DECIBELS are steadily rising over which senatorial wannabes will get inside the magic circle of twelve. The noise is in no small way generated by mainstream media as they vie for a share of the huge TV, print and radio ads budget of top candidates.
The currently in-names do not impress me. Besides, I see senators as generally a shallow, pretentious, and arrogant bunch. They do nothing but go through the motions of recovering their huge election campaign expenses. They have to be the most useless but most expensive government officials.
We are a representative democracy. Why do we have senators who are elected at large and represent neither a geographical enclave nor a sector of society? Accountable to all means accountable to no one unlike congressmen/women who have their respective districts to answer to.
Thus we see senators doing nothing more than grandstand and get arrogant with department heads during “investigations” which should properly be the job of COA, DOJ, NBI, PNP and other such agencies. Yet we are never told what legislation were aided by these investigations.
Even their legislative function is superfluous. What laws can the Senate enact that the House of Representatives cannot do better? Congressmen have their ears close to the ground in their districts such that they are in a much better position to enact laws.
If senators are useless in a centralized form of government they are more so in a decentralized form of government. Thus, one of the values of discussing the proposed shift to federalism is that people begin to realize the uselessness of a Senate in a federal form of government. Senators do not represent anybody, do nothing that is not already the job of others, and are truly a waste of people’s money.
This is why senators are opposed to federalism that, to be genuine, should do away with the Senate. It is the surest way towards wealth and privilege. It is expensive to become a senator but doing nothing to get all the perks of the job makes it worth it.
This is also the reason why I do not think federalism will pass muster this first time around. Senators will oppose it. Or if they approve, it will be an empty shell of federalism, no anti-dynasty provision, no provision for a genuine party system and above all no provision for the abolition of a useless Senate.
People worry about federalism’s bigger bureaucracy and cost. But without the Senate we will have a much less costly bureaucracy. And efficient too because agency heads can focus on their jobs instead of dodging the barbed missiles of arrogant senators.
I am not only not voting for a senator, I will also ask people to do the same. Time to take a stand that senators are utterly useless.