The enemy of your enemy may not be your friend

We are living in a time when it is increasingly difficult to vote for political candidates or issues that we approve. That is because they seldom are on the ballot. Candidates are carefully selected ahead of time by political power brokers, and voters are left with choosing the lesser of two evils. People no longer vote for someone. They vote AGAINST someone.

Beneath this reasoning is the idea that, in warfare, you cannot be picky about your allies, and that any enemy of your enemy is your friend. It is an alluring concept but it seldom works to your advantage, especially in politics. If you want to rid your back yard of alligators, you would be foolish to import crocodiles to chase them off.

An excellent example of this is in this week’s news. Many advocates of the war on drugs are pleased with the fact that Philippines President Duterte has quickly broken the recreational drug trade. They are not too pleased that there have been hundreds of on-the-street executions of “suspected” drug pushers and users, but they take solace in the fact that the drug problem is solved. The end justifies the means.

Now we learn that, when Duterte was Mayor of Davao, he used his police and civilian hit men to execute his political opponents as well. No drug problem anymore in the Philippines but now there is a totalitarian regime that you better not oppose. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

G. Edward Griffin
2016 September 16

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Philippines: Edgar Motobato testified that he was a hitman for Philippines President Duterte when Duterte was the Mayor of Davao. He said that, from 1988 to 2013, Duterte authorized the murders of 1,000 people, including political opponents. Senator Leila De Lima, who was part of the panel conducting the hearings, was the target of a failed ambush and assassination attempt by Duterte, according to Motobato. Reuters 2016 Sep 15 (Cached)