Does your candidate pass The Kick-Ass Test?

by benignO

The reality of traditional Philippine politics of course still enjoys immense inertia, and until presidential candidates — and, of course, the electorate and the boys club of political “experts” they depend on for thought leadership — shift their sights to the issues and away from vacuous platitudes there remain two big roadblocks that the forces of modernism and progress need to crash through:

Roadblock 1:
“Politics-as-usual” reflects the flawed nature of the way the electorate drive politicians’ behaviour.

What key concepts underpin the politics-as-usual of the moment? Here are some that readily come to mind:

• Winnability based on pedigree platforms;
• Anti-Arroyoism (or more generically, anti-incumbentism); ignores the fact that whoever sits in Malacanang seems not to make a difference to the lives of a big chunk of the Filipino population. Indeed, the whole debate around charter changed was framed around anti-incumbentism.
• Indignation over “corruption”. Is removal of corruption the real issue? For that matter what exactly does “removal of corruption” mean?
• “Good” vs “Evil”. Back in World War II, the “good” and the “evil” were quite easy to distinguish. In 21st Century Philippines, however, “good” depends on who says so — specially during the campaign period.
• “Hope”. Entire campaigns were built around some nebulous concept of “hope”. Hope in what exactly? The prevailing or triumph of “justice” and “conscience”? What exactly does that mean exactly?

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