(This entry is also posted in Barrio Siete.)
Having lived in the United States for many, many years, I have come to lived with the two-party political system they have here. For the last hundred or so years, there have only been two major political parties here.
The Republicans and the Democrats.
To give you a fast-track American political history, it’s pretty easy how they became known as Republican and Democrats.
First, there used to be what they call themselves as Federalists. They were the ones in power with the money representing big businesses. Now you know who runs Wall Street big businesses.
Then, you have the anti-Federalists who represented the working class and the farmers. Over the years, they would eventually evolve simply as Republicans (Federalists) and Democrats (Anti-Federalists).
So during the campaign and election, they’re pretty organized. True, they have Independents called obnoxious losers. But because our electoral system here is pretty much a winner-take-all kind of thing, it is tough if you join the race as an Independent. Now you know why I continue to blog.
Worse, even if you win as an Independent, it would be difficult for you to gain significant ground in the Senate or Congress if you don’t align yourself with any of the parties. And once your identified with a party, that’s like a tattoo.
Which brings me to the Philippine political and electoral landscape called Dancing with the stars. Like the United States political and electoral landscape, the Philippines is actually the easiest to understand.
The Philippines on its face is a multi-party system.
It’s a front.
We are actually a two-party system. The winning party and the losing party. Which one is the winning party? Simple. Find out which party lost so many politicians who either either jump shipped or sold their souls to the other party.
As I said, in the United States it’s winner-take all. In the Philippines? Sometimes, the loser takes it all.
I want change!
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