What is the pork barrel really about and what is the best way to approach it? Is it best to abolish it or to change it? These are just a few of the questions running through everyone’s minds right now. I, myself, still ask questions about the pork barrel. Why do we ask all of these questions? Simply because we are all affected by this. You may know it, but for those who don’t think so, then I am telling you now that you are, in some kind of way, affected.

The pork barrel in itself is good, while the scam is bad. Good in a sense that it gives the Senators and the Representatives funds to be used for the betterment of the lives of the people. The pork barrel, if used properly, would benefit a lot of people. But the keyword is “if”, because it has not been used properly and now, a lot has suffered.

We blame the Senators and Representatives. We say that it is their faults; their fault for choosing to be unjust and by giving in to the calls of corruption, but think about it, is it really their faults? Is it not ours, for we chose them, we voted for them, we trusted in them? Is it not our faults for not choosing wisely and giving in to the briberies of some of these officials during voting period? It is our faults. These Senators and Representatives (and other officials, too), they rely on us to vote for them, some purely by heart, some by bribery. They would not be where they are now if it were not for us. We gave them the power to take care of us; we gave them the power to choose to be corrupt.

Removing the pork barrel is also, in a way, removing the Congress, and without the Congress, what will happen? Who will do their job? To legislate is solely tasked for the Congress to maintain equal power within the three branches. If the Congress is to be removed and the job of legislating is to be reassigned to another branch or to other people in other branches, then this will also lead to corruption. After all, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, the more power that a branch or a person has, the more possibility that they will be corrupt. There is a reason why the three branches were created and that is because of this.

We need to choose our government officials better. Do not be taken by their money or their facades. If we vote wisely, then it means better and trustworthy government officials that can actually help us by using the pork barrel fund in making projects. The fund contains a lot of money, and this money can go a long way in the right hands.

The best approach is not to abolish it, but rather, to seek for reforms and to improve it. The system of the pork barrel needs to be improved, as well as the whole of the government’s system. Improving it benefits us in a lot of ways. It lessens corruption since we already know what might happen and we take more precautions. The system will be changed, improved, reformed, and this leads to a better government. The Congress will not be removed either, so the power will not go to other hands and lead to corruption. Also, since the pork barrel will not be removed but rather, improved, there will still be funds that can be used to improve the lives of the people.

We already know how the pork barrel works or rather, how “their” pork barrel works, and since we already have information about it, it makes more sense to further improve it than to scrap it all up. We already know what happens so why not make use of this information and use this controversial pork barrel scam to benefit us? After all, without this scam, we would not take action and know what we want to do. So in a way, this scam benefits us because we found out what we wanted and we realized the truth about our government because without evil, we would not know what is good, and the same goes for this pork barrel scam.