Are people willing to sacrifice democracy for a chance to live in security?

Question

secure from poverty,sickness and crime

singapore experience

Answer 1

Garrison is correct about the high cost of security for Americans, which is a perception and not at all a tangible outcome anyways.  These lessons apply to the Philippines as well.

We've already gone through this experiment with Martial Law. Obviously that didn't work. Can't say if the replacement Filipino status quo of elitist liberalism is better, likely not.

However, Singapore style authoritarianism works for Singapore, but only because the Singaporeans have always been a disciplined and focused bunch of people who realized the benefits of collective unity. They are willing to sacrifice individual rights for the greater good of society and put aside their essentially petty differences. In effect, they are what Filipinos are surely not in these respects, sad to say.  

One more thing, there are few things I find more disgusting than some 20-30 something pinoy proclaiming that the Marcos years were the best times in Filipino history.  Obviously none of them were old enough to really know for sure, and obviously all their knowledge come from the distorted perspectives of former Marcos cronies, who have been afforded the time of several decades to convincingly twist the truth in their favor.

When these people proclaim a return to the old ways, just as Russia is now doing foolishly, they are blatantly insulting0 the memories and legacies of all the innocent pinoys who were incarcerated, tortured, "salvaged" and wrongfully shamed by that Stalinist despot's rampage. Shame on you all.

Answer 2

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.  

Answer 3

Singapore, although under a kind of dictatorship, is fortunate.  The people are also fortunate because their leader  is not corrupt nor greedy but is looking out for the welfare of his people.  Never mind if I can't have total freedom but I can still live peacefully and securely.  Never mind if I can't have absolute freedom but I can live in prosperity.

Answer 4

Not at all.

Democracy and security are not mutually exclusive.

America projects its might on a world stage, a model of democracy flexing her muscles to protect freedom/liberty of her citizens, whose voice are as rambunctious as our own. But it's true that ours is uniquely cantankerous compared with the other democracies, the noisiest one in Southeast Asia.  Be that as it may, democracy, as democracy, holds sacred and inalienable the freedom of speech, and that freedom cannot exist e.g. voiced out without the state providing the citizens of security, not to mention economic prosperity which is part and parcel of the full picture of democracy.

  

Answer 5

Some Amerikans are so stupid they are willing to give up all their Constitutional RIGHTS to get some kind of supposed security... not realizing that ALL REPRESSIVE REGIMES... all petty dictators and tyrants, start off by telling people they should give up their rights and the government will protect them..  They need to give up their guns FOR THE CHILDREN and they need to CONFORM and not complain.

Next thing they know... the jack booted guys in brown uniforms who march funny... start walking through their neighborhoods.. picking people up at random and sending them off for "re-education"

Answer 6

interesting question,it would depend on the individual and what his life experience's has been,someone whom has always had unlimited freedom couldn't know and someone whom has never been free couldn't know either,hmmm,some people thrive in prison while others go insane.....IS "freedom just another word for nothing left to lose"?

Answer 7

Never. :-)

Answer 8

aren't we suppose to fight for democracy in order to live securely?

we don't just exercise our democracy rights, we also fight for it since we couldn't have it in its entirety. what is encompassed in that democracy is our right for all the securities that you have mentioned.  

Answer 9

h**l yes, ESPECIALLY if a country is NOT ready for democracy. Marcos time was the best in my opinion.

Answer 10

if you are in the philippines i will definitely say YES!

just for experiment if you will take a survey of all the pilipinos right now if they want to be part of the united states of america i can defintely say the 99.9% of the people will say yes..in an instant!

Answer 11

Yes.

Singapore's system doesn't work just because the Singaporeans are a disciplined people. In fact, there are no such things as ethnic Singaporeans. Singapore, since its founding, has always been a ragtag bunch of people from all over Asia who just happen to be there because its location is convenient and trade is free. What's keeping them from running amok all over the place? Singapore's laws.

Also, The only reason the Marcos regime didn't work is that some disgruntled former hacienderos/about-to-be-former hacienderos couldn't keep their mouth shut anymore and decided to help out those militants who would ask for a revolution no matter who was in power. If you haven't noticed the militants nowadays are the exact same ones we had from before. These are the type of people who profit from sowing dissent. If they all decided to cooperate and promote change constructively instead of disrupting the peace, then most of the atrocities attributed to the Marcos regime would've never taken place.

Of course, a good restricted system without a good, clean leader is meaningless. If ever we were to change to a stricter form of government, we should start by cleaning up the government we have now.

Answer 12

Some would.  Some won't.

Singapore is not a unique experience.  And given the limited terrain, the rule of law, and strict laws they are, is unavoidable.  City estates have been known to flourish even from the time of the Greeks.

In the Philippines, the Marcos years were still appreciated by some of us, in that there was discipline and safety for most citizens.

Personally, however, I still believe that Filipinos now cherish their individual freedom.   It would not be easy to convince most that surrendering this freedom would be for the best.

Answer 13

singapore's success is made possible because the people have discipline. the same exact formula will not work in the philippines because we don't have discipline.

Answer 14

No no no no way!

Democracy is one of the best gifts given to the Filipino people!