Election! That’s what people want.

In and out of the web, I’ve talked informally with family and friends. Asking and testing what they think about our time. I know it is far from a scientific sampling. In my most recent post, I also asked if you are in favor of impeaching Arroyo.

The most common theme in people’s responses to me is their expectation for an election in 2010. That is when they want a change in President. They do not want a change now because there is no one they trust. They do not support impeachment even though they believe the charges are right because it would simply be like throwing a pebble at an incoming 747.

Their responses does not by far say that they like Arroyo.
The people that I asked, can be found grumbling in front of the evening news at the sheer incompetence of those in charge. They find it incredulous as scandal after scandal come out that the ones on top of the food chain have such rampant and blatant disregard and who pervert and bend the law to their will. Ask them about BJE-MOA and people from Mindanao would be vehemently opposed to it. Given that perhaps in any normal day, the unconstitutional nature of BJE-MOA and such abuse might have been grounds enough for impeachment and conviction. We can safely say that these are not normal and is an unsettling time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that.

The opposition has a credibility issue. An issue, one might add they’ve not been able to shake out of since FPJ and has since become worst. They are perceived as no better than Arroyo and her ilk. That incredible mistrust hurts any measure they wish the people would support whether impeachment or election. It isn’t apathy— it is more neutrality. Neither Arroyo nor Opposition has their side.

The people are fully aware of how things go. Whether it is local politics— where people make money out of everyday and know the scope and breathe of it. Our people know that it is a politics of who you know and ultimately, money talks.

People have come to realize that national life is simply local politics writ large. And this realization simply proves and point that there is no distinction between Arroyo and Opposition. The disastrous result of past EDSAs and the failure of impeachment have more than galvanized the resolve of our people to fully expect an election in 2010.

The political landscape has hardly changed since 2004.

Everybody with a mind can clearly see that our national life is like one old machine, rusting on the seems and filled with patch work. It is not efficient but somehow, it moves along. The state of this machine, whether our assumptions of what a Republic and social justice is as framed to be the foundation of our national life is flawed. But clearly such judgment is for the collective will of the people to decide upon.

Especially as Arroyo pwns the Supreme Court as Justices retire, the fear of charter change as driven by Arroyo is not a fantasy. It is a clear and present danger that one such as her and her ilk who have gamed politics would bend permanently the very soul of our Republic and shape the future is even more so frightening. Clearly, they aim to tighten their control over this Republic. To unravel this Gordian Knot, perhaps it is this fear that we must face head on.

Ask our people in 2010— will you call for a Constitutional Convention?

Such push from the Heroes of past EDSAs would mean for their generation to accept they have failed. That their vision is flawed. That their brand of social justice is a failure. Don’t you think, 20 years is enough?

Yes, such acceptance would mean the final nail in the coffin, death to a Republic born out of Marcos’ years. Yes, it is akin to watching Rome burn. Perhaps, watching Manila burn is what this Nation needs. Our people need to see our Republic to be reborn from the ashes of the old. At the end of the day, all this is but conjecture.

Ask our people! Settle the issue once and for all!

With our politics, as a mashup between reality show and soap opera, those who are serious to change and challege the status quo must meet it head on, with courage! It starts at the local level. Our people believe in democracy. It is election they put their trust in. For so long as the political bench remain as shallow and hapless, change will be but a myth and politics would remain the providence of those who have usurped it for their own selfish interest. That’s where the wind blows.

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