…must be one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can do in her or his lifetime. And today, we all witnessed a historical moment as citizens of the US elected, in a most sweeping fashion, the first ever African-American president of their country. This is in spite of the ‘colorful’ history of the US and its painful and shameful past on Segregation. Now, more than ever, I realized that Time is the solution to all of the world’s ills. It’s Time that makes maturity, reconciliation, and yes, healing, possible.
I am personally glad that young americans have redeemed the past sins of their ancestors to elect a black president to the white house. Looking past the color of his skin, they took matters into their hand and chose him to lead them out of their present quandaries: the impending recession; the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan; and the continuing struggle to bounce back and re-claim the american dream for so many others. Barack Obama gave them hope for a positive change. I watched his president-elect speech ( he is very good at it ) on CNN and I noticed the sudden weight on his shoulders. He must have realized the gravity of the responsibility of his job to fulfill his promises to the people. And he had no time to be jubilant. But with the trust and faith that the majority gave him, yes he can. I will be watching him and so will the rest of the world.
I first became interested in the US electoral process back in 2000 while working for a political consultant in Iloilo City. My ex-boss was a hard-core republican though not a member of the party since he chose to be a Filipino citizen but he had the option since his dad’s american. We followed the republican and democratic conventions of Bush & Gore, respectively, but most times our office TV was glued to Fox channel, a known staunch supporter and defender or anything and everything republican. On the side, our office subscription to Time magazine provided a much-needed boost to my fledgling education of the american electoral process.
In a nutshell, I learned that the US has two main parties: the Republican (conservative) and the Democrat (liberal). As you might expect, the former’s ideals are of family, tradition, and ideally oppose gay marriage, abortion and anything that threatens the basic component of the society. While the latter advocates pro-choice, gay marriages and partnership, and welfare system. The beauty of this two-party system is people aligning themselves with the party that speaks for their personal ideals. You are either one or the other. You can’t be both. But you can be neither.
During election season, each party holds a convention to choose their standard bearer. Those interested within the party can run and gather support. But at the end of the day, he who has the most funds, has the most support to gather the funds needed to run a presidential campaign prevails. And that’s just step one.
Step two is the campaign proper. It’s usually a rigorous process, the candidates spending most of their time jet setting from one State to another. You can’t just sit in your office and call a Garci to buy the votes from. You have to get out. Voters have to see you, feel you, talk to you, take pictures with you etc.
Then on election day, people go out and vote. And it’s usually not a mind-boggling process. If you belong to a party, you will most likely vote for your party’s candidate through the state Electors. But this is a conservative assumption. What’s interesting here is that they have what they call a popular vote AND an electoral vote. Popular vote is obviously the direct vote from the masses while the electoral votes come from the representatives of the 538-member electoral college. They are tasked to vote for the candidate that won the people’s mandate. Each state has a corresponding number of electors. But in the end, if a candidate wins the popular vote but loses the electoral vote, he loses the election. And it’s been that way since 1964.
Going back to the present, I was amazed at the turnout of voters and the speed by which the result was released. While watching the news on CNN, I found myself day dreaming of an election day similar to that of the US. I have to admit I am envious of the americans’ ability to turn things around. When they don’t like what’s going on they clearly manifest it through their votes. And that’s very powerful. That reflects the citizens maturity and the political leaders as well. You can absolutely say and express your disgust for any sitting president there and you won’t be afraid to do so.
Well, for one thing they don’t have a justice secretary that blabbers off EOs threatening sedition, libel to sue you with. They don’t have a person like Bolante who obviously loved to ‘fake it’ and get away with it. And a president non-elect’s husband going on TV expressing pity and sympathy to an old friend who stole from our farmers! Stupid! 
For all of these, I can only think of one resolution: We should shorten the presidents’ term to three years, with an option for re-election, just like the current terms for representatives. That way, we won’t be vulnerable to people power or coup d’etat. Three years is bearable when dealing with a corrupt president, we can kick her ass after three years but six years is agonizing, torturous and we are giving her more time to plot and scheme and steal more.
Oh, sorry. I’m still dreaming.
