"Corrupt Voting System"

 
"A government by the people and for the people". Democracy stands on the pillars of this axiom as declaimed by Johnson. We vote whoever is to our opinion has the moral capacity to uphold the essence of our democratic principles. Since the day of Philippine independence, we had duly elected leaders to whom we entrusted our votes in hope of attaining a better life for our people.
We vote periodically for a new leader and renewed hope. Whatever failure the previous administration had, we hope to accomplish on the newly elected regime. But what does it take to lead a country? Does one has to be simply morally upright and wealthy? In a country like the Philippines where capitalist has rooted itself within the system, wealth is the outstanding factor to win a government seat. Rich industrialists and businessmen spread their wealth accross the barangays buying votes. Like the way they invest their capital on their businesses, they buy votes and reap their harvest once seated within the government, doubling or quadrupling their profit while running a corrupt system throughout their term.
Filipino electorate has seen these for years. But a man miserable in health and doomed to die of illness, desperate to preserve his life will gobble whatever medication to prolong his existence. The majority of the electorate are living below poverty line and any offer from these greedy industrialists is but as important to that of a dying man's need for medication. Without thorough thinking and extrapolation of ideas they will trade their free will for subsistence. Without thorough thinking, they will trade their future for their immediate need. This has been the prevailing voting system in the Philippines. Our people trade their future for immediate need just to subsist for the moment, as the greedy capitalist-politician maximizes the return of his capital throughout his term as the electorate starve. Where did the essence of democracy go? Filipinos look at communism to be ungodly and authoritarian but what has democracy rewarded our people from the outset? Poverty and social injustice. How can a president of the Philippines live a life of luxury while half of the people who voted for him are starving and living a life beyond human dignity? Does this define public service? How can a leader with chronic gambling habits lose millions of pesos while his people starve? These are the stark realities of corrupt political system, with a rotten core that ultimately sheds off a rotten shell.
We sold our free will and neglected the outcome of our future. Is this trade going to take us further towards economic growth? NO it merely took us six years back from where we are. By falling unto this capitalists trap we then again gave up another six years of hope to gain a better future. This rotten system is well known to Filipinos. Sadly, they have already embraced the idea as reality in Philippine politics. Filipinos have voted actors and actresses who portrayed themselves to be godly and morally sound on the movies they have seen, celebrities with no such knowledge of running a public office nor handling political affairs of the country. To say that we are incapable of handling our own political affairs is a desecration of the filipinos intellect but the exemplary crookedness of our political system depicts our own in-capacity for self management.

 

 

 

 
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