My Centrism

I am center-right.
I reach out to the left who reaches out to me.
It is this reaching out that defines my centrism.
Not just my moderate conservatism.

I am a democratic expression
of those finest beliefs - firmest in myself -
within a spectrum broader than my conviction.

Therefore -

In all things political,
I shall be strongly inclined to begin and end,
right of center - every time, all the time.

In America, this means I am either
a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat
but can't seem to decide on which because...

I am devoted to a necessary unity
and seek to serve my devotion
through meaningful peace.

Partisanship is only secondary to citizenship in my eyes.
And in my heart, Country is always to be honored and served over party.
---<--@

Vigilant Trust

Political Wisdom

Our politics these days seem only to confound and confuse... people say - kakainis na, kakasawa na, masyado nang madumi.

Is there really such a thing as "political wisdom"?

This is what I think -

Political wisdom is not seated in the mind of an individual. It is a virtue of a political community.

It is like military intelligence that some people say is an oxymoron - a self-contradictory term.

Some minds tend to accept the term and its attributions as if springing from individual (personal) virtue, take the worst possible example of military or political leadership, and apply it as a failure of the whole organism.

Military intelligence has nothing to do with personal intelligence quotients as some people like to think.

It has everything to do with intelligence as a function of command. Will and Outcome are what it serves and manages not brains and smarts.

A superior commander with clarity of intent guides his or her intelligence to accomplish a given mission in a manner that preserves unit initiative and in a way that preserves the advantage to overall strategy.

A political leader likewise retains to him or herself what is personal and will freely seek to augment it as necessary through his or her political community - with the broadest political community being that of the national community.

The national whole in the context of the State is a body politic.

It would behoove us as the Filipino citizenry to work to demystify the politics of our own Republic.

The civic exercise of the political is a primary power and responsibility of the Filipino electorate. We must have a sense of the political - of what serves the better interest of our communities in the public sphere and we must duly represent them - through officials after our own hearts. 

The civic exercise of political authority reaches its summit whenever we vote.

It is not our politics to forever participate in its distractions in the government of the State. Some of these distractions are necessary but some shall be extraneous... we shall leave this matter for another time as a matter for platform politics.

Suffice it to say, we through our democratic interactions in the State, enlighten each other in the nation, in a sense. And from this humble enlightening, we become wise in all our ways as a body politic.

It is political to simply know what is fair unto other human beings - and to apply it as a citizen for the good of thy own neighbor is civic virtue.

Things like personal wisdom plays a vital part - but on its own, or tainted by the vice of intellectual pride - a good leader stands to gain nothing from the mind of a community

If

one should think the self to be a constellation
- in and of itself -
capable of accurately navigating the heavens
above the soul of the nation
on its own.

For

The Republic Sky is like the sky above our heads...
it shares of itself freely, is meant to be shared,
and therefore, must be shared.
---<--@

My two centavos worth...

I believe in the personal sincerity of President Noynoy. I do not think him to be himself in any way corrupt.

I am more concerned about motives concealed by less obvious people around him.

I think motions to impeach him is a waste of time; a political distraction that may cost our Republic more in terms of time qualitatively.

As regards to a term extension, I believe he himself should make up his mind, weigh his own personal and political considerations, and not leave it up to the people to decide.

If the President goes ahead with it, succeeds in convincing Congress to amend the Constitution, and receives in 2016 from the Filipino electorate a second mandate in affirmation of the popular efficacy of his platform and policies, he will come out with a much stronger mandate than allowing us to choose it for him today.

This will at least preserve continuity and momentum in the Republic by giving him much political capital to spend at the beginning of that second term.

Personally, I do not think it advisable to amend the Constitution for reasons short of a moral imperative or an ethical crisis - political dictates and its cohort tendencies must never be allowed to override ANY prevailing Constitutional wisdom - whether we at present fully understand it, somehow understand it, or not at all.

Many things in this Republic is built on trust, if we must know. The food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, even the roofs above our heads are built on trust.

