Saturday, February 28, 2009
Philippine politics is corrupt because Filipinos are corrupt?
With the rampant corruption in Philippine politics which caused the country loose key infrastructure project funding and continues to put it's reputation as the most corrupt in Asia, I remember the statement "politics is a reflection of culture." With this in mind, one can conclude that Philippine politics is corrupt because Filipinos are corrupt. Do you agree or disagree?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Here's a comment I received on FaceBook:
ReplyDeletePolitics is about control, dominion, authority to rule. And because human nature is what it is, then politics tends to be corrupt. That is why there is a need for separation of powers and systems of checks and balances. As Lord Acton said it succinctly, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
During Rizal's time, he described the disease of our society as Cancer. More 100 years have passed and I have no idea how to describe our system today. It seems that nobody cares anymore or the system of trust had been defeated by various elements that made our nation weak. We are small thus, limited in resources and everyone who wants to tap these resources tend to pull the one on top of them and by description, crab mentality. This common thing about Filipinos is something that have contributed to corruption. But that's just my POV.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I think it all boils down to whats core in the hearts of the Filipinos (citizens of other countries are also guilty of this). Politics is made up of its citizens so to change politics, it should start with changing the hearts of its citizens. Teaching strong moral values is a good start.
ReplyDeleteWhere in the heck did you get this "politics is a reflection of culture" BS?
ReplyDeleteYou should visit Cavite, Philippines. They eat punks like you there.
I got the statement from a book by Nancy Pearcey. It explains that political leaders reflect the moral climate of the society they live in and the body of Christ has to make the difference.
ReplyDeleteCulture includes politics, languages, architecture, arts, customs, traditions, superstitions, etc., etc.. If it's not nature, it's culture. If not God-made, it's man-made.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nancy Pearcey that political leaders reflect the moral climate of the society they live in. So do leaders in the entertainment field, for that matter.
In the Philippines, the most popular people are politicians and movie stars and producers. So if one observes the political and entertainment landscapes of the country, then one can have a good view of its moral fiber.
I agree with Francis Schaeffer that everyone has a worldview, whether he is conscious of it as such or not. I believe that we can take that a step further and say that a shared worldview is what distinguishes one society from another; one nation from another, one region from another, one province from another, even one family from another.
@Jason Bruce
ReplyDeletevalues don't have to be religious in origin.