Friday, November 20, 2009

Popularity Based Politics Equals Waking Up To Frustration

It is election season anew in the Philippines. Yet like in most democracies, elections are turning out to be merely popularity contests.

People are made to believe that alleged changes brought forth by a new leadership, rather than changes in the system, is what matters most. Candidates are chosen based on symbolism and the free goodies that they offer.

Little do the public understand, as Rev. Edmund Optiz warned that ``The state being what it is, it matters little who holds office and wields its inordinate powers. This truth is dawning on some persons today; but the general public, however disillusioned with politicians, still has faith in politics as the means of curing all the ills of society and improving the quality of life. Hopefully, people will someday realize that what counts is the overextension of state power, not who holds public office. The important thing is to refute statist ideas, whatever their guise..."

Real life experiences should serve as examples...

In the US, President Obama had been ushered in as the most popular elected president.

And as we noted in US Politics: Extrapolating Hope and Change to Presidential Term Realities, ``Yet high approval ratings tend to be followed by a collapse over the years."

It's barely been a year and as recently noted in President Obama's Popularity Falling Back To Reality, "Americans seem to be waking up to the harsh realities of life".

Hope appears as being interchanged with unmet expectations or frustrations.

Take this Bloomberg report, ``President Barack Obama’s approval rating has fallen below 50 percent for the first time in polling by Quinnipiac University as U.S. voter discontent grows over the war in Afghanistan.

``Obama’s job approval rating fell to 48 percent in the Nov. 9-16 survey of registered voters nationwide by the Hamden, Connecticut-based university, with 42 percent polled saying they disapproved of the job he is doing."

“In politics, symbols matter, and this is not a good symbol for the White House,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement."

It's not just in Quinnipiac University but also among major pollsters...





And even in Google search trends

So while Wall Street maybe cheering on the recent gains from rising markets, such optimism isn't being translated to the main street.

Our point is: we should realize that economic freedom matters more than delusional popularity contests.


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