political system is corrosive and corruptive.

Politicians who then succumb to the lure of this kind of political campaigning will inevitably become, at the very least, intellectually dishonest if they are not already materially corrupt since national elections are becoming increasingly expensive to sustain.

This debilitating system should been expunged and cleansed by the ideals of EDSA I.

Regrettably, the 1987 Constitution reverted the political process to the practices of the pre-martial law years which have progressively deteriorated ever since.

That is, the coming election is the dirtiest, most expensive, most venomous, amoral, and shameless political exercise in recent history whose reformation can only be resolved by extra-Constitutional surgery at the expense of democracy.

Adding insult to injury, the quality of candidates vying for the presidency is inversely proportional to the enormity  of the national concerns.

That is, we have poor choices of candidates in proportion to the gargantuan problems waiting to be tackled.

The leading candidates are either not qualified or previously proven to be ineffectual, or distrusted, or miserably trailing behind in surveys that leave much to be desired.

Indeed, there are bright spots in the horizon, such as, the ultimate automation of election voting and counting; the growing awareness and activism of the youth; the emergence of qualified, intelligent, and young, up-and-coming political leaders; and the increasing discontent of the citizenry, as a whole, towards mismanagement of the nation’s affairs both by Congress and the Executive Branch.

The Judicial system, too, has deteriorated in terms of image and credibility.

When all is said and done, it is opined that political victory by Sen. Benigno Aquino III, or Sen. Manuel Villar, or former President Joseph Estrada will encourage coup attempts, as experienced by the late President Corazon Aquino, the unceremonious ouster of President Estrada in EDSA Dos, and the several coup attempts against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself, as well as increased communist insurgency and Muslim insurrection, respectively.

Concluding, it is democracy that is at stake for these candidates are not up to the challengers, except one or two.

You be the judge.

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HERE AND THERE

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