Quote Originally Posted by bbt View Post
i agree! why should freeloaders get to vote? if you're not paying to keep the govt working, then you shouldnt have a say in how it's run. unfortunately, this law won't ever get passed because no one would be brave enough to sponsor it
Don't be too quick to assume that it's only people with no money who don't vote wisely. I've met lots of people with money, who should know better, who didn't give a second thought to their vote...

And what are they voting on, these (supposedly) educated people? Family loyalty, oft-times (sort of like Ginebra - San Miguel... who cares what faces are there, basta, sa atin ito!), or party loyalty. A lot of people fall for the same empty rhetoric that the poor people fall prey to (Escudero, anyone?).

I have relatives who voted Cojuangco during the big muck-up election, simply because of a lingering loyalty to the Marcosian house. Erap gained a lot of votes because of the connection, too. Why didn't Roco win? Lack of name, perhaps? Not from any of the big families, and not a celebrity... he shouldn't have bothered.

Truthfully, how many of you actually research what a candidate's done or stands for before you vote, instead of going on popular hearsay, word-of-mouth stories and buzz?

I'd say to hell with the TIN... don't let anyone with an IQ of under 120 vote... but then, that probably wouldn't work either... Stalin and Marcos both had high IQs, and see where that got their countries.

Democracy only works when the people truly care about what they're voting for. As long as the populace in general treats it like a popularity contest (look at what's been happening in the US for the past six or seven years) or a way of labelling yourself, aligning yourself with one party or the other, merely because you believe in "the party", then it's hopeless.

Still, the alternatives aren't any better.

I don't like having the unwashed make political decisions for me, as I can see how wrong they are, at times, but you can't lay all the blame on them. This kind of attitude is what created the "US versus THEM" feeling that made so many people flock to Erap's camp during his election... a feeling of rebellion against the elitist attitude espoused by the then-administration camp. And it's a legitimate feeling... hell, I wouldn't have voted for de Venecia, either, if I'd had the right to vote (non-citizen here).