Editorial. DEATH OF THE POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM
Political Parties are no longer established around principles such as the Democratic and the Republican parties of the United States of America but are organized around people.
In the United States of America, it can be said that once a Democrat, always a democrat. But in the Philippines, one can be an LP today and an NP, etc. next election.
Any prominent national figure who wants to run for President can organize his own political party on which his personal interests and political ambitions can ride. Once he is elected, the opportunists in the opposition would have joined his party before the first half of his term.
Eventually, towards the end of his term his administration will have been saddled with all forms of negative issues including those that are more imagined than real. If he remains popular despite the issues, his party would take the appearance of being the strongest in the political field.
However, the turncoats from the opposition who have gained ascendancy in the party would lord it over the place dislodging and disappointing the original members who then usually bolt the party, join another party or form another party.
These practices have turned political parties into nothing but ephemeral phenomena as common as birthday parties where people gather only to disperse later.
It is because of this nature of Philippine political parties that not a single candidate for President of the administration ever won an election since the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.
Through this situation elections have turned into a useless political farce bringing forth a government that is not of the people, by the people and for the people.
Hence, it is said that in Philippine politics there are no permanent friends and enemies; only permanent interests.
Perhaps, the time has come to stop this national madness. If the country must remain steadfast to Jeffersonian Democracy, then it must adopt the American model completely: Convert the geographically and ethnically separated peoples into federal states. Revert to election of a President for a term of four years with one reelection as in the 1935 Constitution. Then hold local and national elections separately. And finally, prohibit jumping of politicians from one political party to another.
The New Ranao Star
