I was extremely disappointed to learn that my favorite Inquirer columnist Professor Randy David has backed out of the congressional race in Pampanga's second district leaving the field wide open to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Professor David explained that he was withdrawing because he was “heeding the counsel of family, friends and colleagues from academe who are concerned that my taking on a political role as a candidate would undermine the authority I have carefully cultivated as a social analyst and public intellectual.”
Well all I can say is Randy David, in my book, just lost whatever credibility and "authority" he claims to have as a "social analyst and public intellectual." He of all people should know Edmund Burke's famous adage "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." With his sudden withdrawal, GMA will now run virtually unopposed and her continued reign in the House of Representatives is practically assured.
I have mentioned before in this blog that it is easy for civil society types to criticize politicians and to complain about almost everything in government but they themselves are unwilling to put themselves on the line. They complain about rampant graft and corruption, sneer at our semi-literate, mal-educated congressmen and pretend that they know all the solutions to our country's problems but the sad fact is that they themselves don't have the stomach for politics.
As I have been saying here for so long, the tragedy of the Filipino middle class is that they know what and how to solve our country's ills but they refuse to put their names on a ballot and instead hide behind their comfortable homes. Or worse, they migrate to milder shores.
Well all I can say is Randy David, in my book, just lost whatever credibility and "authority" he claims to have as a "social analyst and public intellectual." He of all people should know Edmund Burke's famous adage "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." With his sudden withdrawal, GMA will now run virtually unopposed and her continued reign in the House of Representatives is practically assured.
I have mentioned before in this blog that it is easy for civil society types to criticize politicians and to complain about almost everything in government but they themselves are unwilling to put themselves on the line. They complain about rampant graft and corruption, sneer at our semi-literate, mal-educated congressmen and pretend that they know all the solutions to our country's problems but the sad fact is that they themselves don't have the stomach for politics.
As I have been saying here for so long, the tragedy of the Filipino middle class is that they know what and how to solve our country's ills but they refuse to put their names on a ballot and instead hide behind their comfortable homes. Or worse, they migrate to milder shores.
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