‘… our elections are just a way for us to look at ourselves in the mirror every three years or so.’
I’VE been following social media posts and comments by so many different people reacting to so many politicians filing their certificates of candidacy for the various elective positions we have to fill in May of next year.
At the same time, it’s interesting to watch the politicians themselves march up to the Comelec to file their paperwork, some with supporters in tow, and then make pronouncements declaring why they are submitting themselves to the judgment of the people while promising to serve to the best of their ability if and when elected.
You and I know that the field is diverse — the promising to the epitome of broken promises; the fresh faces to those with many faces, those who have no spine when what the people need is spine, and those with spine but are rejected for their principles.
On my way to the airport two days ago, my Grab driver showed a range of emotions about our politics and our politicians. One moment he would be laughing at them and their antics, the next moment he was cursing them and their kin to eternal damnation, blaming them for everything that’s gone wrong in his life. But he was also talking about money — how elections are now beyond doubt a matter of money, particularly who has the money to spend in the homestretch of the campaign, releasing enough at the right time and to the right people to be the ultimate criterion for the voter’s decision on who to give that all-important vote. What he told me came as no surprise, because I’ve seen so many campaigns up close and know that having the logistical muscle when needed can make or break a campaign. And I also know, as told to me by a barangay captain on a small island in Samar, that unless you fork across some funds not even your relatives will vote for you.
Imagine that.
But maybe the relatives just want to get an advance of the big bonanza you will have access to once you’re in office.
Indeed, money is a great motivator in our politics.
But I told my Grab driver what I’ve told other friends too — directing our ire at our politicians is disingenuous because they couldn’t get to where they are if we didn’t put them there. It’s you and I as a collective who sit our politicians in the posts from where they are supposed to help shape our lives for the better but from where they shape their own lives for the better even more.
We put them there — the fathers and mothers and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and grandchildren, maybe initially because we hoped the first one would be a decent and effective leader but later on because we are too tired — and too jaded to gamble on someone else. And because incumbency has power, it’s easier for those already in power to keep that power within the family. Which we carp about. But we many times celebrate because, heck, these are our friends in a country where who you know is what matters most, most of the time.
So our elections are just a way for us to look at ourselves in the mirror every three years or so. Those who end up winning are a mirror image of who we are.
Do you like what you see?
