‘… if we wish to elevate politics in the Philippines to a more constructive level, then let it be politics that features campaigns that discuss issues.’
FOR political junkies like me, US presidential elections are the closest we can get to Nirvana. It’s such a rich and interesting exercise — from 50 state elections to grand party conventions following usually contested primaries, and party platforms that are the product of a lot of issues debated and discussions that are rarely ended anyway.
Major issues have always colored US presidential politics: immigration; gun control; abortion and contraception and all that; the economy; Europe, Russia, China and the Middle East; and even race relations within America.
Today, we see elements of this aspect of the campaign as we watch Trump and Harris and Vance and Walz crisscross the country bringing their points of view to the fore. Trump and Vance paint Harris and Walz as extreme liberals who wish to transform the country into a communist state, with the Federal Government funding everything from school lunches to abortive to labor unions and allowing illegal immigrants to cross the border.
On the other hand, Harris and Walz paint Trump and Vance as dangerous to democracy, with Trump himself having said that he intended to be a dictator for a day and the US Supreme Court basically giving the US President carte blanche to do anything he (or she) wants and be immune from suit.
Of course, at the state level, the debates are even more nuanced.
This is the type of politics we have never had in the Philippines.
Instead, what we have here is the other aspect of US presidential elections — the personalities part. Where candidates lambast each other on a personal level, where mud is dragged up and hurled to see what sticks, and where issues are secondary.
Happily, we haven’t had an election with a level of name-calling similar to Trump and his ease at labeling people he doesn’t like with adjectives that attach more to him — well maybe except for the Alan Cayetano campaign for vice president in 2016 which featured attacks on his then-rival (and now incumbent president) Bongbong Marcos.
The point is, if we wish to elevate politics in the Philippines to a more constructive level, then let it be politics that features campaigns that discuss issues.
In foreign policy — what will our policy be towards
China and the US, our relationship with ASEAN; economics — how do we ensure the reversal of the decline of the middle class; social issues — crime, health, and how do we make sure we get up from the bottom of the list in ASEAN when our education system is evaluated.
Maybe I’m daydreaming because this won’t happen, this issue politics. Filipinos love the personal side of politics — just as they feast on the personal side even of Olympic gold medal winners (ha-ha).
So it will be politics that is 90% personal and 10% issues-based for us. Because that’s how the Filipino is!
