ONCE, this Christmas vacation, my sister and I were talking about democracies and whether they work or do not work. She heads the International Studies program at San Beda College Alabang aside from being the college vice-dean. No, it was not like we spent the Christmas season talking global politics. We talked a lot about family, especially about daddy who passed away shortly before Christmas. But the matter just cropped up in one of our conversations.
She strongly dislikes dictators, autocrats and strongman governments. I countered, though, that the American concept of democracy that many in the Philippines think is the only way to go about things has not worked in any single country of Southeast Asia and that the countries doing very well, in this part of the world, had very strong leaders. She explained that what she disliked most about the governments of the strong was that they too easily lent themselves to the designs of the abusive, and, of course, she is right!
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