Mediocrity: No Longer an Option

February 11, 2007

Sometmes, the urge to boycott the midterm election is as recurrent as that pleasant dream in which an almighty power wipes out all politicians in the country overnight and puts in place an entirely new genetically modified breed. Not just new, of course, but brilliant and possessed of a kind of unwavering integrity. It is a must. The biological progression of the present-day Filipino politician is from so young and so corrupt to so old and absolutely corrupt.

Or, one can have nightmarish urges. A serious evaluation of the senatorial wannabes may push one into adopting a position more desperate than a boycott. You would want to vote with your feet—pack your luggage and leave the country for good.

At least 80 per cent of those who want to be senator or reelected senator neither understands nor grasps the nature of the senate’s job. This is to legislate and advance an agenda for the common good. Legislation and advocacy. How hard and tough can these two get?

After the burst of inspired legislation from 1987 to 1995, the Senate went downhill, then descended into the cellar of impossible mediocrity. The Senate used to be 85-percent bright, 10-percent average, 5-percent mediocre. Now it is 30-percent bright, 20-percent average, 50-percent mediocre.
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