The Philippines: Tiger or Stuffed Kitty?

The Philippines is fascinating, a nation with well-developed democratic institutions but underdeveloped democratic principles, a nation of broad economic reach and almost no economic depth, a nation of foul-weather patriots who rip money from the civic coffers and fair-weather patriots who tie their soul to the fists of a boxer and lash out with indignant … Continue reading

Snowden. Is the Issue Privacy or Trust?

The Snowden affair seems to have little to do with the Philippines, other than give critics of the United States an issue to rally around. But it may be useful to reflect on the underlying issues because they may shade how we look at FOI or other acts of the Philippine government. The battleground in … Continue reading

Third Stage Sovereignty

Blogs are like large rocks. If you write a big enough pile of them, you eventually have enough shapes – wedges and edges and planes – to fit together to form a wall. The wall may even be strong enough to become a foundation for a structure. I rather like that notion, that The Society … Continue reading

Breaking up Dynasties by Breaking up Campaign Contributions

Compiling this blog has been fascinating as I was forced to confront my own presumptions and discover them to be, if not wrong, at least a bit shaky. The headline was written in anticipation of what the blog would conclude.  Let’s go through the facts and arguments and see where we come out. Philippine democracy … Continue reading

The Shallow Press Defines the Philippines

This may seem like another of those obnoxious “Americans do it better” blogs. But if America DOES have a more constructive standard, are we to ignore it, refuse to learn from it, wave a Filipino pride shirt high in the air and go ignorantly forward? Not me, bubba. The journalistic standards in the States, up … Continue reading