I thought that being part of a province-wide campaign core for three elections have taught me the ABC of elections. I now realize that it’s one thing to be a planner, but it’s entirely different to be the foot soldier. The arm-chair politician may have the loftiest of ideas but the best idea is nothing if it is not tested, felt, and sold in the marketplace. And the marketplace is in the mountains, farmlands, and the slum areas where ideals clash diametrically with the stark realities of having to survive on a daily basis. How can you talk of ideals when the mouths need to be feed?
Two decades ago, when my learning in the university had so fired-up my ideals that I almost went underground, the thought of giving dole-outs to gain votes was abomination of what democracy stands for. But as the years passed, and my experiences in political campaigns are added to my resume, I am afraid I am losing grip of those ideals I once fervently espoused.
It was in 1994 when my partner in the law firm urged me to run for the provincial board member, a position in the provincial legislative council. I had the chance of winning considering that I had three municipalities which I considered as bailiwicks. But knowing that money had to be given to voters, I declined. The right of suffrage is so sacred that it should not be bought in the market just like a commodity.
Democracy is premised that every man is free, and his political decisions are not restrained by economic want. You take away this freedom, you virtually erase the basis of democracy, and the novel idea that the constitution is the social contract of free men. Even God has given us the free will, so that we can choose between right and wrong.
For one week straight, we went around campaigning. Where there are people gathered, we stopped, heard their woes, and then we promised to work on these problems. But the promises we made did not ring on them. They have heard litanies of promises, but their plight have not been alleviated. They have ceased dreaming, and much more to believe in the dreams politicians weave and dangle before them. Nope, they are not hopeless of the system. Hopelessness is a mere negative energy of hope. What they have of the system is apathy, the “nothing-matters-attitude”.
So when we went near them, they would ask money to buy liquor, some for medicines, and still others for any reason they can concoct. In short, when you go near the voters during the campaign period, they want to skin your hide. It is only during the campaign period the people can get even with politicians. The rest of the year, it is the politician that would bleed-white the resources of the voters.
When these voters ask for money, I am almost tempted to tell them, “Wait, we have not been in power yet, we did not get any of your money”. More often, I was almost gripped with the surge to tell these voters that you deserve your politicians. But during election period, the voters are the customers, so they are always right.
When people are not even assured of food for the next meal, you don’t expect ideals; that is reserved for the saints and mystics who can divine earthy realities during fasting. But let us face it. The people don’t have the fortitude of saints. If they miss one meal, they cringe on their stomachs, and look for food. And if the hunger becomes unbearable, they forget even the laws that could lock them in jail. In the Philippines, hunger incidence is the highest in Asia. Do you expect then a meaningful election?
This election, the people expect a windfall of cash. And if you cannot deliver, they won’t vote for you, even if you have the most impressive credentials. To them, a brilliant and a dumb politician are alike. The only difference is that the brilliant one robs the public coffers with the niceties of the laws, just like what former President Ferdinand Marcos did; the dumb ones like Erap Estrada go to jail even before they can enjoy the loot.
True enough, there are still voters who vote based on conscience. But these are the people whose basic needs are met. Karl Marx may have been mistaken in his prescription, but the diagnose that the economic superstructure determines political consciousness cannot be more true. In a country where the people living below the poverty line accounts for 70% of the population, the voice of the thinking voters is lost in the wilderness. In a popular democracy, the voice of the multitude prevails.
I am not running for any political position yet. I am campaigning for my candidate, who throughout his voting record, has refused to receive a penny from a politician. His record in public service has been sterling and unblemished. But come lection day, money has to be doled-out. Otherwise, he does not stand a chance of winning. For him, it is a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow he must.
This election has been a trial run for the political career I am building. Come that time, I may have to kiss goodbye to the ideals of democracy I once held in my youth. Ironically, have to abandon the ideals in order for me to join the bigger democratic debate.
Tags: philippineelection, politics | Edit Tags
Tuesday May 8, 2007 – 02:00pm (CST) Edit | Delete
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