For 99.99+% of the population, the morning after the election will not in any way be different. The winners will not change our lot. Many of those who will be hovering around the winners will actually not those who really helped in the campaign but those opportunists searching for ways on how to make money. The way politics is played around here, the winners will in a way give in to these characters as they will promise a lucrative share from every deal proposed. And it will not be long before they will again hit the campaign trail which is never cheap.
That is how things are, and that is how we are. We are not wise voters, generally. Our main consideration when in the polls is who is our relative, who gave us or will soon give us favors, or in general who will take care of our interest. Not much on the merits, or qualifications for the job or the position aspired for.
And so it will remain that every candidate who will be considered a winner will always be the one who has the biggest budget or war chest. This did not just arose from nowhere. It is a result of who we are, of how stupid we are.
Our intellectual horizon does not go beyond our self-interest. Many of us don’t appreciate the fact that voting based on the merits of candidates will in the long run redound to our benefit and those of our kids and their kids—at present or in the future.
So the morning after will not mean a new day. Politicians will be corrupt and will be exploiting us.
As long as there is no educational requirement for voters to satisfy before they are accorded the right of suffrage, we will always end up with the same kind of leaders. If voters are educated and wise, those who will be voted into office will have better qualifications. Sadly, we don’t see that at the end of the tunnel. In the foreseeable future, any Kulas will be able to run for a political office or to vote.
Another culprit for our sorry state is our attitude about corruption. We don’t see it as hurting us. We think that it is OK to cheat the government. We don’t see the government’s interest as our interest. As long as this is the general attitude, we, as a country, will always be a basket case. This is the opposite of nationalism.
Nationalism? I don’t see it in the high officials of this administration. Nor do I see it among the leftists who think they have it just by parroting empty slogans they don’t actually live by.
Can we graduate from being a basket case? Not through elections.**