Why would anyone want to become president of any country? Being “president” is different from being the “Head of Government” because in a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister is often the “pretty face” of an individual political party. But “President” means having to accept responsibility for everything.
Except, when times are “good” there is always an opposition that will: 1. Claim credit, 2. Complain that it is not good enough, and 3. Be there to remind people of other failures.
The elite have always believed that the average person is incompetent and needs someone—an elite—to run individual lives and manage the world.
American journalist H. L. Mencken wrote in 1926: “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the ordinary people. Because these people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly.”
Mencken’s statement was made nearly 100 years ago. But you can read that same thought nearly every day in the Opinion Section of local newspapers and hourly on Facebook and Twitter.
We can agree that the average person, while not incompetent, is too often ignorant and social media bares much of the responsibility. But socmed is merely the platform not the message. The “message” comes from in and out of government through “fact checkers,” press/media, and the huge variety of public and private sector experts that dominate the discussions.
Comparisons are often silly, like the basketball performance of a 5-foot tall person and another one who is 7 feet tall. But it does help with understanding the situation. Philippine inflation was at 4.9 percent in April from 4 in March and 4.1 one year ago.
Singapore recorded 5.4 percent inflation in March from 4.3 percent in February and from 2.1 percent 12 months ago. Indonesia’s inflation rate was at 3.5 percent in April and 2.7 percent in March and 1.7 percent last year.
Which government is doing a better job handling inflation? The answer is “none” because there are a dozen factors that influence consumer price changes from weather, commodity and raw material supply, and if there are government price subsidizes or not.
The Socialist Workers’ Paradise of Cuba saw its inflation rate decrease to 23.3 percent in January from 77.3 percent in December of 2021. “May 9 is not the end. It is simply the end of the beginning of our socialist adventure,” said one vice presidential candidate who lost.
The Asia Foundation in 2010 said that concerns over Philippine election credibility in the past have been aggravated by the long period between voting and results. In 2022, we get the fastest results ever and are told by some it is a result of cheating. Too slow, too fast and like Goldilocks, always complaining.
As pointed out by a local columnist, although 107,000 of the vote counting machines performed flawlessly, during the early hours of voting, there was focus on the 200 or 0.18 percent of the total that reported issues. It is necessary to report the negatives but how can The People make informed decisions when not given complete information.
Issues were raised about both leading candidates’ past as if some secret documents had been found in a cave on Mt. Makiling. But to serve political agendas—and make it simple for the voter—context and details are conveniently omitted.
Unless the people want to continue to be treated as fools and being propagandized, then they must stop allowing that to happen. Hold the press, the pundits, and the politicians accountable for what they say.