Electoral Politics: the issue has a name

The stories of the local elections have been the same since time immemorial & election reform programs have not produced desired changes.
It is so deceptively simple and defies many a formula for change.

But, the issue has a name: it is patronage politics.

All things equal, people would prefer something familiar.
People will vote for someone they have access to when they are sick or when they cannot pay school fees or when they cannot pay water and electric bills.
Aside from governing through policies & programs for all, politicians must maintain a personal relationship with each voter in the village.
Elected officials are deemed source of largesse and no politician has a right to enter politics without the funding wherewithal of one’s own or from some rich patron/s who may demand behest favors during the politician’s term of office.
Still, election is a methodology of democracy and politics is the institution for crystalizing the people’s will.

Anytime is a good time to imagine how to address both the poverty of democracy & the literal poverty of our people.

Each morning during the campaign period, I always wake up with people already lining up to see me to solicit funds to defray prescriptions for medicines, or because it is fiesta time in their village or someone wants to ask money for transport or even to pay for water bills.
Most often, I tell them that under election laws, I am allowed to spend only a few pesos per voter.
Later, I delegated this explaining portion to a campaign aide.
Mostly, as we have to be in the campaign track at the crack of dawn, I was simply not available to many voters visiting me because I was going to their homes.

The poverty in the rural areas is unspeakable and during the campaign I was filled with hopes that good governance will make a difference in peoples’ lives.
It is easy to understand that poor people need the instant calories now to survive- even for just a day or two during this election fiesta - and cannot wait for poverty reduction programs that will take time to come their way.
The logic is that governance is the business of government, anyway, and promises of good governance are not edible now.
A lot of people believe that whoever is in the reins of government will abuse power.
That we have all the laws and institutions to combat corruption cannot transcend this belief.
And so, I tell myself that “hope is the triumph over experience.”

Political dynasties are still here with us because scions of politicians born and bred in a political clan are socialized into the ways of both good and bad politics and have more chances of survival.
Not many an ordinary mortal can survive the ways of politics.
Perfect examples of these mortals who cannot survive politics are those who cannot give up their intellectual freedom from the center of wealth and power.

It is a small price to pay that candidates’ privacy are always invaded to the hilt.
For the sanity of the candidate, it will be healthy to have an inviolate sacred space (whether virtual space or real space) where one can retreat and replenish vital energy which is crucial for one to be able to survive the pit of politics.

The solidarity with communities is its own reward.
I felt liking myself more that my work in the development industry has honed my skills to translate the hopes and dreams of simple people towards sustainable solutions to address their condition.
Never mind that the way to them is not a walk in the park and so far removed from one's comfort zone. After all is said & done, I remember feeling inspired when I was with these women & men whose rural homes were far from paved roads.
    ~ Isabelita Solamo