Election 2010 : Seek the Divine guidance

Seek the Divine guidance

Philippine Election 2010 is fast approaching, a very crucial voting exercise indeed for the Filipino people to choose the new leaders in our homeland.

May 10, 2010 we will be called upon, troop down to the polling booth to elect the two highest position in our land, 12 Senators, members of the House of Representatives and elective provincial, city and municipal officials and local officials.

Divine Guidance

This comes a very important history of Philippine politics not only for the mature voters but to the youths who are now actively involved in the process. The Filipino people are very tired of election maneuverings, cheating, vote buying, guns and gold. This will be a decision we are about to make and therefore we do not seek to do this in our own strength and wisdom, but instead submit ourselves to God and seek that HE will lead us to choose the right one – who will surely do the right thing for our country. – Bong Amora

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America’s virtual democracy

Most people have a relatively simple understanding of American democracy. Each person has a right called a “vote.” A person casts the vote for a candidate. The candidates who receive the most votes Win and make laws. Candidates win by supporting popular policies. “Free” citizens thus govern themselves.

By: Spencer Overton

But contrary to conventional perception, American democracy is not an organic, grassroots phenomenon that mirrors society’s preferences. In reality, the will of the people is channeled by a predetermined matrix of thousands of election regulations and practices that most people accept as natural: the location of election-district boundaries, voter-registration deadlines, and the number of voting machines at a busy polling place. This structure of election rules, practices, and decisions filters out certain citizens from voting and organizes the electorate. There is no “right” to vote outside of the terms, conditions, hurdles, and boundaries set by the matrix.

Although most people are oblivious to the matrix, it has very real consequences. In our closely divided political environment, even an obscure election rule in a single state can determine who sits in the White House or which party controls Congress. Collectively, the various rules and practices result in a class of politicians that control various aspects of Americans’ lives, such as the number of students in a second-grade classroom in Detroit, the level of mercury in the air we breathe, and the matter of whether a student in the Army Reserve will sleep in his University of Iowa dormitory or in a barracks in Baghdad, Iraq. And because the United States is a military and financial superpower, the matrix affects not just Americans but also hundreds of millions of humans around the globe.

The book concludes by focusing on a few average Americans who—despite the demands of business and family—make time to work on democratic reforms in their community.

Americans are not inevitably destined to a fate in which a narrow class of political elites controls the matrix. Change is possible. This book is a road map for bringing the power of the vote back into our hands. – Taken from: Stealing Democracy by: Spencer Overton

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