Written by Ernie R. Gonzales.
Democracy run by patriotic democrats empowers the masses whom they represent, and facilitates the attainment of genuine justice, freedom, peace and progress. But kept in the hands of Kleptocrats, democracy becomes dysfunctional and pushes society into the depths of poverty, hunger and modern slavery. Social life becomes locked into systemic graft and corruption. This undermines both the polity and the integrity of human habitats and ecological systems. The system of representative democracy is damaged and the system of statesmanship is killed literally. In this dysfunctional democracy the government itself becomes the oppressor of the very people that it should serve and govern.