The Powerless Masses
June 27th, 2005 at 8:10 am (General, National Politics)
It has been said, over and over again, that the masses rule this country and their whims and wishes put this country to where we are now. However, recent events, I believe, have shown us otherwise. If former Pres. Eastrada was the one caught to be talking to a COMELEC official after the elections, the middle class and the so-called civil society would have been up in arms way before he was forced to admit to it. If it was Loi Estrada, Jinggoy Estrada and any of Estrada’s other relatives who were being accused of accepting jueteng money, countless of people would have already stormed Malacañang. WAIT! That did happen.
What then, is the difference then and now? The difference, I think, is that the moneyed and powerful civil society back then, supported the social unrest and proceeded to unseat a president they deemed unqualified and incompetent to lead. Whereas these days, they remained deaf and mute to the clamor of society to know the truth. They remain undecided and pathetic towards similar events.
How about the election of former Pres. Estrada? Surely the upper middle class and upper classes votes didn’t make him win. But would he have won without the financial support of the middle and upper classes? Would the masses even have elected him into the presidency if the moneyed didn’t support his bid? Of course not. And when the upper and middle classes finally felt the economic and social repercussions of their own folly, they rose and proceeded to unseat him. They did it, not the masses.
Whether we admit it or not, there is little that the masses can do without the money and machinery of the upper classes. So unless the upper classes raise their fists against the Arroyo presidency, Pres. Arroyo will not budge from where she is seated right now. Until their businesses suffer and they can no longer exist without feeling the consequences of the recent polical events, we can expect no radical changes.
We can continue to point fingers and delude ourselves, but the reality is that this country is ruled not by a corrupt and tarnished government, not even by the desperate and uneducated masses but by the moneyed upper classes.
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