"Change has come to America."
That sums up a lot about the result of the United States' just-concluded national elections. For almost two years, both the Democratic and Republican parties fought hard to earn the votes of the American people; the democratic party exerting extra effort to penetrate the conservative political inclination of most Americans.
It was not an easy fight. It is not a simple battleground. It is the land of milk and honey. It is the promised land for many people. No matter how hard it takes to get pass the gates, most people try to their deaths just to get through to the most powerful nation in the world. Suffice it to say that this nation has been eyed by all kinds of people all over the world. Whatever happens in it and to it, the world is always affected.
A lot of people are apprehensive toward the economic game plan of the two presidential candidates. More than health and gender issues, people anxiously waited for them to lay out their concrete plans on the impending meltdown of the US economy. Because every nation is deemed affected by the recession that America is suffering from, every move that each candidate proposes is crucial.
John McCain was popular because of his strong ties with President George W. Bush. Was such credit rewarding for McCain? We all saw the news, polls, and the face of the new President.
He was on the defense whenever his proposed policies were associated with the unpopular policies of Pres. Bush--the Iraq and Afghanistan wars being the foreground of their (as much as their party's) unpopularity.
McCain was also at a disadvantage when it came to his running mate. Governor Sarah
Palin made the people curious of her effect on McCain's race to the White House. It turned out that she pulled the
ol' man downhill with her. Her inconsistent stands and actions were the driving forces of the people to totally shun her out of the possibility of taking the vice-presidential seat.
Considerably, McCain was more confident than his competitor. The US has been under Republican governance for two terms. With Bush as a Republican as his strong backer, McCain had certainly some foundation to lean on.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, was effortlessly (positively) popular because of his (
per se) being revolutionary. The thought of the first black president stunned the world, but it also widened their perspective. Obama downplayed his color, thus racism, and strongly up played his strong economic policies. Although he was at a disadvantage because he firmly upholds tax increases as a means to help build up the economy again, people took him as an instrument for change.
With
Obama's victory, we now ask: "What's in it for Filipinos?"
For the entire duration of the presidential race, Filipinos were anxious of the would-be result of the elections. Many have voiced out that they would be supportive of Obama
because of his strong stance and firm principles. These were besides Obama being an epitome of a groundbreaking change for America and for the world, that is.
However, many also expressed dilemma because of
Obama's business policy perspectives. The boom of call centers in the Philippines has created jobs for countless newly graduates who still cannot find the job that best suits their respective degrees. With
Obama's explicit stand con outsourcing, call center companies and other ones who outsource service from the Philippines stand in the limelight for possible closure or retrenchment. Many are awed of
Obama's courage to stand up and challenge the status
quo, but many are also anxious of his ways of implementing his policies to save America from faltering to its belly, which is obviously precipitated by the economic crisis that is slowly crippling the rest of the world.
In this light I dare ask: Why put our country's fate upon
another's?
I also dare answer: It is because we always have from time immemorial.
Ironically, since we have regained our freedom from foreign occupation and colonization, it is when we started depending our lives to foreign decisions and perspectives. We need not go back and trace history through the roots of imperialism--economic imperialism, that is.
The brunt of the on going struggle of the US economy against economic crisis has been felt in the Philippines despite deceitful denials of the government to admit that we are, indeed, affected by the crisis.
Should the US economy stumble and falter as the world's superpower country, what will be left of the Philippines that has become a
slave of the US? How can the Philippine government
accommodate millions of would-be unemployed Filipinos? How can public officials who claim to be public
servants help the poorer Filipinos who will eventually become the poorest ones?
With all the scandals that the Philippine government is facing today, how else can we
accommodate larger and more pressing issues--such as unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy--that plague the country every single day?
Why don't we ask ourselves what change can we do for the Philippines?
For once and for a better change, why don't we take small yet concrete steps toward strengthening the
Filipino system?
For the best change that we can offer the country, why don't we try depending on ourselves and actually doing something to resolve our problems?
It is always fun to put the blame on everybody else but yourself, but is this the way we want to live when we cry for change on every single breath that we take?
Yes, we need a whole lot of changing to do, but why don't we pause for a while and ask ourselves what positive change can
we offer this time.
Let us see if at the end of the day we can
proudly say to ourselves that we have deviated from the mainstream flow of apathy and took a simple step toward activity and we have,
indeed, made a
change.
