People aren’t afraid to kill. They need to be in order for the bloodshed to cease.

I’m not an attorney but you just need to look at the speed of which our courts prosecutes criminals. It is inherently slow and inefficient. The amount of cases that continue to pile up on our courts is insane. Prosecuting everyone of these addicts, pushers, and lords take time as well as money. You honestly can’t expect our criminal courts to handle these cases at their present volume. It’s no wonder our people are restless and no longer see the point of following rules. Petty crimes such as pickpocketing or theft are rampant because criminals aren’t even afraid of getting caught. If criminals don’t fear the law, then what’s the point? The killings from both parties–cops, vigilantes, and criminals–will stop if they see that pursuing such actions is unworthy of their time. People aren’t afraid to kill. They need to be in order for the bloodshed to cease.

We are stuck with a Duterte presidency whether we like it or not. The trick in dealing with leaders you do not like is to allow them to spew their agendas and use it against them. Populist presidents are all talk but the WTF moment comes when they realize things aren’t so black and white. Look at Donald Trump. He pledged that he will bring manufacturing jobs back in America. It didn’t happen. Why? Because those jobs were dead from the get-go. If they weren’t going to China or Mexico, they were going to robots–automation. He said he was going to build a physical wall separating the US from Mexico. It’s been almost a year since he got elected and work has not even commenced. For every month he stays in the White House and every tweet he posts, Trump has continued to make a fool of himself and play into the hands of his enemies–most notably Putin.

Duterte’s win was a reaction against Aquino’s ineffective policies to combat crime and uplift the people below the poverty threshold. We’ve seen things like this before. Joseph Estrada run on a similar platform. He proudly declared war on the Abu Sayyaf and is a very outspoken frontman for the masses. We both know the failed outcome of Erap’s policies and the infamous legacy of graft his administration planted in our political climate. Such things are bound to happen again if the people who are disenfranchised are not given what they want. I doubt Duterte will be the last leader in the Philippines to win via populist rhetoric. If there’s one thing the outcomes of our elections since 1986 has taught us is that the will of the people has failed us time and again. Direct democracy has always been about popularity–it was never about the most qualified candidate. This has got to go… eventually.

People love to point out the rule of law and the wrongness of killing. Problem is there are just as many people who believe that The End Justifies the Means (consequentialists) as well as those who believe in the Quality of the Action (deontologists). The former appears to be winning over more supporters than the latter. Indeed, patience isn’t one of our best virtues as a culture. That can change and so can the people if they REALLY want to.

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