POLITICS in our country since it was introduced by the colonial Americans has not been lifted to its ideal, nay, manageable level. Shaped by a set of governing ideas but subject to dispute in practice, politics Filipino-style, despite its warts and loopholes, has remained to serve the Filipino people as a common bond and source of political action.
Nothwithstanding the political killings, massive fraud and cheating, and the corruption of certain institutions -- including the Commission on Elections that presides over the whole exercise and the media that should otherwise articulate the candidates’ political platform and the voters’ aspirations towards better governance -- a vehicle for choosing the right leaders remains indispensable, lest democracy would be lost and tyranny and chaos reign. History has been through this in ancient civilizations where monarchs, vandals and dictators held in the palm of their hands the fate of the people. Whims and caprices and the insatiable greed for power were the order of the day for those who held absolute power.
Such problematic chapter in human history gave rise to the evolution of democracy which is a form of government in which the people rule, either directly or through elected representatives.
Ironically, that is a textbook definition. For one, direct democracy, except through town hall or PTA meetings, no longer exists in the higher echelon of bureaucratic institutions. And the republican model of electing representatives to articulate and put into action the people’s collective hope and aspirations has rather been far from the ideal, except in very few affluent countries to which the Philippines does not belong.
Given our sad state of things, we may be consoled by the thought that politics is not simply, or even mostly, about high ideals, as some political scientists opine. It is also about getting one’s own way. Even though a society cannot function without a relatively high level of cohesion and cooperation, conflict fills the center stage of politics. Politics, after all, is the struggle over “who gets what, when and how.” Defined more formally, “politics is the process that determines whose values will prevail in society.” But first, we must choose our leaders who would serve as our voice and our limb in the complex competition for resources and power. For that is what republican democracy, that our forefathers framed, is all about.
Through elections, the chance is ours to get the government that we deserve. It lies in our own hands whether the next three years would be better. To squander such privilege is to expect the worse to happen. True, the choices have been slim and narrow, meaning there have been fewer qualified candidates on whom we can pin our hope for. And worse, the electoral system has been grabbed by unscrupulous men.
More than ever, righteous men should not surrender to the weaknesses of others. We need to uphold and exercise our principles and let others learn from us and see the effectivity or wisdom of what we are professing. The struggle may be difficult, but it has to start somewhere. On May 14, let us start working again for reform. Let us choose the better candidates over the deplorable ones. Let our vote count, even if it does not mean that our choice would win. The message is to speak out our heart and our mind: that we are in search of good leaders, even if it does not come at the soonest time. Someday, it will, when our fellow voters start to learn to write down into the ballots what their conscience, not their stomach nor their pocket, dictates them.
