As I was watching the events of today unfold with characteristic drama and suspense, I found myself thinking:
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/jabjimenez/status/144989459866324992″]Very quickly, the twitterverse responded. Many agreed with the sentiment, but with the kind of candor that I’ve really come to enjoy about twitter, I got some really pointed observations too.
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/carlomallo/status/144989876738195456″] [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/jonpogi/status/144990052987043840″] [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/renchantan/status/144992339008552960″] [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/irish_garcia/status/144994822124609536″]The frustration was pretty palpable, and not surprising at all. In many ways, all these reactions are echoes of that oft-repeated question: “Why should I bother to vote when nothing ever changes?”
So I thought it would be a good idea to write about what I call the three roots of voter frustration and maybe, in roundabout fashion, find an answer to that question.
***
Your vote is not alone…
When we think of our individual vote in isolation, it’s always going to be very easy to get frustrated. After all, one vote versus millions who think differently? And in any case it’s very rare that electoral contests are decided by that nearly mythical ONE VOTE. Deadlocks are more common, and even those deadlocks are not resolved by one vote but by a toss of the coin.
So maybe the first step out of the frustration is to realize that your ONE VOTE isn’t all alone. Like many other small and seemingly insignificant things – the peg (to use an increasingly common figure of speech) is that twig in the story of the father, his quarreling sons, and the unbreakable bundle of kindling – the power of one vote acting alone may be all but non-existent, but in enough numbers, votes can change the course of history.
And they have too.
Consider all the upset victories in past elections. Again and again, unlikely winners have emerged against all odds. Running against better funded and better organized opponents, these dark horses powered their way forward – defying expectations – to decisive wins.
The most basic reason for these victories is that the people spoke. They voted in such numbers that attempts to cheat – whether through vote-buying, or intimidation, or straight-out results manipulation – simply couldn’t skew the outcome enough.
Regardless of what the cynics say about elections being decided by the three G’s, elections are ultimately won by votes. Sadly, in this country at least, what should be the rule is actually more the exception.
… but it might be in the minority …
Apart from thinking of our individual votes in isolation, the second root of frustration is that the people who value their right to vote seem to be in the minority. Why is that?
For the vast majority of Filipinos, there is a gaping disconnect between the value of their right of suffrage and their appreciation of that value. This can be attributed to a whole lot of things, I suppose. But the favorite whipping-boy of most would-be voter educators is poverty. They like to say that because people are poor, they willingly sell their votes for as low as twenty pesos (true story).
In a sense, this reasoning is not entirely mistaken. But like I’ve said, I’ve seen people take the money and vote according to their own preference (which incidentally, while approved of by the RCC is something I’ve always recommended against). Even better, I’ve seen hungrier people turn down much larger amounts simply because they wanted to vote for someone else, despite not receiving anything from that other person.
My gut feel is that people who take the money do not do so strictly out of necessity but more out of convenience (money may not solve all your problems but it will solve your lack of money) and – more significantly, because they simply do not see the true worth of their vote.
For some people (let’s call them ‘category one’ voters) – especially those who called me out for my original tweet – it is clear that they have a good appreciation of the value of their vote. In all likelihood, they see it as a cornerstone of democracy, an essential building block of good government, and all that jazz.
Others however, ‘category two’ voters who don’t have the same appreciation, probably see their votes in one of two ways: either it is a commodity that can be sold at the best price possible, or it is nothing, and therefore can be given away either for money or as appreciation for having been entertained by the singing and the dancing and the grand gestures. Worse, category two voters might not even don’t feel the need to vote at all.
But look back on those upset victories again.
The people who voted for those dark horses clearly came from both categories of voters: those who understood the true worth of their vote, and those who normally saw votes as commodities. What made the cross-over happen?
The individual circumstances may vary, but the one constant in those upsets is that the candidates connected with the voters in a way that was impossible to fake with slick television commercials or bundles of cash in unmarked envelopes. They managed to convince the people that they truly represented change, represented good government, or represented the hero the country was longing for. By engaging the voters so effectively, the candidates essentially trumped the guns, the goons, and the gold.
The inescapable – if bitter – lesson we can take away from that is that when people are not presented with a candidate they can be passionate about, then they will, perhaps unconsciously, allow themselves to slip into the second category of voter. The economic value of the vote takes prominence for some, and for others, well, voting becomes a chore that should be disposed off with as little thought and effort as possible. And voila, crappy elected officials.
In the meantime, those firmly in the first category, are given a heaping spoonful of frustration. They voted wisely, but the majority didn’t and so they’re stuck with the majority’s idiocy.
… and that’s just the way, uh-huh uh-huh, politicians like it. Uh-huh, uh-uh.
Which brings me to the third root of frustration: perpetuated idiocy.
Politicians tend to be a lazy bunch, and we’re not doing them any favors by letting them get away with it. When we vote for people because of their generosity, good looks, or good p.r. management skills, we actually let them off the hook; we tell them that it’s okay not to engage us on substantive issues because we reward them with victories simply by entertaining us.
Over the years, politicians have learned that they exert a lot of effort during campaigns but practically slack off during their whole term. Worse, even when they do come to work, they still have nothing to show for it but a bunch of ludicrous proposals and renamed streets.
And yet, come election time, they get a practically free ride back into the office they squandered. In the meantime, their constituencies languish from a lack of good governance. In some places, it’s gotten so bad that I wonder why all the voters there don’t just form a party-list organization; after all, they’re all chronically under-represented.
In short, politicians like it that voters are mostly in the second category. And, the ways these things go, not very many of them are willing to disturb the status quo. As a result, more and more people are underwhelmed with their elected representatives and they slide deeper and deeper into the kind of cynicism that predisposes them to losing all appreciation for the power of their vote.
While the category one voters diminish in number, the ranks of the second category swell with new recruits.
A vicious circle.
Which brings me, quite symmetrically, back to the question: “Why should I bother to vote when nothing ever changes?”
As it is, category one voters are in the minority. If they were to give in to the frustration and totally give up on voting, they would be transitioning to the second category of voters – those who either waste their votes or don’t vote at all.
When the second category gets bigger, the politicians get comfier. Their winning margins are practically guaranteed even if they don’t govern well. When elections come around – barring the entry of the occasional political messiah – it’s all just a matter of turning on the money tap, sending out the goons, and cuing the videoke machines.
When the crappy politicians find themselves in power again, it’s business as usual. Crappy government service and corruption still reign supreme, leading even more category one voters to abandon their principles and just give up. Worse, they might be driven to abandon the country entirely. And that’s a true story too.
(click image to embiggen)
On the other hand, imagine if category one voters were to hold firm.
What if, instead of giving in to their frustration, they took that same frustration and used it to fuel an evangelical passion for luring category two voters out of their complacency and apathy? Oh sure, it’ll be hard work, but building the Pyramids wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either, was it?
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/renchantan/status/145062377761685504″]It is easy to give in to the sense of hopelessness, but as @renchantan says, hope springs eternal. All it takes, really, is for those who understand the value of the vote not to give in to their despair. To keep on voting, despite the seeming hopelessness of it all, and in so doing, perhaps inspire an otherwise apathetic voter to re-examine his lack of concern.
We hang on now, no matter how difficult it might be, and on the other side, we’ll have corrupt and incompetent elected officials for breakfast.
NOW do you understand why it’s important to vote?
