Free stupid is forever by Miriam Defensor-Santiago Page B

much makeup and
some women wear too little clothes.
    A politician is a man who will double cross
that bridge when he comes to it.
    As Galbraith said, there are times in politics
when you must be on the right side and lose.
    Plato was so right: the price of apathy toward
public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
    In a corrupt country, if you want to succeed in politics,
you must keep your conscience under control.
    The members of Congress are the people who
will support the President when he is wrong.
    "You’re the reason God created the middle finger."
    A statesman is a politician who places himself at the
service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who
places the nation at his service. In the Philippines,
another name for politician is plunder genius.
    There are no true friends in politics. Someone
said that we are all sharks circling, and waiting
for traces of blood to appear in the water.
    Of her political enemy always angling for a government
job: If left out he would be dangerous, but if
taken in, he would simply be destructive.
    Of a wishy-washy politician: When in doubt on what
should be done, his policy is to do nothing.
    There are politicians who, when they were in power, were
rubbish and arrogant. Now that these politicians have
st their jobs, there is nothing as abject and pathetic
they are. They remind me of a retired stud horse.
    According to Mencken, the whole aim of practical
politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence
    clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
    Ang pulitiko, para sumikat, ay tinatakot muna ang taong-
bayan na may malaking problema, kagaya ng kidnap for
ransom. Pagkatapos nagpapanggap na siya lang ang may
kakayahan na lumutas ng problema. Ang totoo, siya
pala ang may hawak ng mga kidnappers. Ang galing!
    Some politicians get elected because they are well known.
The other politicians are defeated for the same reason.
    In any Congress, out of IOO people, 2 are honest and
Intelligent, IO are criminals, and 88 are good for nothing.
    Is there a good politician? Is there an honest burglar?
    In any country, crooks make money by
underestimating the intelligence of the masses.
    I sponsored and defended the Reproductive Health
Law, although I am a Catholic. In the Catholic church,
a woman to avoid pregnancy is allowed to resort to
mathematics. Thank God, now Catholic women
are allowed to resort to physics and chemistry!
    Of her political enemy: He has all the characteristics
of an ambitious politician: a horrible voice,
bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
    During any commencement exercise, I always know
the graduate who will succeed. He is the person who
knows nothing and thinks he has everything. This
graduate will become a successful politician.
    There was a time when a circus did not consist of
trained animal performers and acrobatic shows, but
of freaks and monstrosities. One of them was called
"the boneless wonder.” They are now in politics.
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    I’m so jealous that you finally found your true love.
    Unfortunately, they haven’t legalized self-marriage yet.
    People are entitled to change their minds. But
when politicians do so, they always explain it
in terms of incomprehensible principles.
    In Philippine politics, I know many men and
women who are able to rise above principles.
    When I listen to the defensive language of those
accused of plunder, I marvel that they can make
lies sound truthful, plunder respectable, and
give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
    Then people say that politics is the art of the possible,
they mean the art of speculation, calculation,
intrigue, secret deals, and pragmatic maneuvering.
    Members of Congress are eager to participate and be
televised during public hearings, which are more like
police investigations conducted by a scatterbrained
investigator. The honorable men and women of
Congress like to take things apart. Unfortunately,
hey have no clue on how to put them back