When There’s No Good Choice

Just a short one before I go to sleep after a long day of battling a pretty bad case of writer’s block and then a bit of a high fever after overdoing my cardio routine on an off day.

demotivation.us_Choices-Sometimes-there-are-no-good-ones-left-1Right now it’s pretty apparent that the choices we have for President in the 2016 elections seems to be pretty uninspiring for most of the people in the GRP community.

Well, to be sure, there was a bit of a rave over the Duterte-Marcos team up but that was put down today after the Davao City mayor nixed a run for the Presidency with what seemed like finality.

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Personally, I think the idea of a return to some kind of iron-fisted kind of governance is kind of boring to me now because that just looks like short-cutting the more difficult but necessary longer term work of fixing the dysfunctions of Filipino culture that will have a more lasting effect.

You see, you can cow people into obeying the law and all that, but once people are fairly certain that the enforcers have their backs turned you can count on the people to go back to their old ways.

The 20 year Marcos Regime, which some people hail as a golden period where discipline reigned, ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be. It was supposed to have instilled the Bagong Lipunan culture through government controlled media and other measures. But you know what? It took less than a couple of years for that supposed culture to disappear — then again, like most Marcosian propaganda, maybe that culture never really took root.

What some people fantasize about, in terms of fixing Filipino cultural dysfunctions, would probably resemble what the citizens of North Korea are experiencing. And really… that ain’t fixing a dysfunctional culture but merely replacing one set of dysfunctions with another.

So, anyway, right now you have a choice between Grace Poe, Mar Roxas, and Jojo Binay — nope, we aren’t going to consider the other lesser clowns who showed up at the Comelec today.

Among the three, only Grace seems to be the wildcard and that is largely because her short track record as a public servant (as MTRCB Chief then Senator) doesn’t give much of an indication of how she will perform as the country’s Chief Executive. On the other hand, we know pretty much what to expect from the others with Mar’s presidential bid is pretty much burdened by the failures of the Aquino Administration and with Binay’s bid is saddled with a possible corruption case which some suggest might keep him from actually running.

I guess, no matter how you vote in the coming elections, all the choices will have a downside to them.

Then again, think about it, there are rarely instances when choices don’t have an apparent downside to them. So, what people really ought to do is just make a choice knowing the downside to each candidate and prepare to deal with the downside.

The only question is, which downside do you think you can handle better?

A. Inexperienced

B. Incompetence

C. Complete lack of integrity

31 Replies to “When There’s No Good Choice”

  1. When there’s no good choice…boycott. It’s simple, really. Picking the “lesser evil” won’t really make a difference. During the 2010 elections, Filipinos voted for the incompetent, inexperienced BS Aquino because everyone thought he’s the “cleanest” among the candidates but look at where we are now as a country..we’re still fucked. Duterte could have been a strong contender but he’s out now and it’s final. Gibo and Gordon are high potentials but hell, they’re not running. Gibo only came in third during the 2010 Presidential elections and believe it or not, people picked Nancy Binay over Gordon in the Senate. Our election is a big joke!

    1. “people picked Nancy Binay over Gordon in the Senate.”
      this is the danger of the majority vote that Alexis de Tocqueville is pointing out.

  2. It is pretty bad that our choices are very dim with this candidates you mention but I have a suggestion for I know he is honest , with military background and brave . Not afraid to go against the grain and somewhat honest and patriotic.. He is Ex senator Panfilo Lacson’, a native of Cavite, it is not that iam also Cavitenos but I can guarantee this . The cavitenos politician cannot corrupt him that’s why he is not popular in Cavite and all the powerful business people in the Philippines do not like him because he cannot be corrupted, he is an honest and patriotic person,,, but he do not have the financial support of the rich and the politicians. With out no financial support he is doomed and he knows that.. There is my choice.. You want to stop corruption then support him..

  3. d. None of the above.
    Outside of armed revolution, Civil Disobefience may be the only option left.
    Truly, it’s more fun in the Philippines!

  4. We need Sir Aquinos to amend the constitution so the good peoples can vote him again for the continued stability and prosperity of our country.

    Haters here are gonna hate, but Pinoy or Kris is the only choice.. They have their mother and fathers noble blood, it is their divine right to lead until they can pass the role to their children, like the monarchy in England..

    The devil is in this country making a mockery of our election. Don’t play their game!! Support Aquinos 2016 brothers and sisters!!

      1. Have to use a decent word Grim, don’t wanna start WW3 here. I’m curious to know how >ah shet ah< will defend this belief.

    1. Ah shit, I know we shouldn’t say putang-ina, but please allow me this one time: PUTANG INA.

      This guy either came from hell, blind brain-wise, or simply has a malfunctioning cortex.

      Monarchy my foot. Those two need to be sent to mental hospitals. They are symbols of everything that is wrong with the culture.

      Must be a troll to really get us really angry. Hahaha. Okay, vote Bimby and Joshua for Presidents. Those are the children, all abnormal, like the parent.

    2. @Ah shet ah

      I really would like to think you were using sarcasm in your comment. But if you’re really sincere about that, well you need to slap your own face.

  5. Why do we even need to vote? There are no option and I am paying my taxes.

    I’d rather go out of this fucking country and give it the FINGER when I lift off. :v

    Said the best advise ever.

        1. You have the makings of a national hero Grimwald…

          Jose Rizal took a similar path.
          1. Went overseas (La solidaridad years)
          2. Instigated a revolution
          3. Had his life cut short in Luneta (tantamount to suicide)

          But I’m sure you’re only kidding.

        2. Nah. My tendencies are WAY more violent than Rizal’s. After my counselor/boss talked for a considerable amount of time, we discovered that I have a lot of similarities to Adolf Hitler.

        3. Hey I could probably fund such an operation. If only I got the guts and insanity I could probably pull that off, been playing scenarios in my head deathnote style (They’ll be eliminated in synch or all at the same time that would be so cool) on how I’ll trample the gov’t into chaos that will ensue a complete reformat to the fvcking country

          rofl

  6. There had never been a good choice when it comes to picking the right candidates in Philippines politics. The political dynasties of the country make those choices for the Filipino people, the latter just pick the lesser of two evils.

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