You know what I'd like to know, SJ? How the US Military remains so... apolitical. Despite their power, they've never "left the barracks"

kasi, when the Praetorian Guard "left the barracks", they suffered the same fate as politicized militaries, and became part of the...

... problem, or more the cause of it.

A high sense of duty, I guess. Military work for them is an honor. But that's just my presumption.

coz despite the idiocy of their president, they never had people running to them to beg them to "protect the constitution" by ousting d prez

Unfortunately, our armed forces has that duty under our Constitution, as 'defender of the people'.

and theirs don't? Come on. the main difference is that americans tend to respect democratic processes. We love short-circuiting it.

More often, 'democratic processes' work for the benefit of the few. So I can't really blame people for 'short-circuiting' the process. But

I agree that we need to engage these processes so that we can make them work for the benefit of the people.

Problem is, the military has been so deeply politicized that they now act as though they are essential parts of the political process.

OH WOW. so you don't believe in democracy at all? except maybe as a theoretical exercise that MIGHT eventually work?

I believe in the ideals of democracy, not how it is practiced in this country.

Democracy, by its simple definition, is rule by the people. But in this country, it is money, oligarchy. The people are relegated to the

sidelines to watch the various elite intramurals. Our elections remain a constant farce: We choose from the elites who can approximate our

values. But democracy? Sheesh! We have elections, and a certain degree of citizen participation in a few areas. If you consider that

democracy, then be my guest.

and your preferred alternative? revolution on demand? soo disappointing.

No. If you're reading my earlier posts, I said engage the process more. Put more pressure to turn it around and make it more responsive to

the people.

oh right. how can you push for more engagement when you don't even believe in it? Incidentally, what do you call what we have now?

I don't believe that 'democracy' as it is practiced here now is 'democracy' in the truest sense of the word. But I believe that people can

change it for the better if there is enough pressure from the citizens through engagements, and using genuine democratic processes of

talking to the reps, pressure politics, and other similar methods.

And I would like to call what we have right now 'illiberal democracy' taking a page out of Fareed Zakaria's essay.

pressure politics. Now that's something I'd like to see here

citizen engagement is right, but not by short circuiting the democratic process.

the way the Filipino people do it these days, or the way their leaders tell them to do it, is look or do one of three things lang:

1. Do an EDSA

2. Find a Messiah

3. Ask the Military/Police to save them

we need more people demanding that the processes in our constitution WORK. We need more citizens actively asking THEY WORK

its not even asking them to be politically active, but merely asking them to CARE

Correct, Rob! Change will not happen by merely electing the correct set of leaders. Change will happen more effectively if there is a change

in the way citizens act towards their country.