Election Time!

With elections in the Philippines being held in a three-year cycle, we see the viciousness of muckraking, indiscriminate posting of election materials, political killings, vote-wooing/buying/selling, turncoatism. I believe the quality of our freedom and democracy rise and fall on the vigilance with which we exercise our right of suffrage.
Failure to do so forfeits our right to criticize those who have been elected by those who did their duty as citizens.

Here are some serious and not-so-serious quotes I have chosen to remind us of what elections ought to be (or not!):

• A public office is a public trust and whoever serves in government, from the highest to the lowest, is a servant of the people. - Ignacio Villamor
• My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins. - Manuel L. Quezon
• It is the duty if every citizen to interested in how well or how badly his government operates. - Gil J. Puyat
• The toughest part of politics is to satisfy the voter without giving him what he wants. - William Shakespeare
• Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. -Theodore Roosevelt
• In times of stress and strain, people will vote. -Anonymous
• Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. -George Bernard Shaw
• Vote for the man who promises least. He'll be the least disappointing. -Bernard Baruch
• Our elections are free - it's in the results where eventually we pay. -Bill Stern
• Don't buy a single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide. - Joseph P. Kennedy

A Prayer to Our Lady of Fair Elections

From Frank Cimatu's blog, I found this prayer to Our Lady of Fair Elections:

Our Lady, I place my feeble voice in your hands that mine might be counted
and we have a fair election in our country.

Insure that every chad* is completely removed
so my intention is absolutely clear without the aid of an electron microscope.

Protect me from partisan and incompetent vote counters
and give me the patience to endure as many recounts as I must
to know the actual results.

And with your great power
I ask you that the election be guided by the majority vote
and not the supreme "chosen few."

Amen.

[*Chad - The confetti-like bits punched out of punched cards or paper tape]

Feel free to adapt this prayer according to your own situation and needs. :-)