Our Constitution above all we must trust and trust in the Republic to duly interpret: Vigilant Trust.

I myself have fallen in love with its Preamble and often find myself trying to penetrate its words to discover their meaning - arising, seemingly ever new.


---<--@

Salutation #198

(The Three Branches of our Republic Government)

The Three Branches of our Republic government
works best when they stand on their own merit.

They are like expert Judokas, powerful
when they have their feet solidly under them.

They do not need the intermingling of each other's powers
to be able to fulfill their functions - within and for - this Republic.

In fact, the Three support each other best
by winning all of their fights on their own terms.

They are like a unit that way -
a unified form of popular government;
a strong and self-confident champion of
our Filipino people.

Corruption blurred the lines. 

It did so to the point
that there are claims of independence
between the Three that seem ridiculous
for being so explicitly self-serving.

The Three can not stand apart. 

At the same time,
they have to win their battles
- independently -
standing on their own strengths,
prevailing by their own lineages,
and winning through its own merits.

That way, the Republic is preserved - for the Nation;
the Nation from which we all rise at Day, and rest at Night -
till the end of time - as we know it.
---<--@

Salutation #193

The State is not the Government.
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign.

We all own the Philippine State
- and - at the same time
none of us do. It is a free State.

It is a Responsible State.

(On the Philippine State)

The State represents the Truth 
of everything we are - as a Nation;
Keeper to the Memory of our Generations,
and Repository of the Common Hopes
of our National Communities.

Any meaningful sense of Timeless Regard
for the lasting Ideals of our People - as a Nation
and the prevailing spirit of our Country - as Motion
proceeds from the reality of the Philippine State.

It is the Knowing
that constantly abides as Learning
prevailing within our living National Culture.

It is the spirit of everything noble, everything good,
and everything worthy of the National Excellence and therefore,
worthy of the praise and the love of our peoples together
- as citizens and as human beings to each other -
passing quietly - as Beauty - from generation to generation.

Our President as Head of State
is the Exemplar of the Philippine State;
the Office of the President of this Republic
being the noblest of all public Seats-of-Service.

- selah -

The Virtue of Citizenship
is the Primary Endowment of the State.

It is the authority to govern
the Citizen in the Person of the Self.
In it is contained the power
that makes each of us
together a "we".

The Authority to Govern
our Peers in the Nation is the Secondary
and proceeds from the Primary (as a function).

This Secondary Endowment
establishes for the Nation - from the Nation,
a Government that is - in constant and faithful keeping -
to the Providential Reality of the Philippine State.

We recognize in the spirit of our Constitution
and also in the labors of the Philippine Republic
from timeless Ideals enshrined in the Philippine State
- what is Sovereign to our Nation - in our entirety,
AND the Sacred and Inviolable Trust - that must exist -
between our Government and our Nation (as a free State):

THAT the Virtues of the Republic Government
in order to freely abide in a Government for the People
must have its Reliance upon the Faithfulness of the People
 
AND that the People
in order to conserve - in All our behalf -
our one, common, human Reliance
in the Good Governance of the Nation
must preserve - in and across - our Generations
those two Endowments - Primary and Secondary -
that are proper to the Philippine State,
particularly in our youth but also in all our citizens -
and ensure that a Government of the People
within each ourselves forever prevail.

- selah -

The free Philippine State
is the source of our Sovereignty.

We, the people, 

receive it each Day - in Peace - 

and lay it down each Night - in Goodwill.

In the collective peace
of our National Communities, 

particularly in the life of our Cities together, 

our common labors are its wellspring.

We shape it - and - it shapes us - 

   (we are therefore, we must -
   in being and in becoming)

across our generations - to the last... 

Sovereignty emanates from the People!

And exists - for us - with each present time
in behalf of our children and unborn generations.

We are Citizens First, 

our Nation - a People first - 

ONLY THEN 

shall the rest of the Elements of Country 

follow - and then fall into place -

or not at all.

