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IN search for deeper meaning of the word “impunity,” I came across these quotations from the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia:
“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

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“The government is our servant, not our masters.” We talk of impunity and condemn it. But impunity thrives because we, the people, do nothing to stop it. From one administration to another, be it national or local, people talk of graft and corruption but do so little to stop it. We allow government officials to rule not only our State but also our lives when election has been given us to correct this malady by voting wisely.

Indeed, the government or public officials are our servants. But we let them become our masters and rule with impunity. Impunity is defined as “exemption from punishment or freedom from injurious consequence of an action.”

Certainly, government officials are not above the law. They are not exempted from punishment. They get away with punishment because we, the people, are afraid to do something like gathering evidence and protesting through non-political but social mass actions. Not even religious groups openly dare interfere under the pretext of separation of State and Church but silently use their clout to have their members or followers appointed to key positions.

Impunity is prevalent everywhere and anywhere because people allow it to thrive. Sometimes, our political leanings deter us from doing something even if it is already clear that our preferred politicians are clearly into something anomalous and immoral. We tend to look at the seemingly good things they have done without scrutinizing the details which could reveal ugly truths. Indeed, we have resigned to a choice of lesser evil but evil just the same.

We all love to be identified with a winner no matter the ugly truth. We laugh off would-be alternatives in our midst without even trying. And the criticisms continue like a vicious cycle that has no end.

I believe it was netizen Robert de la Serna who posted something about training the youth for a noble cause, short of saying that we need to cultivate future leaders coming from the youth sector who have the potentials of becoming good leaders. I submit to this idea. Would Bert set the ball rolling? Who would like to be a part of it?

We must not allow out traditional politicians to teach our youth in their early age to become like them. This is evident in our youth elections. They learn the nitty gritty of winning through cheating and vote-buying. They cannot be our future leaders.

They, too, will learn what impunity is all about and crave for it. The nation is in search of a new leader. The difficulty in taking in a running mate only means that people have come to realize how bad candidates have become that no one would like to be associated with them.

Isn’t it rife for us, citizens of Cagayan de Oro, to look for an alternative to the traditional politicians? Or do we want to get stuck with the lesser evil? The choice is yours.

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