Half the problem

These days when election fever is rising, I find myself hoping the opposition will win in 2022. I am banking on that faction of the oligarchic ruling elite running true to form and being as inept and corrupt as all previous other factions. When that happens, I hope people will finally realize that this country needs a restructure of its long house, not a mere change of occupants.

History is with me on this. We have regularly changed leaders within the same political system via the same unfair and unfree elections that until now our elitist rulers refuse to reform because it works for them; yet we have remained a political, economic and cultural backwater.

That is because inept and corrupt leadership is only half the problem spawned by a badly compromised political system. The other half is a people that has been cajoled by years of domination and indoctrinated by a religious, other-worldly culture to accept life under an elitist political system (if it is elitist, it cannot be democratic), an exclusive economic system, and a culture of mendicancy and dependence.

Unless restructured the system is designed to perpetuate itself for the continued benefit of a few and the marginalization of many. We have to true this egregiously crooked system if we want different results. It has to become genuinely democratic by way of constitutional guarantees for free and fair elections and proportionate representation in government of all sectors.

But here we are caught in a vicious cycle that needs almost a miracle to break. On one hand, the elite will never initiate the changes in a system that loads the dice in their favor. On the other, the masses are so powerless and voiceless, so politically suppressed as to want to change it. The latter need to be re-educated, their minds de-colonialized, to work not for heaven after death but for justice and peace on earth. But how can we re-educate our people when the ruling elite control our educational and religious systems, the principal elements of culture?

What is going on with fevered pitch is the usual scramble to win the power to control, manage and benefit from the country’s resources. As in previous elections, everything is politicized not for people’s welfare but for the sole purpose of winning power. We will be voting again for the usual promises that have so far never found fulfillment.

At the moment only the communist party is working for system change. I hate to admit it, but it will achieve its goal the violent way unless genuine democrats find their way towards uniting for peaceful fundamental reforms in our undeniably inequitable political, economic and cultural systems that spawn inept and corrupt rulers and submissive followers.