Our most important elections yet

If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal,” the feminist-anarchist Emma Goldman once said. Her semi-contemporary Mark Twain was said to have made an almost identical observation: “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”

Both of them had ample reasons to be skeptical about the democratic process back then. Goldman, an avowed opponent of centralized authority and oppressive patriarchy, saw in the American electoral process the perpetuation of the same patterns of exploitation, where white, privileged men, who were inextricably wed to the logic of retail politics within the framework of Darwinian capitalism, controlled the levers of power.

As the coauthor of “The Gilded Age” (1873), Twain was an eloquent chronicler of American oligarchy, where a few conglomerates viciously exploited the working classes and dominated a hopelessly corrupt political system.

A cursory look at American films, from “Gangs of New York” (starring Leonardo DiCaprio) to “Boardwalk Empire” (starring Steve Buscemi), reveals the utter corruptibility of late 19th-century American democracy, with political office essentially auctioned off among Mafia groups.

This is relevant to us, precisely because the foundations of Philippine democracy were laid down by this kind of America, and brutally imposed by marooned soldiers from largely hillbilly backgrounds. (Thanks to “Goyo” and “Heneral Luna,” we have a glimpse of this side of our largely forgotten history).

Thus, it’s unsurprising to see ubiquitous expressions of hopeless cynicism among many Filipinos, who often dismiss elections as a pointless ritual or an unnecessary hassle. Over the years, I have repeatedly heard the same refrain: “Pare-parehas lang naman silang lahat, kahit sino ang mananalo, ganun pa rin ang politika natin (They’re all the same; whoever wins, our politics remains the same).”

In light of our upcoming midterm elections, I have two fundamental disagreements with such pervasive cynicism.

First of all, as in love and life, cynicism is a recipe for stagnation, if not self-fulfilling disaster. As Theodore Roosevelt eloquently remarked, “The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt.”

America eventually became the world’s superpower (it still is) precisely because there were enough number of citizens who discarded self-defeating cynicism in favor of transformative reform. In particular, the American middle class was behind the so-called Progressive Era reforms, which upended American politics.

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883) laid down the foundation for a competent and professionalized civil service, dramatically reducing nepotism and political appointments, which served as a major source of corruption.

What followed was a three-decade-long set of reforms that ended the oligopolistic grip of conglomerates such as Standard Oil, and ushered in an era of more widely shared prosperity and equitable democratic participation.

Genuine transformation is often the upshot of stubborn hopefulness, cautious idealism and anger for justice.

The second reason is that our upcoming elections will be the biggest, most polarized and arguably the most consequential elections in generations, if not our entire history.

As Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez told me a few days earlier, we should expect more than 50 million voters to decide the fate of as many as 18,000 posts.

The most important one is the Senate race; what’s at stake there is no less than the soul of our nation. Were President Duterte’s henchmen to dominate the race, the administration will be in a unique position to upend our political system for generations to come.

This could come in the form of Charter change; enactment of draconian laws such as the reduction of the age of criminal liability among minors; and the institutionalization of Beijing-friendly policies, which has unleashed an influx of Chinese workers and major companies into our strategic sectors.

Above all, this election is about whether we want to stand by our liberal constitutional values or seek to become an “illiberal democracy,” where a popular imperial presidency rules by fiat.

No matter where you’re perched on the political spectrum, you should vote in the upcoming elections, because, at the very least, it’s our chance to be part of history.

rheydarian@inquirer.com.ph