Roll up, roll up! Come and witness the greatest show on earth! Such is the boast of circus owners. Not quite the same as political canvassing, but the promises made are alike.
As the circus owners promise you the 'greatest show on earth', politicians too make promises they can so easily break when they have received enough votes to win power.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
That is a quote attributed to former American President, Abraham Lincoln. Never have truer words been spoken.
Enough people were wise to how they had been deceived time and time again. You could not keep them fooled all the time (only a small number would continue to be fooled). This is why
Rodrigo Duterte came to power on a tsunami of popular political support.
But what of the vote for Vice-President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives? These were easier targets for the enemies of the State to win. The vote for the
Vice Presidency ("VP")is obviously open to dispute - especially as COMELEC employed an electronic voting system that has been implicated in electoral fraud around the world. It is only a
matter of time before the vote for VP is finally recounted in crucial voting regions and the incumbent VP (Leni Robredo) is ousted from Office. At least this is what many expect, if not
simply hope and pray for.
Assuming this happens, and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Junior is elected to be the true VP, then what of the votes cast for the two Houses? How many Senators and Members of the
Congress were elected using fraudulent and rigged voting equipment?
Allow me to indulge in a distraction for a moment ...
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" is a quote spoken by Marcellus (to Horatio) in the famous Shakespeare play, 'Hamlet'. Marcellus says this as says this after the
ghost of the dead king appears, walking over the palace walls.
Observation: Marcellus, shaken by the many recent disturbing events and no doubt angered (as is Hamlet) by (King) Claudius's mismanagement of the body politic, astutely notes that
Denmark is festering with moral and political corruption. Horatio replies "Heaven will direct it", meaning heaven will guide the state of Denmark to health and stability.
Translated we can relate Benigno Aquino III to King Claudius. Denmark becomes the Philippines. Heaven is guiding the Philippines towards health and stability though President Duterte
If the play, Hamlet, was brought up to date and related to present times, how apt would it be to stage this play in the Philippines? But with the play ending up in carnage,
who would play the part of Hamlet? If this is President Duterte, then his reign would end with chaos all around him. Only Horatio survives. So who would Horatio be portrayed by?
Marcos? Or perhaps someone little known to the peoples of the Philippines. Whatever happens, we must always fear for the safety and the life of President Duterte. His predicament is so alike
to what we see in the Philippines today. His enemies are all around him. He needs strong and loyal troops to protect him for the battles he is yet to fight.
Back to the 'circus'
As I have already said, politics is like a circus. It attracts all types with different skill sets. These skills are also sometimes undesirable. The political circus is dominated by
illusionists and clowns. There are those who would trick you, lie to you, deceive you with their 'smoke and mirrors' antics. They try to maintain the illusion of being respectable, honest,
and without any guilt upon their name. But that is part of the act. Sometimes, it is not what is seen in plain view that portrays such people, but the 'magic' they use to make us think
they are nothing but trustworthy. Look behind the scenes, learn the tricks, and the illusions fall away. We need to understand what is really happening and that we should not believe our
eyes. As someone once said, "consider everything, but believe nothing."
Even the clowns have to remove their face paint at the end of the show. Then we see what they really look like. The same with politics. Clowns or not, we never see the true image of
a politician's character until they are exposed for what they really are.
Reverting back to Shakespeare one last time. From 'As You Like It': "All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,". Politicians and circus performers. Yes, even at times like all of us, they are actors.
Our part in the performance we call life, is not to follow what is scripted for us. It is to think for ourselves. We should be the directors of our fate, our choices, our decisions.
We should not entrust our destiny to those who perform purely for the sake of winning our approval. We should be writing the scripts and if our elected representatives cannot follow our
directions, they should be thrown out of office. We elect people to serve us, not for us to serve their personal ambitions or evil plans (where they should exist).