People should be free to do what they want with their justly acquired property. And yes, that means selling ownership to foreigners, martians, and fish as long as the deal is equitable on both sides.

All third parties can just butt out.

Only American politician today I consider a statesman is Texas Rep. Ron Paul (14th D., Republican).

He warned people for years what was coming and they laughed at him. Now its all coming true and people are starting to listen.

I was part of the Pinoys for Ron Paul movement in the last election. We had people in Manila and Cebu. Sadly, Fil-Ams are Democrats because they love getting public-funded freebies.

Trust me, the Republicans are watching the Messiah every step of the way.

And he is doing a mighty fine job, I might add, as did both FDR and Jesus.

Joe

If the private property is truly theirs, who are you to say who they can sell it to? Most people don’t get that though. They think the evil foreigner will swoop in with his evil foreign money and buy the country and we’ll all be hookers and golf caddies.

I think that as a compromise. If foreigners from one country allow Filipinos to buy their private land, we should reciprocate and allow foreigners from that land only to buy Filipino private land.

Note, this doesn’t apply to public lands.

You are right that voters seem to think that once the candidate is “in”, they can’t no longer be taken out.

And its true everywhere, not just the Philippines. As long as you don’t get caught raping a nun or something, its pretty hard to lose your seat once you’re in. Politics is the art of doing just enough so as not to piss off too many people to lose their vote. That’s why they all seem incompetent or morally flexible.

Sure, it can be done, but there has to be more to individual sovereignity than election, re-election, impeachment. What about all points in between these?

People the world over, have this ‘remote control’ idea of democracy. When they vote, they are in charge, exercising their sovereignity.

Then they can sit back and let their politicians do anything. And the politicians excuse anything they do with “Well, I was elected! The people approve what I do. If you go against me, you go against the people.”

And sadly people buy that.

I don’t wonder why we are a mess. I know why.

The US and Philippine Wars of Independence had similar origins, but both learned different things.

Americans learned that government is a necessary evil and must be watched no matter who is in charge. (Not that they’re doing it now, with Barrack Delano Messiah Obama.)

Filipinos learned that government is neutral and it is the people in charge who make it good or bad. Hence, the revolving door and eternal quest to find the good man.

We are NOT supposed to trust our politicians. Whether it be Ninoy, Gandhi, or whomever. Power corrupts. That is a given. We are placing people in a position of power over people and without eternal vigilance, that power is soon turned against the citizenry.

Ask the American Indians about the weight of government promises.

There is a check and balance – accountability.

If you don’t the job, I’ll take you out. If I don’t the job, take me out.

The thing is, voters seem to think that once the candidate is “in”, they can’t no longer be taken out. The point is they can be taken out. The crux of the matter lies in political will – the will to hold officials accountable in order to balance the equation.

However, if it has come to the point, where we can’t trust our politicians, and our voters to elect the politicians who do the right thing – sure is a pretty sad affair that captures the Philippine body politique – can’t trust no one – and no one is accountable. Then we wonder why its a mess :)

I don’t trust politicians no matter where they come from because I don’t believe in government magic.

The idea that any moron with enough friends somehow is automatically conferred wisdom upon oath of office is insane. Its like saying government uniforms are a proof of responsible firearm ownership.

So why are we expected to all shut up and obey and give up our sovereignity when these jokers pass by?

Remember the words of Joel S. Hirschhorn: “Nothing conceals tyranny better than elections.”

The sad fact is to ‘remove the flaw,’ you’d have to trust career politicians to do the removing.

That appears to be a validation that you can’t trust Filipino voters to elect politicians who can do the right thing.