All that ends and all that begins 

in our Republic - must rise and fall - 

from the Sovereign being of our Nation: 

THAT we are the one Filipino People 

and our Nation, a Nation among Nations;
AND that - this is - our Sovereignty of Being - 

supreme in us - and (simultaneously) - exclusive for us.
---<--@

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas - Long Live the Memory.



Thought Exercise - What if?

(1)
The State is the Ideal of the Sovereign

We profess allegiance to an Ideal of a Free State through its Symbols and its Virtues, in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

Essentially, we profess allegiance - to each other - as citizens and as human beings - in order to mature our labor of Country and to bring our Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Democracy, Meritocracy,

(2)
The State is the Government

We profess allegiance to the Government in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship.

The Government is the source of Sovereignty and utilizes the people and the life of their communities in order to mature its labor of Country and to bring its Nationhood forth into perfection, e.g. Communism, Socialism.

(3)
The State is one person

We profess allegiance to one person in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Fascism, Despotism.

Hitler was the German State, the Nation Germany incarnate - look at what happened to him. And then look at what evil it did to his own as well as to our other kindred Nations. We will carry a burden from that war for a long time to come.

Even Monarchs who are directly responsible to God for the Authority of the State, profess it accordingly, delegate it when necessary, and do not lay a claim to the power of the State as absolute as these.

(4)
The State is a selection of persons

We profess allegiance to an elite few in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Oligarchy, Plutocracy.

Capitalism distorted by materialism. We are struggling against this now.

(5)
The State is in the many and in the all

We profess allegiance to the self alone (and from the self to the other - but not with each other) in order to obtain and perfect our citizenship, e.g. Anarchy, Social Darwinism.

Democracy distorted by moral relativism. We are struggling against this now.

(6)
The State is undefined

We would not be having this exercise. God will spit us out of His mouth.

The Power of Party Politics

Sometimes you have to be on the right side and lose.



Party Politics in a representative democracy is healthy.

It is a fact of present-day Republic life that our elected representatives need to be themselves effectively represented from within their own House/s to bring order and structure within the Legislative branch.

Platforms are vessels that convey Party principles and primarily consists of a set of Ideals, changeless and unyielding - and rooted in the National character.

While the Party as itself seeks - at every age - to make and re-make through these Party principles, the relevant politics of their own times.

This means Party politics must and do change to remain relevant but their foundations do not and must not change else, the credibility of the Platform itself comes into question.

And a Party can not be without a Platform and remain substantially united as a potent political force.

More so than as an effective aid to obtaining election victories, political Parties are primarily conceived as a dependable and robust source of mature legislation and of mature legislators.
---

I do not understand why Party Politics must extend itself to the Executive branch but it does.

Maybe because the Executive needs the Legislative to be decisive in implementing the legal framework of the national goals embedded in its particular vision for the Country - more so than as an effective aid to obtaining election victories.

But this can only be so if the communities, particularly the elders from their respective Electorates, within the Constituencies of the Legislative branch are not effectively communicating their political concerns as regards their own particular visions of Country to their respective Members of Congress - the members of the House (for Local) and the Senators (for State).

Because it is this continuing Dialogue between the Nation and the Responsible State that the Executive branch (all throughout each and every one of its necessary transfers of vitality and transformations of authority) relies on to be able to faithfully conform and accordingly amend its own popular contributions to the unfolding of the greater Republic Vision - for the people and for the generations of the people.

Indeed, every particular vision of the Executive branch, to be truly reflective of the greater reality of the times, must constantly be stirred up and refined by this Dialogue within the Nation.

For Wisdom is in the people (not in the Parties).

Now, there is always - within the National Dialogue - a certain degree of political noise but lest it deafens one, one must know to stand quietly on the party Platform and discern - the meaningful from the empty, agreements from disagreements, compromises, concessions, improvements...

Good legislators know this and speak out to defeat the noise. Good leaders know this and listen to discern the truth. But a good President should know how to both speak out and listen.

For the vital discernment of the popular Wisdom in every age must always come from the Offices of the Executive branch, from the ground upward, being duly interpreted and skillfully articulated especially at the level of the Office of the President, at the very center of the peace that forms the Sheltering Wings of the Republic State.

