Why should I even vote?

Many of us have chosen to be disinterested in politics. When you look at the news, it’s stories stacked on top of stories about corruption and politicking. It’s just very toxic and tiring. It doesn’t matter who sits in power, our lives will not change. We still have to work hard to put food on the table.

The reality of politics is that the lives of everyday Filipinos will not change overnight with just one candidate getting elected into power. We still have to work hard, pay our taxes, and go through the grueling traffic that has plagued the Philippines ever since. However, what does change is that at least, for some candidates, we know that our taxes will not go to funding their luxury cars and extravagant lifestyles.

Many of us think that all politicians are the same and they will all just be stealing government funds. However, this is an assumption that can easily be disproven by looking at the track record of politicians. Some of them have certainly been found guilty and charged with cases such as graft and corruption before. While some candidates remain with a clean record, providing an example of transparency and accountability to the Filipinos that they are serving.

Politics is tiring and hopeless. Our democracy may be broken but at least, one of the functioning institutions of our democracy, voting, is still alive. In an authoritarian state, the people do not even vote, the people do not even have a choice. In the event that our right to vote gets lost, surely, all of us willl miss participating in politics and at least getting a say on who we want to vote for in this country.

So while we still have that right, we must grab the chance to use that right whenever we can. Choose who we want to be our own president. Choose who we think will continue to protect that right. After all, while all politicians may be corrupt, surely, not all of them will take away our right to vote.