One of the problems that democratic societies encounter is people's excessive fixation with rights. Indeed, it is not entirely impossible to see the day when entire nations will collapse under the sheer weight of unbridled freedom by its own people. Rights advocates love to argue that it is better for freedom to be abused than be stifled by authoritarian controls. They have an argument there. As President Manuel Quezon's argument went in the debate for independence, he would prefer a Philippines run like hell by Filipinos than for it to be run like heaven by Americans.

Times have changed since then and it seems like Quezon had prophetic gifts than we credit him for. Although the Philippines may not really be hell in the sense that we imagine it to be, it does not need a social scientist to know that we are closer to it now than at anytime before. As our economic fortunes plummeted, the proposition of turning the Philippines into an American state has actually become attractive to many Filipinos notwithstanding the reality that it is nothing but a pipe dream. The problem about fixation with rights is not that freedom to choose is an erroneous proposition. Rather, the problem is that not all people know how to exercise freedom in the sense that they do not compromise the exercise of the rights of other people. Take the matter on the right of suffrage. While many people blame the system that institutionalizes the role of guns, goons and gold during election, there is also the unmistakable reality that an overwhelming number of people do not deserve to exercise that right by the choices they make. It is one thing for people to forfeit their right to make sensible choices when you talk of the hungry, the powerless and the penniless.

It is a different thing though when those who abuse their rights while disregarding their responsibilities have no reasons for doing so. Unfortunately, reality has a way of blurring theories. People overstep the boundaries of propriety as often as opportunity allows them. And so while we pride ourselves for giving supremacy to rights, there are societies that believe some of them should be curtailed. It is true that certain democratic countries have achieved progress while adhering strictly to democratic principles. In the same breath however, more democratic nations have not been as fortunate and successful. Perhaps it is time to address the issue squarely: have things have gone wrong in this country because we enjoy too many rights?