Carvajal: The essentials

EXCLUSIVE control by political dynasties of the country’s policy-making bodies is the principal suspect for the criminal exclusion of a huge slice of the population from the mainstream benefits of a free society.

However, while a self-executing constitutional ban on political dynasties might be the most logical answer it risks being challenged in court as it strips some people of their democratic right to be elected. Anyway, it does not really strike at the roots of the problem which is our perennial lack of the essentials of a genuine representative democracy.

If we stepped back to ask how it happened that oligarchs control the nation’s destiny the answer is in the lack of a system of proportionate representation. Because our constitutions have always been drafted by society’s elite, we have never had one that contained a provision for a system (essential to democracy) that ensures that all sectors of society are proportionately represented in government.

(One now understands the Senate’s opposition to federalism. Senators who are elected at large are irrelevant in a representative democracy because they represent neither a sector nor a region.)

Another essential lack is the public institution of genuine political parties whose philosophies and programs of government represent the aspirations of different sectors. With them in place, the electorate votes for the philosophies and corresponding programs of competing political parties and not for sweet-talking individuals.

Currently, political parties are like big bikes, “toys” the “big boys” and “big girls” ride into high office. They ride on these “toys” into office not to advocate for a specific platform of government but in reality to optimize opportunities for their vested interests. Thus our elections are won and lost on the amount of money spent for name recall and/or for vote-buying.

A genuine opposition political party acts like a shadow government that offers alternative programs. But in our current system, losing boy’s clubs either adopt the promises of the winning party or act as a wrecking crew of that party’s programs, good or bad.

I hope President Duterte has these essentials of a genuine representative democracy in mind as he pushes for a shift to a federal form of government. Without them the oligarchy (drug lords among them) will continue to have exclusive say in the nation’s affairs. Without them federalism will just multiply dynasties in the federated regions. It will just be another fancy but empty name for basically the same undemocratic system by which the oligarchy has always run this country.

Finally, without these essentials the marginalized sectors will remain... well marginalized.

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