Restricted Movement of People

Crossing borders is not always a bad thing. In fact, opening the borders of most countries led to globalization, which triggered free trade all around the world. Globalization, for me, is one of the best ideas that people made. It's quite obvious and common sense that people around the world needs different resources. Countries trade service, money, and resources to satisfy the needs and wants of their countrymen, maintaining economic equilibrium in their country. Of course, trading globally is and should be regulated. If not, just like what is happening today and a direct consequence of unregulated trading, an economic crisis will rise and could jeopardize the welfare of the people. When there is economic disequilibrium, illegal crossing of borders happens more often because people wants to stay in a more stable and more prosperous place. Crossing borders illegally could be a worse thing rather than giving you a better life. People take the risks and do this mainly because of jobs that offer higher wages/salaries. In the case of our fellow countrymen, Filipinos that work overseas, called OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), go to other countries for them to earn higher salaries. Some of them even used to be white-collar workers in the Philippines. When they worked outside the country, they accepted jobs for blue-collar workers, usually domestic helpers. For illegal crossing of border, some Filipinos stay beyond their limit on a particular country because of the living conditions of such countries. Filipinos that illegal aliens in other countries are coined here in the Philippines as TNT or "Tago Ng Tago". These people are coined as such because they keep on hiding from authorities in other countries that will deport them or even ban them to go to their country.

In simple terms, a country is like a household. In a household, everyone has their own roles to maintain peace and harmony in the house. A household has a leader, usually the eldest and most experienced, which governs all the people and all the work. If you are part of that household, which makes you a contributor to that certain territory, would you just let anyone step inside your house and enjoy its living conditions which you all worked hard for? Of course, not. It is quite common sense that sovereignty and citizenship are both important to a country. Like I said before, people is the foundation of a country. If you can't even determine your national borders and who your people are, then what kind of country are you? That kind of country is just like a hotel where anyone can stay and go.

People and Power

The reason for structured freedom, even in the most liberal societies, is power. To maintain order, there should ALWAYS be a sovereign ruler. In order to take control of the state, the sovereign ruler has to be more powerful than everyone else in the state. Of course and obviously, quoting what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker in the movie Spiderman 2, "With great power comes great responsibility". At present day, some people wielded with great power are getting irresponsible and not doing their job properly. They just enjoy the privileges of their position. Power should be exercised properly and responsibly. Just like in the Philippines, politicians use their power to hoard money, at the expense of the Filipino people, which is obviously wrong. As time goes by, the trust of the people to the government decreases little by little. Our government, or the so-called government of the "Republic of the Philippines", is one of the most corrupt in the world. We all know that the situation of our country is very bad. So, how can politicians afford to slack-off and create even bigger problems? There is obviously a malpractice of power.

Power is acquired not only through politics but also through ideas. It is not always about the position. Sometimes, ideas, which I believe is the most powerful, wields a person great power. Everyone is unique but society dictates norms. Through powerful ideas, norms or way of living of a society, or even the world, can change. The power of the brain, also called as intellectual, which creates ideas, is so powerful that mindsets of a great number of people could change.

In my personal life, sense of responsibility has always been an essential part of me. I'm a finish-your-responsibilities-before-partying person. Before slacking- off, I make sure everything I have to do is done. With all those responsibilities, we can safely say that I have a certain power wielded. As a 20 year old, I'm already legal. There are things that I enjoy that minors are not allowed to do, such as buying and/or drinking alcoholic drinks and smoking. Still, there are responsibilities that comes with it. If you get drunk, you might end up doing crazy illegal things or even die or kill some one. This brings us back to "sense of responsibility". You have that power simply because you have to do responsibilities. Without those powers, doing those responsibilities would be very hard or even impossible.

People, Households, and the World

A strong foundation of a nation comes from its people or citizens. These individuals form households and/or families. Furthermore, these families and households eventually create a nation or state. Knowing that people is the foundation of a nation, the ruler of a nation should maintain balance in its economy to sustain the demands of its people. For them to achieve sustainable and optimized development, the first step is applying the appropriate economic system. We all know that the purpose of economics is to allocate the finite resources of our world. We all know that there is a thing called "human insatiation", where it is said that humans will never be completely satisfied. With the help of economics, that natural characteristic of humans will be regulated. In relation to the present day situation, people are actually rallying about the economic system in their countries because it failed to improve lives. When the US hit recession in 2008, which is claimed to be worse than the great depression, the whole financial system collapsed and barely recovered. Examining this whole situation, the culprit of all these is the different governments of the western countries. Many chances were presented to them for them to avoid the crisis. Instead of working together, the European countries did not cooperate with the US. Now, the joke's on them. It all started with the "light touch" regulation of the financial system, which gave rise to the most intoxicated financial derivative called the sub-prime mortgage. We all know that human beings are naturally greedy. Financial institutions took advantage of this, making the people suffer from a recession. In Philippine setting, it's the equivalence of corruption in our government. Once again, wrong governance. IMHO, the economic system called capitalism did not fail, but rather the people failed the system. It is the people who runs it who failed to protect its citizens. Also, it's not the government that is to be blame but also the people who are greedy, referring to the corporations who committed fraud and rallyists who want a redistribution of wealth. Instead of trying to improve their lives and live a new life, they rally. I don't think rallying will change something. Powerful people are heartless. The possibility of using violence by the government and powerful people is very high. Not only that these people are unproductive, they are actually causing a negative effect on the economy. Human beings are very complex creatures. Don't forget also that we are considered animals who have two basic instincts, namely survival and reproduction. With all these, global politics is not for people who are irrational. If you are irrational, you are mainly ran by your emotions and instincts. In the end, everything is relative. The word for this subject is "balance".