A candidate who inspires hope
In the not-so-distant past, democracy was the universal goal of every country. Respect for fundamental human rights was the quintessential yearning of every people. An overwhelming majority of communities were in agreement on what’s morally right and what’s deplorably wrong.
Viewed from these standpoints, the world has tremendously changed in a short period of time. A growing number of countries have been choosing rightist leaders with authoritarian predispositions instead of candidates who espouse democratic governance. It’s true that several countries—like Hungary, Brazil, and Serbia—have either ousted or rejected autocratic leaders and have instead chosen libertarian candidates recently. But a bigger number of countries have been electing rightist leaders with fascist inclinations. We see this in multiple countries in South America, Central America, and even in the United States. This has also been true for the Philippines. Even in Europe, mass support for emerging fascist leaders and leaders associated with a rightist-fascist past who are aiming to take over the reins of government is growing ominously in several key countries.
Belief in and espousal of human rights have also seriously weakened. There’s nonchalance about the practice of not recognizing the human rights of people escaping from poverty or armed conflict. There’s a degradation of resistance against violence practiced by government security forces.
The most monumental shift, however, is in mankind’s fundamental belief in right and wrong. Right and wrong used to be as totally opposite as black and white. But what’s right has become convoluted because of what has emerged as the many shades of what’s right and what has evolved as the many exceptions to what’s wrong. What used to be clearly immoral has become moral, and what used to be unethical has become tolerably ethical.
There have been many explanations offered that attempt to enlighten the causes of these shifts. Many of these explanations are cumulatively valid since there’s not a single cause that monopolizes responsibility. But what has been overlooked in all the explanations is what all these causes ultimately generate—a sense of hopelessness among the people.
The neoliberal capitalist economic system that has piggybacked on liberal democracies, for instance, has deprived the masses of any hope of any betterment in their lives. No matter how hard they strive, no matter how much they sacrifice, they see no chance of overcoming the hard life they endure every single day. They see their children inheriting the same bleak future. And because liberal political democracy is inextricably identified with neoliberal capitalism, the masses view democracy as preserving the hopelessness of the status quo.
The overall result of this is that every institution that’s identified with neoliberal capitalism—liberal democracy, human rights, civil society organizations—becomes associated with hopelessness. The taint of hopelessness is so serious that even institutions that espouse morality and ethical conduct are viewed with resentment. The toiling masses see these institutions as preserving the status quo. They view these institutions as the domain of the privileged class who don’t have to worry about food on the table, a roof over their heads, medicine for their sick, and school expenses for their kids on a daily basis.
The privileged-educated class is puzzled as to why the masses have largely turned unimpressed with societal leaders who champion democracy, human rights, morals, ethics, and civil society concerns. To unravel the riddle, the privileged class must turn around and see the world from the opposite view. Then they will see the sense of hopelessness that liberal democracy cum neo-capitalism has long caused for the working class. What hope of a better life have liberal democracy leaders given to the working class?
One area that very glaringly demonstrates the kind of hopelessness engendered by neoliberal capitalism in the Philippines is the housing sector. While tens of millions of our people cannot afford to buy a house, the housing market for the privileged class has prices that range from P50 million to more than P1 billion. Even in the residential condominium market, the P10 million to P30 million prices quoted for small- and medium-sized units are beyond the reach of many working professionals. These unimaginable prices breed resentment among our population.
Education provides the only key to the door that frees anyone from the prison cell of hopelessness. But the kind of education that empowers can only be afforded by the privileged class in our country. The working class is limited to the type of education that churns out work personnel paid with salaries that cannot nurture hope.
If democratic forces will have any fighting chance of capturing the reins of government in the 2028 Philippine presidential election, they need a candidate who will free the multitude from the shackles of hopelessness.
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