Social Democratic Proposition

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PROPOSITION
(January 2008)


A society in crisis

Our society is in the throes of a chronic crisis.

Poverty and lack of opportunities make life increasingly difficult for majority of our people. Many go hungry. Many do not have decent housing. Many do not have access to medical care when they are sick. Many struggle to send their children to school.

Aggregate economic growth in recent years has failed to ease up the situation. The so-called trickle down effect will be hard to come through because economic resources are in the hands of the few. The growth itself is fragile, deriving mainly from the remittances of the OFWs who are growing in number every year.

Grave and long-standing social problems are aggravating the plight of our people and dimming the prospects for uplifting their life. The quality of our education is deteriorating. The violence of rebel and terrorist groups is continuing. Unabated mining and logging are destroying our environment, depleting our natural resources and making our people more and more vulnerable to natural calamities.

Prolonged political crisis

A protracted political crisis is also gripping our country. For years now, our political leaders are locked in a stalemate in a continuing contest for power.

This political crisis is overshadowing, thus worsening, the social crisis. As our politicians bicker ceaselessly, no one is paying attention to the social crisis; no one is providing direction to the country.

Hounded by legitimacy issues and leadership credibility, the administration is extremely unpopular and continues to be very vulnerable to destabilization moves because of its unabated corruption scandals. Thus, it is concerned with fighting for its survival more than anything else. It is in paralysis and cannot govern effectively.

And yet the opposition fails to draw popular support to oust the present administration. Perhaps, people see that the opposition is not offering a real alternative to the present state of affairs. They know that the administration and the opposition are factions of the same political class that has failed to lead our country to progress. The opposition is just impatient in taking their turn on national leadership.

We are an unfortunate people because most of our politicians are decadent, corrupt and selfish. Corruption has permeated all branches of government, from the executive to the legislative bodies to the judiciary. The electoral body itself has become a bastion of corruption, a vehicle for cheating to keep one’s grip on power.

The greatest threat to our future as a people lies in our decadent political leaders. We certainly deserve better leaders in the future.

Revolutionary situation

In keeping away from the ongoing factional competition among our political leaders, our people appear to have become socially and politically apathetic. In truth, they are weary of the present social arrangements and they are disillusioned with our political system.

Our people partook in two people power revolts that led to leadership change and promised societal transformations. They now ask, how come there have been no substantial societal reforms? How come the same rotten political system that they want to get rid of remains, only worse? They have answers to why massive poverty is continuing. They have answers to why our country remains the sick man in this part of the world.

Our people are long crying for radical social changes.

Indeed, our society is in a revolutionary situation! Within the increasing segment of our people who seek radical changes there are armed groups which have the means to push their political and social agenda.

Though desirous of radical societal changes, our people reject totalitarian ideologies and violent undertakings. This is clear enough from their lack of support to the persistent Marxist-Leninist communist movement and to the reckless adventurism of messianic elements of the military.

Our people stand for democracy—that is without doubt. And yet they are fed up with the kind of democracy that we have had for many decades, and the anti-democratic forces are bent on taking advantage of our people’s frustrations and enforcing their own vision of change.

Democratic progressive forces are faced with two options. We can watch our political leaders and anti-democratic forces continue to destroy our democracy. Or we can come together and embark to save our democracy.

The crisis of liberal democracy

Our country has long been governed according to a liberal democratic system that we inherited from our colonial past. It must be that the social and political crises, which have brought us to the present revolutionary situation, have their roots in this system. Our social and political crises are products of the dysfunctions and bankruptcy of liberal democracy.

Liberal democracy is faulty because it stresses individual liberty, gives primacy to free markets and is content with formal democracy including formal equality before the law. It believes that leaving the individuals free to pursue their respective happiness will lead to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It puts its faith in the markets and the ‘rule of law’ to bring about the good society. To the liberal democrats, states should interfere as little as possible in the lives of individuals and leave capitalism to its own devices.

The ills of liberalism and its unbridled capitalism became apparent in Europe even in the early period of industrialization. These ills include dramatic inequalities, massive poverty, social dislocation, social fragmentation and rampant individualism.

In our country where economic disparities are great, our liberal democracy has led to the wealthy few making the democratic processes, including the legal system and the entire political system, their tools in promoting and safeguarding their economic and political interests.

