What We Need Now: Modern Voters & Modern Leaders

A basic pre-requisite for a successful pursuit of economic development in any society is the rise of a modern leader. No matter what political system is in place and whatever the social environment, a modern leader's ascend to power brings upon much needed reformist policies, which would enable any society to move forward.

However, in a pseudo democratic system, which we have, it is quite harder to give rise to modern leaders. Like any working democracy, we choose our leaders through a popular vote done during elections but unlike working democratic systems, ours is flawed in more ways than one.

Our pseudo democratic system operates under an environment wherein voters are ill-informed and where political maturity is only nascent or in some areas, actually non-existent. To further worsen the problem, we have a no-party system where voters cannot differentiate one candidate from another except in terms of looks, dance moves, and celebrity endorsers. We have martial law/Cory babies who cannot get over the glory of EDSA 1, not to disparage the memories of our brave countrymen who defied tyranny in the face of death but it is an undemanding dictate of sheer common sense that we cannot topple or try to topple each and every succeeding administration. By doing so, we preclude our society from attaining stability and maintain it, in what seems to be, a perpetually precarious state. We have deeply entrenched populist traditional politicians, whose only goal in office is personal gain. And to top it all, we have separatists and communists, supporting and funding their respective armed movements, within our supposedly democratic government.

Given this convoluted democratic space, where merit, a solid platform, and capability to lead do not directly translate to a landslide election victory, most modern leaders are left marginalized, leaving our society in the hands of traditional politicians. These traditional politicians, whose strongest credential is the blessing of being born into a political family, thrive in this pseudo democratic environment because we, voters, allow them to. And this is why we have been left behind by our Asian neighbors.

With so many candidates reciting the exact same laundry list of campaign promises, many of us have found it difficult to choose the fresh from the rotten. However, it is quite simple to distinguish their differences if one tries to carefully discern and not allow the TV blitz and emotional appeal to distort one’s cerebral faculty to see through a veneer of slick talk and make correct rational decisions.

One must not misconstrue youth, new faces, and new names as straight away stalwarts of modern leadership. On the contrary, we have quite a lot of young backward thinking officials in this country.

A modern leader is a disciplinarian yet he is flexible, one who promotes an inclusive government but at the same time, he stands his ground and asserts his overall role as the sole and final decision maker. He does not shirk from accepting responsibility and accountability. He does not partake nor tolerate activities which are disguised as noble and righteous but are, in reality, plain and simple politicking aimed to benefit a select few.

He understands that to graduate from a pseudo democracy to a working/consolidated democratic system, our society must succeed in growing a sizable middle class and in developing a strong party system. Hence, the modern leader aims to institutionalize policies to strengthen both.

He is forward-looking. He accepts the lessons learned from the past but he will not permit its horrors and hatred to continue to traumatize and further divide an already deeply fragmented nation.

He understands that only through correct, mostly unpopular, reformist policies can we modernize and truly achieve growth that can have significant positive effects to those in the lowest levels of the social stratum. He knows that sustainable economic growth is not achieved thru a rehash of universal vows and campaign slogans played over and over again but through specific and realistic policies aimed towards industrialization. These policies cover mainly the areas of peace and order, education, and infrastructure investments.

His policies are founded in his recognition of the fact that foreign direct investments and export oriented production/industrialization, reinforced by domestic demand stimulation are the tri-engines of economic growth, which will eventually, if not inevitably, empower the poor. He is aware of the correlation of stability and growth and believes that only a politically stable society can usher an era of unprecedented and sustainable economic growth, which for the Philippines should be an over 7% GDP growth per annum and a GDP per capita of at least $4,000.

He breaks down barriers, he inspires, and he unites.

He makes solutions, not enemies.

Modern leaders, however, have largely remained on the sidelines and not in the positions of power because they depend on modern voters to elect them. Sadly, modern voters in our country, like modern leaders, are few and far in between and this can be confirmed by the results of recent pre-elections polls.

One needs to be neither affluent nor intellectual to be a modern voter. In fact, one only needs to put into use his common sense and open his mind to clearly see and understand what we need now.

Rather than voting based on unsubstantiated rhetoric, modern voters will choose real, honest, solid, and detailed platform of governance. Rather than voting based on winnability, modern voters will choose competence and positive leadership. Rather than voting to relive the torture of our painful past, modern voters will choose to take flight to the future, to modernity, and the benefits we stand to gain.

Now, more than ever, our country needs more modern voters to elect modern leaders.