The Philippine struggle for power 2016
by Fr Shay Cullen
Soliciting Votes, William Hogarth, 1754
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London [Web Gallery of Art]
[2 January 2016] The New Year has begun and the road ahead will be filled with the challenges of Elections in several countries; in Ireland, the United States and the Philippines among many. And what are elections in a democratic system of governance but the selection and election of the leaders who are appointed by the citizens to take command of a nation .
They will be given the power and authority to craft its laws, raise it’s wealth to be spent for the common good and to direct its course and the welfare and safety of the people they represent.
In the selection process the personal and moral values and way of life of the candidates are scrutinized and examined. Because it will be these values or the lack of them that will determine if that person who is elected president or leader has the qualification and the ability to lead the nation along a path of peace and prosperity.
It will be his or her vision, moral courage and determination to do what is true, right and just that will greatly effect the lives and well being of every man, woman and child in the nation.
The task of the leader is to listen to the needs of the people and to respond with concern and the resources, human and material at his or her disposal to improve the lot of the people especially the poor and the excluded. That is among other things the way it should be.
In the Philippines the population is more than a hundred million and the wealth of the nation is in the hands of about 1% or less of the population.
Full post here.