Liberal democracy created our decadent political system that is characterized by lack of authentic politics and the dominance of opportunistic and selfish politicians. Corruption and inefficiency are two of the worst ills of this political system. This political system is captive to the wealthy few who direct the decisions of the state away from the pursuit of the common good and toward favoring their selfish interests. In this system, our political leaders and the wealthy few prevent the emergence of an autonomous and sufficiently strong developmentalist state.

Our peculiar brand of liberal democracy is also responsible for our backward economy that keeps many of our people impoverished, without means to live decently. Content with the profits they extract from export agriculture based on feudal or backward agrarian capitalist land tenure of from other primary industries like logging and mining, our wealthy few and political leaders failed to pursue genuine industrialization as there was no incentive for them to do so. They also blocked agrarian reform, thus stunting the growth of the domestic market for the products of industry. Our liberal democracy engendered bureaucrat and monopoly capitalism that has kept our economy backward and uncompetitive.

Liberal democracy brings freedom and the greatest good for the few in our society while majority of our people languish in poverty and powerlessness. Individualism and inequalities prevent liberal democracy from becoming democracy for all.

Our people are tired of this kind of democracy. As clear as they stand for democracy, they desire a movement away from democracy that is real only for the few.

The social democratic alternative

In the face of our present situation, we invite you to present to consider our alternative to the existing social regime.

Social democracy is our alternative to liberalism.

Champions. Many consider social democracy as the most successful ideology and movement of the 20th century, crediting the application of its values and principles for the most prosperous and harmonious period in European history. Political parties and leaders who champion or subscribe to social democracy have built some of the most progressive and livable societies in the world, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Australia and, close to home, Singapore. The successes of social democracy in these societies provide inspiration and hope in the possibility of a better future for our own society.

Objective. The goal of social democracy is to make democracy work for and be meaningful to all by building an affluent society that cares for all of its members and leaves no one. A society founded on social democracy secures the dignity of everyone and provides each one the opportunities to live a good life. Because everyone is cared for, everyone has a stake in the future of this society and this society is cohesive and strong.

Core values. Social democrats believe that such a society is built on the values of freedom, justice and solidarity.

Freedom means the possibility of taking charge of one’s own life and realizing one’s highest potentials. It is based on human dignity and it requires securing the universal basic human rights of the individuals. At the very least, it is society’s responsibility to ensure that every person has the minimum requirements to live in dignity and in freedom. Individual freedom, however, is not absolute. It ends where it impairs the freedom or violates the human rights of others.

Equality refers to the recognition of equal dignity of all persons, regardless of gender, color or beliefs. Another name for this is social justice. Formal equality is not enough. Everyone having the capacity to assert his or her rights is more important. Equality requires society to provide equal freedom and equal chances in life to every person. It calls for fair distribution of property, income and power. It also demands the rejection of any form of discrimination.

Solidarity is the premise that we are here for each other. We shape our lives in one community. We can only have equal freedom and equal chances in life by guaranteeing each other’s rights and looking after each other. We can only improve our society by working together for the common good. Solidarity finds expression in the Filipinos’ “bayanihan spirit” in times of common adversity. It is also expressed in the strong sense of patriotism that banded Filipinos against common enemies in the past or for a great undertaking like the display of people power on EDSA in 1986 and 2001.

Principles and paths. Social democracy asserts the ‘primacy of politics and social cooperation.’ Its vision of society will be achieved through the collective struggle of human beings united by common commitment to the social democratic values.

Though born in response to the ills of unrestrained capitalism, social democracy recognizes the ability of the market to create wealth upon which the good society can be built. Thus, it is committed to acquisition of political power to harness the powers of market forces in the service of the common good, while at the same time protecting the citizenry from their destructive effects. Social democracy asserts social control, through the state, over market forces.

In a social democratic society, the state does not only manage market forces for the common good, it also takes the role of members of families and local communities in pre-capitalist times—that of taking care of people when they could not help themselves. Social democratic government strives to guarantee the basic subsistence of every citizen rather than leaving him or her to his position in the market place. At the very least, social democratic societies ensure fair chances in life to everyone.

Among the core policies and programs that social democrats work for are full employment, universal access to quality education, adequate health care, social security in old age and contingency situations, possibly including unemployment, progressive taxation and redistributive programs.

The implementation of social democracy calls for a state that is strong, patriotic and developmentalist. It requires that the state be liberated from those who possess wealth or those who work for their interests rather than for the common good. It also calls for a state enjoying the support of a patriotic, organized and clearly democratic citizenry.

Social democrats are committed to acquiring political power the way they intend to govern—in partnership with the organized democratic progressive elements of the basic sectors and key guardians of Philippine democracy.