IF there is a lesson other governments can gain from the results of the United States presidential election it is that leaders cannot ignore those who live in the periphery.
An analysis into why billionaire Donald Trump was able to beat Secretary Hillary Clinton in the US elections last Nov. 8 pointed to how American officials and the ruling Democratic Party must have missed the sentiment of millions of disgruntled citizens in the coastal areas, towns and cities far from the nation’s capital and metropolises. That there is a disconnect between what leaders think is important and what those spread around the country truly want.
Trump’s poll victory showed that surveys and predictions by the numbers can get it so wrong.
Media and the Clinton camp apparently failed to see the breadth and depth of the disgruntlement of Americans, mostly white, over losing jobs, weakening of their buying power, rising medical care costs and many economic challenges. They are located in states with fewer electoral college votes compared to bigger states like New York and California, except these smaller states are many and their votes for Trump ended up big in the final count. These smaller states that turned out for Trump are located in the east coast like Maine through New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, in the midwest in the farm counties of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, and in the deep south like the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. They are not in the heartland, they are far from the country’s center for political and economic activity, and they liked what they heard from Trump.
It was Trump, not Clinton, who verbalized what it is they felt about being disenfranchised or losing power over their lives.
The role of the provincial or community press in bringing forward the voice of those in the periphery becomes important based on the factors that led to a Trump victory. The lessons for the American media can apply to the Philippine setting. For the leaders, that they do not minimize the importance of those who live far from the metropolis, from business centers and malls, from national decision-makers.
The Philippines elected one from outside of the area where the country’s presidents largely come from, which is Luzon. President Rodrigo Duterte is from Davao City in the southern part of the country. His rise to power is seen as something that stemmed from a national resentment for the central power, traditional politicians, the elite and entrenched political families who have been unable to improve the people’s standard of living.
But coming from the provinces is not a guarantee that the leadership would be more grounded and listen more to the people. It is not an assurance of a more equitable sharing of resources or that the range of priorities of the government covers rural areas as much as the urban parts.
What is important is that people far or near the capital be listened to and taken seriously.
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)