Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely

Ok! Hold your horses. I am not pointing my finger to a specific person if that is what you think. I am actually addressing all the powerful and almighty public servants of our land. (By the way, I borrowed these words from the late Governor Adlai Stevenson who run for the US Presidential race in 1963 but did not make it).

What disheartens me about the national scene is that “politics” now appears to dominate every move, with the Presidential elections still about two years away. Perhaps this is because politics is not just a way of life in this country, but more than that: A way of making a living.

Even our young politicians who used to be viewed as “fresh young breeze” blowing over our sterile political landscape seem to have succumbed to the disease of vaulting ambition. What is happening to our country? I thought they would be the very ones offering the nation an alternative to the traditional politics. Now you see their every word and move going toward the same path as the so-called “trapos.” Is there still hope in their fertile minds and hearts? Or have they already joined the bandwagon of corrupt men?

They claim to be merely workers for the cause. They had agreed to set aside politics and talk about issues. “C’mon! We, the people, aren’t that dumb. If any of them emerge in the next few months as presidential wannabes, nobody will be surprised. These politicians grew up in the cradle of politics. They have mastered the art of politics through their growing years. They are experts in charming audiences, but whose once dazzling personalities have started to molt. I pray that they regain their senses and realize that young leaders, like green mangoes, cannot be chemically-induced into ripening ahead of time. Yup! Just like me” I have just begun.

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America’s President Theodore Roosevelt once said: “Never, never, you must never… remind a man at work on a political job that he may be president. It almost always kills him politically. He loses his nerve; he can’t do his work; he gives up the very traits that are making him a possibility.” His words reflect the very actions of our presidential wannabes today. Too much, too soon. And beware, too many big dreams, too soon. The Bible, in its wisdom enjoins “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and the rest shall be added unto you.”

Someday, when the young ones are more experienced, they may realize that those who point out their faults are friends and those flatterers are their enemies. Insults will help you be strong and a dint of effort in working harder to prove your right will help you achieve victory. Flattery is a dangerous opiate which dulls the reflexes, and stifles common sense. So, beware of those who flatter, don’t be a fool, you can still save yourselves for the future.

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When people’s lives are threatened, their families cowering in fear of impending rape, robbery, violence and death, bread and circuses will never appease them. The tragedy of it all is that we are now facing trials for the most perverted and chilling concerns of government services. The Department of Justice seems to be engulfed in the game of politics as well. Shouldn’t this institution stand on its own as a separate branch with separate powers? When does “checks and balances,” of our three branches (executive, legislative and judiciary) come into play then? Shouldn’t it have some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches as well?

Why do we feel that the DOJ is at the beck and call of the Executive? If it is otherwise, please show the people some grit. Is there justice in our country today? It won’t be a safer and happier one until there is.

Let’s us make this democracy work. A victory of People Power, as we discovered to our own sorrow in the Philippines, does not guarantee the arrival of a second miracle, that of instant prosperity, fulfillment and happiness. Have we really achieved democracy or are we worse off than before? What bothers me really “is that our government doesn’t seem to be embarrassed with the issues pointed to them by the citizens, by other governments and international groups. The most recent issues are the downgrading done by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of NAIA from Category 1 to Category 2, the current ranking of our country to 92nd place in Corruption by Economic Freedom Index, travel advisory of other countries on the safety of their citizens in this country, etc. With the morale and discipline in our government in tatters, our President and Commander-in-Chief seems to be treating the entire episode too lightly. GMA is hedging and rightly or wrongly, this hesitation hints a lack of power. When a President cannot bring her own people to heel, make a quake in fear, compel them to snap to attention at her command, then she’s lost. What’s more, the nation is lost.

When all is said and done, if we as a nation cannot depend on all government assistance for our needs and trust them to serve us by following the law, then we’ll have to take on the jobs ourselves by foolishly following the scam of bureaucracy and the result would be anarchy, confusion, lawlessness and disorder.

GMA at this moment faces her most solemn hour. Her time of testing. Let’s not kid ourselves about it. What she says and what she does will set the tone of our nation’s response. The symptoms, sadly, are that the President may be unsure of her own “foot soldiers” who she assigned in the different areas of government. Either she owes them too many favors, or believes they put her in power and to this day, keep her standing. Don’t play coy. Fire those who spoil the wrath of your Office and “exile” those who continue to abuse your power and this includes relatives.

C’mon, Madam President. Crack down. As my dad use to say, “Kiss ass. Show some moxie, anger and chutzpah. Give us a spectacle of your legendary wrath. This is a case of grandes males, grandes remedios.”