The State and the Public Sphere do not have direct access to each other. They carry out their respective internal operations as determined by their internal structure, processes and codes. Nevertheles, the two systems are still able to influence each other indirectly via interactions of varying strength. In his column, Manolo Quezon identified three such interactions: elections, plebiscites (or referenda) and People Power.
By far, the weakest interaction among the three are elections. Once elections are over, the State is more or less able to carry out its operations with a great deal of autonomy. This autonomy starts as early as the vote counting process. In 2004, Gloria Arroyo was able to retain the Presidency via an internal operation that eventually became known as
Hello Garci. The operation consists of further weakening the interaction with the Public Sphere by substituting genuine votes with manufactured results. As a further illustration of the weakness of such an interaction, the participation of Citizen's watchdog groups such as NAMFREL only served to legitimize the exercise, in effect achieving the exact opposite of the watchdog group's mission.
The undemocratic manner by which Gloria Arroyo 'won' with the participation of the State's Institutions that includes the COMELEC, the Military and Congress reveals a fundamental characteristic of a system (any system), i.e. the absence of any intrinsic purpose except to carry out its operations and continue its existence. From the point of view of the State as a System,
Democracy is not a built-in purpose. Instead, being
Democratic is a value (or 'code') that is assigned by observers within and outside the system. Without an internal code [of ethics] to guide its actions the system can choose continue to carry out its operations without regard for a democratic outcome. Even built-in checks such as the Impeachment process can, and have been subverted and turned into a form of inoculation.
[to be continued]
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