It's become hot and heavy these days on the Internet. The elections in the Philippines, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Tea Party movement, the near-bankruptcy of Greece, the free-falling Euro, the very real prospects for a third Great Depression have hot-wired our emotions.
It's exciting times. I believe that unless we short-circuit our complacent brains and hot-wire our jagged edges, we cannot begin to transform our thought processes. And that we must do to be equal to the task. The world is falling apart before our very eyes. It's not just the Philippines and the other perennially perplexed and flummoxed societies that have seemingly insoluble problems. Countries as great as the United States, Germany, France and Britain are counting the days before that dreaded Day of Reckoning.
Some have noticed the upturned volume and the preponderance of negative thinking over the Internet. To this point, some have suggested that there be a moratorium on negativity. It was in response to this call for a moratorium that I drafted the letter below to some friends, only one of whom actually called for the moratorium.
In the letter, I focus on the problem of religiousness as a blinder. My thesis - which of course is not original - is that religion can be a blinder because it prevents government planners from seeing and considering the correct solutions which may in fact be right before their eyes, staring them in the face.
I had mentioned in my communication with my friends on the Internet that Filipinos have a blind side - whether it is the inability to see the corruption going on around them in their families, in their circle of friends. Or the inability to see that the Philippine population explosion is a major cause of the problems there. Or the inability to see the capriciousness in the judicial system. Or the inability to see the incentive-killing effects of nepotism and political dynasties.
My diatribe grew out of my concern that a misplaced trust in people such as economist Bernie Villegas - an Opus Dei founder in the Philippines - would assure that the country's economy will continue to circle the runway, unable to take off.
That is the effect of relying on people with a blind side, or who wear blinders. Most Filipinos, in my judgment, do have blind sides or permanent blinders.
July 4, 2010
Dear Carlos, Gene, Frank and others,
The historical argument is all there. Look at Europe. After the 2nd World War, the countries that completed their transition to secularism from Catholicism - France and Italy - and the countries that completed their transition to secularism from Protestantism - Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, the low countries, Austria, Switzerland, etc. - all made great economic strides. The countries that remained Catholic - Spain, Portugal, Ireland - and the countries that remained traditionally Orthodox - Greece and the near East countries - all lagged in economic development.
In the late 70s and 80s, as Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and others became increasingly secular, those countries experienced an economic boom. While few French and Italians are practicing Catholics, the Spanish, Portuguese, Irish, Greeks, etc. have remained deeply religious. They however began to realize that their governments had to be secular and separate from the Church. In Spain, for example, divorce and abortion are legal and the Spaniards have learned to compartmentalize.
South America's history parallels that of Europe. As South American societies became secular - leftist in some cases - South America started to emerge from the huge shadow cast by the giant to the north until they experienced an economic miracle that rivaled the Asian miracle of the 70s and 80s.
One of the keys to economic success is secularism. I am not advocating that the Filipino people should discard their religion. What I do hope for is that the government - national, provincial and local - will someday become completely secular. There is hope in this area. President Noynoy Aquino has openly advocated family planning despite protestations from the CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines).
We must tame that monster (population explosion) that we have lived with since the end of the 2nd World War, when Filipinos began to breed like rabbits. This, despite the invention of the Pill and the promotion of condom use as a defense against AIDS. Why have we not succeeded in taming that monster? Because it is protected and encouraged by the Catholic Church, which is the real and enduring power in Philippine governance.
Because of overpopulation, there is corruption in all stitches, nooks and crannies of the social fabric. People simply must be able to make ends meet, and corruption is the easiest way to a balanced budget. Because of overpopulation, there is widespread poverty, which leads to violent crimes, prostitution, jueteng, drug smuggling, murders-for-hire, etc.
Because of overpopulation, all the economic gains are eaten up literally by the ever-increasing number of mouths to feed.
Bernie Villegas, an Opus Dei founder in the Philippines, does not talk of overpopulation. He can't. He is far too invested in his extreme religiosity. He thinks that there should be more religiosity in government, not less.
Former President Arroyo, the late Cory Aquino and the de facto President Imelda Marcos either did not separate their faith from their governance or used the Catholic Church in a very cynical way, and the result was complete public subservience to the CBCP.
It was in fact during the administration of Fidel Ramos, a secular Protestant, that the country experienced real and sustained economic progress. So strong was the Philippines' growth spurt that it lasted well into the term of the plunderer Estrada - who just happened to be an irreligious jester.
I understand completely Carlos' impatience over the negativity that pervades Internet discussions about conditions in the Philippines. I think we should not criticize for the sake of criticizing. If I am coming across as that kind of a critic of the Philippines, it must be because I do not communicate my intentions as well as I should.
I must continue to emphasize that I am not an ordinary critic. I feel that I am entitled because I have devoted my retirement years to figuring out solutions to the country's myriad problems. I have even written a book (Out of the Misty Sea We Must...Blueprint for a New Philippines) that is chock-full of recommendations. I am most certainly not one who criticizes Filipinos and the Philippines for sheer enjoyment.
We cannot begin to improve our lot if we are allergic to self-examination and self-criticism. The first step on the road to improvement is a completely honest self-examination. Without that, we are just deceiving ourselves. Better to sit and wait for that miracle, or to pray until our prayers bring dividends.
I submit that people who wear blinders are incapable of honest self-examination. The Opus Dei is a blinder. That is why people like Bernie Villegas cannot be entrusted with the country's economic fate. That's just too bad, because I was once a huge fan of Bernie, who graduated summa from Harvard Business School. I was also offered a chance to win some kind of scholarship to further my studies in Economics either in the U.S. or in England and to explore that opportunity, I was scheduled to meet with Bernie, who at the time was the head of the Economics Department at La Salle. I was already in U.P. at the time, but my classmates and lifelong friends in La Salle threw my name into the mix of potential scholars.
I did not show up for the meeting with Bernie for reasons I can no longer remember. It was certainly not because of the Opus Dei thing because Bernie was not in that movement yet.
Oh, and the blinders. We all have blinders. There are very few who have absolutely no blinders. The few who wear no blinders are atheists and I often find them annoying.
Cesar L
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