The other day was the start of the campaign period. So the political circus is here again. Every politician will be touting his supposed achievements. But they will all be saying the same things. They will be promising to cause the improvement of the lives of people through this and that, and what not. We had been hearing those things year in and year out but no result ever came out of these.
For the people never voted based on platfroms of government. It is what they receive from politicians that clinches their decision when they go to the polls. Never mind if the politicians they will vote for are the worst kind.
And majority of the people and most of the politicians don’t even know what a good platfrom is. That is, what is good for the people and the nation, in the long run. What everybody knows is what is good for one’s pocket. That is it, nothing more. Even if it will be bad for the rest of the tribe or the populace.
For those who are discerning in casting their votes, they are also in a quandary as there are no differences among the political parties. There is no ideological line or lines that separate them from each other. Even the leftists who are supposed to be ideological are not anymore. They used to idolize China and Mao Tse Tong, which gave rise to the popularity of Mao’s baseball cap as a symbol of the proletariat. Now, they are attacking China especially on the Philippine contracts with that economic behemoth.
Well and good as far as the contracts are concerned. But who are they. Years ago, they were willing to die for China or Russia. Now they don’t know where they stand.
What we need are political parties that have humanitarian ideologies which they implement and pursue every day of the year. Their political candidates should live by those ideologies.
What we have are political parties that get formed a few days before the deadline of filing of candidacies. And the main consideration in accepting an applicant to the line up is his vote-getting capacity. Never his ideals or values.
So what we have are parties that we derisively describeas lutong macao.
And so our country also is.**