SO WE’RE going to get another Marcos into Malacañang, and a lot of people have had very hysterical opinions on the topic.
Those who oppose Marcos say his election is invalid, and others simply say they’re going to leave the country (as though other countries have some obligation to accept them). This article will not focus on Marcos, so much as the state and nature of democracy in 2022.
Let me begin that I am neutral with regards to Marcos. Most of my attention towards politics is driven by the war in Ukraine, China and the drama in US politics. Marcos will probably be facing bad times economically, but other than that, he seemed like a centrist to me. So meh.
What I am interested in, however, is the hysteria surrounding the latest election, and the complicated nature of democracy in 2022. The traditional definition of democracy is “rule of the people”, “popular will”, “general will”, which is discovered through voting.
In 2022, democracy is only democracy if it:
1) elects a government / administration that follows human rights (and all the other minor rights that flow from this concept)
2) obeys modern global laws and customs
3) if it is not subject to “misinformation/fake news”.
Marcos’ election is seen violating two or three of these laws, and therefore is invalid, despite getting a large portion of the votes.
Democracy is based around the idea that the popular will determines a government’s mandates, but what if that same popular will votes for a Duterte, a Putin, an Erdogan, a Trump or a Marcos?
In that case, it ceases to be a democracy and has transformed itself into something else, something evil, many people think. In such situations, it becomes “fascism.”
In those situations, the popular will becomes invalid; democracy becomes invalid. Thus, the definition of democracy in the current year ceases to be about the popular will, and more about those things which validate or invalidate it.
Marcos Jr.’s election is not the cause of this. It is merely one more local symptom, but of a much larger trend that has been going on for quite some time throughout the world./PN
