EDITORIAL — Let's get real

The communist insurgency in the Philippines, those who believe in it love to point out, has been going on for more than three decades, making it one of the longest such insurgencies in the world.

That is nothing to crow about, however. Measuring the success of the insurgency solely on the basis of the length of time that it has been waged is wrong and misleading. There are other factors that have to be painted in to get a clearer, better and more precise picture.

The Philippines is one of the poorest nations in the world. It is also one of the most corrupt. The combination of poverty and corruption makes for a very fertile ground within which to sow the seeds of communist ideals.

But apparently the seeds have not taken root. More than three decades of sowing and not seeing any visible signs of any sprouting cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered a successful undertaking.

That is, of course, unless communism is really nothing but a delusionary undertaking, a fool's errand that assures a euphoric sense of mission while it lasts but does not really deliver on its promise in a practical sense.

Look. Nobody can be more practical-minded than the poor and the oppressed. Living day to day more out of sheer luck than of purposeful venture, their backs to the wall, the poor and the oppressed would cling to a double-edged sword if it promises to reap the day's harvest.

In other words, the poor and the oppressed Filipinos, of which there are very very many, would have long embraced communism if only they found it to be worth their while in a practical way, as only they know how to determine.

That they haven't shows they have seen through the mist. Thirty years is too long a time to convince a people ready to embrace anything. If after all this time they have not, the message ought to be very clear to anyone that they will not. Alas, some people simply refuse to get real.