Photo:Basilio Sepe/AP
When lawlessness rules the Legislature, incompetence corrupts the Executive, and injustice infects the Judiciary, a nation is no longer governed — it is consumed. What remains is not a republic but a ruin: a failed state draped in the illusion of democracy.
At the heart of this collapse lies corruption — that slow, venomous poison that seeps into every organ of governance. It begins as greed disguised as “public service,” metastasizing into networks of privilege and protection. From the halls of Congress to the corridors of local power, corruption becomes not an aberration but a culture. Laws are written not to serve the people but to shield the powerful; budgets are passed not to build the nation but to feed political patrons.
The Executive, crippled by incompetence and arrogance, presides over a broken system. Policies swing not by principle but by profit; appointments are traded like favors, not earned by merit. Bureaucracy becomes a sanctuary for the loyal, not the capable. And when crises come — floods, famine, or failure — the state’s response is not action but excuse.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary, once the people’s last refuge, becomes the final accomplice in this betrayal. Justice, once blind, now peers through the lens of influence and wealth. Cases rot in dockets, verdicts are sold in whispers, and truth becomes negotiable. When the scales of justice are tilted by corruption, even the innocent stand condemned by poverty, while the guilty walk free under the shadow of privilege.
This is the most dangerous mix for any State — lawlessness, incompetence, and injustice. Together, they form a trinity of decay that erodes the foundations of nationhood. They destroy trust, breed despair, and normalize evil. The people, robbed of hope, turn cynical or submissive — a society that no longer dreams, only endures.
And yet, the warning signs were always there. Every unpunished crime by a politician, every appointed fool rewarded for loyalty, every judge who traded verdicts for favors — each was a brick in the wall of our downfall. A nation does not fail overnight; it bleeds slowly, drained by those sworn to defend it.
If this continues, our democracy will remain a name carved on paper, recited in ceremonies, but empty in meaning. For what use is a Constitution when its keepers are corrupt? What worth is freedom when justice is for sale?
It is time to confront this truth: a government that tolerates corruption is not merely inefficient — it is immoral. And a people who accept it in silence become its willing victims.
The cure lies not in one leader, nor one law, but in the collective awakening of a betrayed people. Only when truth is demanded louder than comfort, when integrity becomes the measure of power — only then can the State rise from its ruins.
Until that day, we remain trapped in the shadows of our own making — a nation betrayed, not by enemies abroad, but by the corruption within.
