For ramrod, we’ll legalize divorce.

Obviously, we never learn from history, despite mlq3. Hard pressed by time and financial constraints Cory’s ConCom botched it up. To think that she has the luxury of choosing the best minds in the land! Presumably, she did. But the output was a clunker. The same may be said of the Marcos’ charter.

What guarantee then do we have that a 2010 ConCon wouldn’t produce another lemon? Too many cooks! With the spectre of federalism it could be worse than we can ever imagine.

We can either make the most of what we have or do it via a ConAss by the 2010 Congress. Why not?

Hey I like this one! But what are we going to do with our wives? They’ll just ruin everything by giving us curfews, checking our cell phones, credit card bills, smelling our shirts, interrogating us (and its difficult to defend yourself when you’re up to your neck in beer)!
As William Wallace said “FREEDOM!!!”

As we dozed off, Palparan et. al., drowned out Teddy Casino et. al. Party lists revived the executioner with a vengeance. Such rotten tomatoes are seen more at presidential trips than at sessions. Party list WAS a wonderful innovation.

I disagree with you on party lists. I think they’re a wonderful innovation, fiscally wasteful they may be, they’re still a good exercise in representative democracy. Teddy Casino getting some media exposure during dinnergate is an example of how useful minority seats can be.

In mature democracies, there’s definitely a place for your “nuisance” parties and independents who capture one or two seats here and there. There were a few times when deadlocks in bills are decided by such super small minorities. Even in our country, the 10 or so seats captured by Bayan Muna and other lefties are proving useful in a coalition dominated congress if nothing more than to expose the stench of the presidency.

I don’t see why it would be bad to have many parties as well. Europeans do it all the time, getting parliamentary seats for such “nuisance” advocacies as digital rights reform (Pirate Party) and bring down the age of consent to 12 (charity freedom and diversity party).

Watch out for my own political party. We’re going legalize prostitution, shabu, and marijuana. We’ll advocate for the abolition of indecency laws. You could go naked on the beach taxj and police can do squat about it. We’ll push for the legalization of abortion in the first trimester. There’ll be less orphans in the streets decades from now thanks to our abortion stance. We’ll legalize the market for organ donation. When you’re liver gives up on you taxj from too much drinking and drug use, you’ll be able to find a quick replacement thanks to our party.

Join us in our quest for increased personal freedoms.

You’ve just pointed out the weaknesses of democracy, but thats not the whole picture altogether. Its a two edged sword that can be wielded for good or bad depending on who wields it, but at least it secures the freedom of speech and the right to dissent…the opposite would be dictatorship…where cronies could grab businesses from others and hold on to them for life, no SC, no electoral system…
Compared to the US, our democracy is an infant, we’re still learning the ropes, still struggling to find what works for us. I don’t believe copying from the US or Australia lock stock and barrel will even work, we have to find out on our own, and all these falling, rising, teetering, are just part of the glorious process of evolution…as long as we believe and persevere, and hold on to our independence.

Yeah, Cory did alright, for a mere housewife. She restored the electoral system that favored oligarchs and gave way to the election of minority presidents. She brought back the independent SC that would later legitimize the illegal take-over by Gloria. And made the smooth transition to Ramos. As though she had a choice!

Actually though, its our minshandling of the Cory Constitution that did us in. We failed to cash in on its provisions enshrining the local governments. Now our fate is in the hands of the Presidency, and there’s nothing we can do about it.