Politics is fine

‘She intends to stay, which is one more reason why we should never put politics out of our mind until we get rid of her.’

Many find distasteful the sight of the politicians sniffing around the starting block this early. The holidays have just been over and people want to enjoy the respite from politics a little bit more. They see the "noise" as a premature intrusion into the lingering peace and quiet of the Christmas season.

But the cocooning with the family and friends must end. We cannot enjoy a perpetual holiday. For most of us, it was already back to the salt mines yesterday. The lucky ones don’t have to return to the pressure cooker until Monday. We again have to come to grips with reality.

And the reality is we cannot wish away the fundamental role politics plays in our society. We can and do try to carve out spheres of life beyond the reach of the actions of Gloria Arroyo, legislators, local executives and the rest who are identified with politics. We seek to insulate our homes, our workplaces and playgrounds from the corrosive effects of the never-ending struggle for power among our leaders.

The unintended result is that as we shrink away from what we consider as unwelcome politicking, the more we concede a larger area of life to politicians.

Gloria is the master of this game of smoke and mirrors. She regularly asks us to tune out politics from our life. The economy is doing great. People’s lives are immeasurably better. Her administration is successfully laying the ground for the country’s take off into the ranks of developed countries a generation from now.

According to her, it is "degenerate politics" which is dragging the nation down. So less politics and more attention to improving our lives, according to Gloria, is better.

The truth is we have not seen a "degeneration" of politics since the time of Ferdinand Marcos. She grabbed power from a sitting president. She stole the elections from a widely popular rival in 2004. Her every action since then has been aimed at consolidating her illegitimate hold on power.

The task before us then is to restore genuine politics into our lives. And that, at bottom, means holding our leaders accountable and ensuring basic rules are followed. Politics is the process by which we resolve our conflicting personal, group, collective and, yes, class interests. We cannot choose to be non-political beings.

Because of this, all these trial balloons about 2010 should be welcomed. The historic task before us is how to bring about honest and effective governance after Gloria’s exit. Let’s take a close look at the aspirants. Let’s scrutinize their programs. Let’s winnow the field.

To say this is a distraction is to fall into the trap set by Gloria. Why doesn’t she want us to talk about our future without her presence? The answer, we fear, is that she loathes imagining us asserting our right to choose our future.