There are a lot of ways to comment, critique, and talk about the recent elections that we've had, but allow me to start with something that's not-so-obvious: liberal democracy.
Our history has shown that we are a nation who values our identity as a liberal and democratic one (think of EDSA and you will get what I mean). Liberal democracy indeed granted us the right to vote, to choose whom we want to be in the crucial positions that dictate our country's future. It granted us the right even to talk about it, especially through the social media. It allowed us to talk about our choices, discuss our opinions regarding them, and evaluate how the whole process has been so far. Heck, it even granted us the privilege of laughing about the whole process, to the point that we have created hashtags that are so funny because of their sexual undertones.
But it is also in being a liberal democracy where everything gets nasty. We are granted the privilege to choose anyone to be in those privileged positions, and even the right to privilege our choices over others, even pointing out that others have chosen wrongly. We have the right to recant and refute our neighbor and judge him to be irrational and uneducated. We even have the privilege to say that we could have wanted people to think, act, and be like us because we think that our view of things are the true and good ones. In fact, it is this liberal democracy which runs in our blood that enables us to put our own selves in our own intellectual and pragmatic pedestals and shun and demean all those who have not seen and understood the way we do.
Despite the bleak situation, I still believe that hope still lies because we are a liberal democratic nation, and I believe it to be so because it also grants us the right to change our view and see things differently. It grants us the right to see others differently and not to condemn or demean them but instead listen to them. It grants us the right to ask why the poor have chosen to vote this and not that. It grants us the right to formulate our strategies and procedures in such a way that they will neither eradicate nor absorb those others who are completely other to us, but instead listen to their concerns and understand their view of things and motivations for action. You see, the liberal and democratic setting of this country allows us to see what politics really is about: negotiation and consensus-building. Liberal democracy allows us to understand that the concern of politics is not the imposition of our own musts, but the effort to respond to the question "what CAN be done?" It allows us to see differences encountering and trying to understand each other, in view of formulating actions and responses that will be for everyone. It allows us to strategize and work our own way as a people. It grants us the right (and responsibility, which I think is more important) to negotiate with each other, to explain and discuss our stand, and hopefully to understand and work with others as well. Indeed, liberal democracy makes us free, and yet it bears the challenge of using this freedom to what suits ourselves and others most, without leaving someone behind unperturbed and "un-understood" (and yes I'm inventing because it's different from being misunderstood. In the end, it does grant us the right to be a nation composed of individuals bound by their differences and similarities alike).
This freedom, then, leaves us two paths. On one hand, you can just leave this country and not care for it. After all, this nation does not need the good yet unmotivated ones, so by all means, they should pursue their greater ambitions and work towards what they believe as the highest good for them. Go on, no one is forcing you to help your country. Liberal democracy, right? So by all means, then relax and sip on some gin and juice in some other country's beach.
But for those who believe that this archipelago of 76 or more million people has a bright future ahead, then this is where the challenge lies. It would definitely take more than distinguishing what counts as a reasonable vote or not. It would definitely take more understanding, seeing, and most importantly responding to what this country and its people demand from us. It would definitely take more than just thinking, for it involves both our reason and will.
