Weekly Brief
An impoverished government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
In review and in prospect
The poor don’t need to be reminded of poverty. They live it day in and day out, year after year, generation after generation. They have no need of such token gestures of “awareness” like declaring an entire year of awareness of their plight.
Rather, it seems, that the rich are really the ones who have a bigger problem with poverty than the poor. Indeed, pity the Philippines’ rich. They are forced to live in fortified residential enclaves, hire 24-hour armed security guards, and carry around guns to protect themselves from the poor swarming around them everyday. The poor cramp the style of the rich too. That’s clearly evident whenever there is an international conference coming to town and the screens and fences come up around sections of roads and bridges between the airport and hotels and convention centres where delegates congregate lest they see the squalor just a stone’s throw away from their air conditioned cars.
And, lest we forget, the government Filipinos suffer today is a government created by the poor. Filipino voters are overwhelmingly poor and are thus susceptible to bribery, clever marketing and persuasion tricks, celebrity endorsement, and empty but seductive populist rhetoric. The poor amongst the country’s electorate is where all the wrong arguments, flawed thinking, and moronic ideas of ill-bred, ill-educated, and borderline-criminal politicians take root. The Philippines’ poor is where bad strategy, bad policy, and bad execution thrive. Because poor people lack sufficient critical thinking faculties, Philippine government will, for the foreseeable future, be a stark reflection of this profound intellectual bankruptcy of Philippine society.
The true rulers of the Philippines are the poor. Their vast colonies are nurtured and farmed for votes by Filipino politicians and their impoverished thinking is pandered to by sloganeers, public relations consultants, and copy writers every election campaign season. The Philippines, contrary to popular belief, is a tyranny of the masses.
Last week's blog posts
All Filipino “revolutions” were co-opted by greedy and power-hungry oligarchs
June 12, 2024 by Ramon Ortoll
"Emilio Aguinaldo sold out to the Spaniards and came back on the side of the Americans only to rebel again because he wouldn’t be the leader of their new government. In his rise to power, he murdered two of the true patriots..."
On its “Independence Day”, the Philippines remains a sad and CONFUSED colony
June 12, 2024 by benign0
"On the right corner of the ring are the Dutertards and their continued attachment to the infamous 'pivot to China' of their cult leader. On the left corner are the Marcostards — this time joined by leftist elements — who find warm fuzzy comfort in Uncle Sam’s familiar embrace."
How can we envision a “new Philippines” when “being Filipino” remains a problematic idea?
June 11, 2024 by benign0
"If we are to believe that all it will take to envision this 'new Philippines' is to embrace what it means to be Filipino, we run into the disturbing core of why Filipinos fail to change for the better to begin with."