THE METAMORPHOSIS
By
Ernie D. Delfin
U.S. ELECTION IS
STILL THE ENVY OF THE WORLD
President
Barack Obama just made history, being
re-elected to his second term as president of the USA, despite the financial fiasco in the housing
industry and the collapse of the stock market that almost brought America to
another great depression, and amidst the lingering anemic U.S. economy and high unemployment that
characterized Obama’s first term of
office. The very spirited challenge from
his Republican Party opponent, Mitt
Romney, made the election very nerve cracking to the very end. Now, the proverbial reaching out and mending of broken egos and relationships between the
victors and losers must commence for the
common good of America.
Like millions of Americans, this writer was also glued on the TV screen
till the early hours in the morning just to watch the real time happenings,
political surprises and analyses of this exciting political exercise in the greatest democracy on earth. Although the surveys several weeks before the election were quite
accurate that the battleground states,
namely Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia, Iowa, Florida would determine the final outcome, the hours after the election was still full of excitement.
The
wonders of social media added to the excitement and drama as millions of people
learn and become witnesses of what is happening in all the swing states in real time. When CNN predicted just after 8:00 PM Pacific
Standard time, just 18 minutes after California closed its polls, that President Obama was re-elected for a
second term, euphoria erupted, especially among the Democrats in their
Headquarters and also in Time Square, N.Y. as if it’s another New Year celebration!
It’s also commendable that within a couple of hours, Mitt Romney called the President to
congratulate him and shortly thereafter made his brief but very graceful
concession speech sprinkled with hopeful wishes
and prayers that the reelected president will be do good for
America. That was followed by a stirring
acceptance speech of President Obama that is filled with challenges to all his
supporters and fellow Americans that there is still much work to be done to
make America great again ---to be the beacon and envy of the world. That is
quite moving to hear as the president apparently has the pulse of the people as
his message resonated well with the hopes and fears of the majority of the popular vote, that also led to
his impressive victory in the Electoral College.
The
recent America’s election, political
leadership and the shinning example of democratic exercise became the center of the world stage for a day and remained the envy or dream
of many countries on Earth. The spirited
debates, often with some sting of bitterness,
among opposing candidates espousing their different visions for the country were openly discussed and
analyzed. Despite the high octane in the
verbal duels among the candidates and
their passionate followers, however, the political atmosphere was peaceful and no one was killed or assassinated (unlike in
third world countries, including the Philippines) due to political reasons. The
speed and reliability of the results hours after the nationwide election is commendable and second to none. Politicians all over the world can emulate
the deportment that America’s political leaders exhibited throughout their campaigns across the nation. That is the greatest centuries-old legacy
that America can give to many countries in the world in their quest for a true
democratic government.
* * * *
A day after the election, however, I am still
wondering how many voters like me
experienced that inexplicable angst or anxiety for feeling out-of-sync with the American mainstream electorate,
when I compared my stand, YES or NO vote, on all
the Propositions in the ballot. I felt
some degree of anger and/or sadness that only about 40% of them passed! Simply,
I did not agree with 60% of California voters!
To put in another way, only 40%
of them agree with me on the same issues! It will be consoling to hear, if there are
readers who are feeling the same anger
or sadness that I had felt after discovering that majority in the electorate and I no
longer believe in the same issues. Or
does it really matter, if someone does not conform with the majority?
* * * * *
Although I voted in
the Philippines only two times before I left for the United States almost 40
years ago, I have also followed the political and democratic journey of the
Philippines to this day. Although the Philippines professes to be a
democratic country like the United
States, the political atmosphere and exercise between the two countries are
still day and night in comparison. For instance,
many candidates in the Philippines change party affiliation for
convenience and their philosophies and convictions change also with the political manna. In the
USA, it will be highly preposterous that
a Democratic leader like Hillary Clinton or a Republican leader like Newt
Gingrich to abandon their respective parties just to be a candidate of the
other party. Furthermore, Philippine candidates,
especially the filthy rich buy votes from the voters in order to win and be in a lucrative government
position, while in the USA, it is the candidates and their party that
request for political contributions from the electorate to finance their
campaign expenditures.
Due to these
stark differences between the land of my
birth the Philippines and my adopted country, I am ardently praying that the
political exercise be improved significantly
to really reflect the deep yearnings of Filipino citizens, to be truly free from their political and
economic shackles that is controlled by the upper 5 percent of their so-called leaders,
both in public and private. It may take
another one hundred years that this ideal scenario may happen, but it is never
too late to start the process now. Education, coupled with more stable socio-economic
and financial stability of more Filipino families and voters will accelerate
the maturity of the Filipino electorate,
who will not sell and compromise their votes during election time. The problems are man-made and their solutions must
also be man-made with vigilance.
There is another election in May 2013 and what
happens between now and then will be a
good start. Furthermore, any electoral reforms initiated before the May 2016
presidential election will also contribute to the enhancement of the Philippines political system, thereby
strengthening the country’s democratic foundation.
Only time
will tell.
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