Executive vision determines Legislative focus and Legislative focus determines Juridical reach which in turn informs Executive vision.

This kind of optimum politics (pulled upward) represents the highest expression of the National aspiration - tempered and refined (by the larger view enjoyed by the Executive branch) in order to adequately meet with the challenges of a changing reality at every present time.

From this politics is derived policy and from this policy is derived the foundation economics necessary for the efficient structuring of the Republic government and the greater Economy in the Nation and of the Nation (being of both matter and spirit) that must proceed from this - utterly depends on it.

Indeed, both Market Confidence and Consumer Trust (at all levels - both local and international) utterly depends on it.
---

Why the shutdown?



In my own opinion, either the aforementioned Dialogue has lost its sense of vitality or the necessary movement of the national politics from the ground upward - into the Vision and Unity of the Executive branch - has lost its way - and has been superseded by something else.

What if as it were, the Power of the Party Politics of the Nation is reduced to the mere Politics of Partisan Power of the Parties - as an aid to obtaining election victories before anything else?

What if Power and Authority has become estranged in the Republic and Love and Justice in the Nation will no longer agree to kiss the kiss of peace?

George Washington himself warned the Nation about this fragmentation of the Unity that bind together the Separation of Powers into the freedom of a Republic and the pitfalls of Party Politics as "fractious agencies subversive of domestic tranquility".

Because the greatest sin that Party Politics can inflict upon its Nation is failure to agree on who or what to serve. Herein, the Power of Party Politics loses its original will and true ability to constantly transform the Earth and subdue it - for the one American Nation.

It forgets and forsakes the larger Unity and the Eternal Principles that bind together the Many States into the one Republic whole -

Not in behalf of the will of the Electorate nor for the sake of the Mandate that thy Union received from a free and sovereign Nation upon the Earth -

But for short term, narrow-minded, and near-sighted gains set forth by small minded thinking - of things that may inevitably only serve to propagate the necessary fragmentation that keeps its will of aberration hidden and secret from the illuminating Wisdom of the people.
---

This thy First President foresaw: You are, America, a work of Unity, the fire in thy Soul kindled by a love of thy own freedoms professed and a greater love hath always led thee onward!

Despite all thy sins, for indeed - all Nations have sinned, thou art a Nation possessed with a Freedom to redeem thyself from the grip of past things.

You are - as a national community - one of the major lights of this world. You can not allow yourself to be defeated before the Nations in this most desperate of times upon our failing world by a prevailing lack of unity and agreement from within yourselves.

Only the Adversary of thy own lineage of Victory who is also the Enemy of every form of good that your own particular Nationhood stands for - shall gain from seeing thee weak and in disarray.

Indeed, does this not go against the very grain of everything you are and of everything you stand for so that even the stones and the trees and the skies shall remind you and speak to you that this disunity and this discordant state of present affairs is a thing not becoming of thyself as thyself?

What is wrong with healthcare? Are its provisions so poisonous that you would allow your Nation to tread a path unpaved and unscouted and unknown?

Will your princes from among thy own people not send scouts forward first in a strange land? For this is what this failure to agree is doing - no one is standing watch over the horizons of the morrow.

As a Republic, we are, by each our great motions in the heavens, led from love to love - can we not agree on what we love? For what we love inspires the Truth of what we serve.

Hate portrays but an illusion of love and therefore, is a servant of nothing. 

Division is good if it sows order and purpose to our world and defines reach and not limits. Other than this, division may only conspire to sow discord - confuse, weaken and dilute.

Let me tell you now, the America I know is better than this - much, much better than this...

It is a bit disheartening to see you like this, America, this but nevertheless - we are - as all Nations are, in this long march together as one covenant Family - we are - because there is always hope so that none of us can leave the other alone in the Night without abandoning itself to the Darkness.

You need to snap out of it, Old Glory, and take your position forward in the march.
---<--@


Tah-dah! Success...?