torturous trap

picture this: you're a respected member of the business community, having a wealth of experience behind you. you can keep on serving your company or retire peacefully.

then the president knocks on your door to ask you to work for her.

you say, i'm happy here, i know what the government's like, please don't drag me in this mess.

she implores, please, for your country's stability, and the ultimate clincher, for the good of the country.

you think about it. what have you done for your country? put some scholarships? paid taxes properly? organized corporate social responsibility efforts? batted for corporate governance & accountability? nothing compared to putting up bridges that lead to nowhere, like what local legislators have done.

but you say, what the heck, i'll do it. but i have to have complete control of my scope to do my job properly.

she goes, of course, of course.

you are confident that she will support you, and the support of the president will definitely give you headway for your change management.

you also forget that being the president, she is a political animal first and a doctor in economics a far far second. she will do what it takes to survive. even to take a credible business leader like you to prop her failing state.

your priority is to change the government. her priority is to survive, in the hopes that she can change the people. but in her quest for survival, the tactics she takes undermine any impetus for future growth.

she assigns people as a sign of political debt payment. the people she assigns is not even comparable to you, to even complement you. they're just there so that the people she owes her political life to can milk your office dry.

you protest behind the closed doors. but she is the president. she can do what she wants.

you leave in disgust.

now, see the people around you. the professionals are leaving and the people with connections stay. it's because the professionals know that this scenario will play over and over and over and over again.

as a consuelo de bobo, the people with connections left here hail you as heroes, send home your dollars, your dinars! we'll waste it even more!

and it has become so pervasive that no one is left here to improve our society. it doesn't even have to be a concerted effort; just decent acts of following the law will bring us further ahead. but no, we don't even have that!

she is here to make sure she survives her political onslaught. once she's removed, it'll still be the same power-grabbing game. of course, politics the world over involve power play, but here it has reached a disgusting point. the politicians have become too greedy, both in money & in opportunities. the illustrados have no outlet to express themselves; a structured professional development is overtaken by the appointment of a mediocre superior. even in the world of entrepreneurship, the gutsy illustrados are being eased out by the child-of-politicians who have unlimited funds to enlarge their businesses.

and the politicians ask why we're in this rut? grrr.....