Fuck you all
Madhouse
Reflections on the recent JDV-Nograles Squabble
By Emmanuel Hizon
Madhouse is a usual colloquial term for a psychiatric institution. It is also the fitting new name of the House of Representatives after the recent seismic intramurals of Mrs. Arroyo’s ferocious lap dogs concerning who will get the larger slice of the pie of the country’s economic resources.
And truly, it is a madhouse. Only here will you see a seasoned politician, seen by many as the pure embodiment of dirty politics, sounding like a leftist and morally upright rabble-rouser with his series of populist postulations on moral revolution and meaningful change – while hurling serious accusations against Mrs. Arroyo.
From the extrajudicial killings, the Hello Garci controversy, the pork barrel system up to the charter change issue, Representative Jose De Venecia is geared in becoming the new Chavit Singson, the important whistleblower and insider, the new political ally of the opposition.
However, apart from his insincere statements and hard sell posturing, if there is one thing JDV succeeded in doing is that he accomplished in distinguishing himself as the definitive opportunist and hypocrite shaming to embarrassment the pack of charlatans who conspired to chop his head off. This is not a redemptory action on the part of De Venecia; it is the action of a giant feeling his own mortality.
The same can be said of Representative Prospero Nograles and his “party” of incorrigible leeches and ass lickers. Hiding behind their so-called constituencies and adhering to imaginary party discipline, they kept on insulting the public’s intelligence by repeatedly defending their unveiled treachery within the pretext of bogus reform, leadership change and of a new congress.
We ask, When did the party of Mrs. Arroyo, a make believe president maintained into power by massive cheating, killings and intimidation, believed in reforms and change? Why only now, as if struck by lightning or moved by some sort of divine intervention that Nograles’ political party and JDV’s camp found the moral compass to save this wretched country from a life of misery – of which their rapacious plunder and greed for power greatly contributed in the first place? Have we gone so low that these people think that by simply acting the way they do now they can sway the public’s mind and temperament in their favor?
We hope not. However, this is what happened to a supposed civil society organization styling themselves as spokespersons for the thinking middle class. Yet, instead of contributing in elevating the discourse beyond JDV and Nograles, instead of providing much needed political clarity and instead of offering an alternative perspective, they decided to tacitly support JDV to the point of giving the Grandfather of trapo politics a standing ovation.
And for what? For declaring war against Mrs. Arroyo because he felt so seriously wounded and isolated? For implicating Mrs. Arroyo for crimes, everybody knows she is guilty of? For what? For confessing that he is a sinner, never mind the fact he never showed any tone of earnestness, guilt or culpability. If there is truly a Filipino middle class in existence in our society, this organization and their invented leaders, some of which were former Arroyo apologists mock them without doubt.
So how are we to move from this? How are we going to deal with this sad situation? Shall we continue to be numb and indifferent while clowns and loonies rule us? The elitist system is showing active signs of dynamism, crazy it may seem but they are definitely doing housekeeping. Shall we remain dormant and in complete inertia while the elite’s “barmy army” of lawmakers and other public officials are out there governing without governing, crazy mad but without the straightjackets, leading us to perpetual social oblivion. What road are we to take? Are we to take JDV’s bull?
In truth, De Venecia and Nograles are one and the same. For all their bitter bickering and backstabbing, they were cut from the same glass. They defend the same establishment. They both adhere to and defend the same illegitimate president presiding over the same illegitimate government. They both work for the same “executive committee which manages the common affairs of the ruling class.” They belong to the same power class.
The only difference they have is the kind of leadership and roadmap they are offering to the different factions of elite who are sick and tired of Arroyo’s unresolved crisis of illegitimacy. The only dissimilarity they have is their intensity and lust for more power, to plunder more, to exploit more. There are no lesser evils here. If there were any, they were dead a long time ago the moment monopoly capitalism emerged. And yes, there are no lesser gods either.
On the other hand, while it is arguable that we must take advantage of JDV’s political summersault immortalized in the old dictum “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” especially when one is swimming in the ambiguous waters of “real politics”, the nagging question remains, “why do we always limit ourselves to these options?” Why do we always limit our possibilities, perspectives and dreams in these parameters?
Why, because the mass movement is weak and in shambles so we must yield and compromise? But was the mass movement revitalized by our continuous yielding? Is our movement getting stronger with this framework? Must we always start from this standpoint?
How many times have we chosen this path, of trying to find the lesser evils, of choosing better gods, of turning plunderers and murderers into heroes, instant “heroes” who will only murder and rob us again in the future. How many times have we defaulted from our fundamental tasks by letting others do the leadership, only to find out again and again that it only leads to more misery and tightened rule which eventually leads to our slow and painful demise.
And why can’t we hate them more? Why can’t we hate enough? Why do we always hold back our anger, our frustrations and despair? Why are we always obliged to show compassion when they gave us none? Why are we so generous in giving our oppressors the benefit of the doubt when they showed us none?
This is not an attempt at political moralism or is this against those who painstakingly deal with the intricacies and realities of practical everyday politics. In fact, our swimmers in the uncertain and confusing waters of real politics may be right all along.
However, if there is one thing this elite intramurals taught us, it is the indispensable need to relinquish the old; destroy them, tear down their class interests to pieces in order to build the new. While we may agree with Randy David that our immediate task right now is to develop new politics as a tool to survive in a very complex world, to reform institutions and push forward tangible social gains, we should never lose sight of the fact that the State, by its very design, is meant to perpetuate the class domination of the elite like De Venecia and Nograles.
The capitulation of the House of Representatives into a house of crackpots, a madhouse for the politically insane is not surprising. In itself, it is a critique of the entire system. Truly, whom the gods wish to destroy, they make them mad first.
On this, I say; if we cannot smash the State right now, let us smash its foundations bit by bit until it crumbles upon itself.
Photo from:
http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/photojournal/07budget06_ac.jpg
