What if only taxpayers were allowed to vote?

This is one of those proposals that crops up every so often, but which never goes anywhere because too many sectors slam it as anti-poor, anti-democratic, and anti-populist.

It may be all of the above, but it is also a sensible proposition when you get right down to it.

Who, after all, has a bigger stake on the future of the country than the working men and women who fund the government’s day-to-day operations with their taxes?

And what of the millions of poor Filipinos who cannot pay taxes? opponents to the proposal will ask.

This is precisely the point. All they have to do is to work their way up to taxpayer status, and voila! They can become active participants in all the electoral exercises. They don’t even have to be among the top taxpayers either. Anyone who pays a minimum amount of taxes— say P1,000 a year in basic income tax—can qualify to become a voter.

We cannot ignore the obvious: vote buying is rampant in all our elections because there is no shortage of vote sellers. Anyone who sells his or her vote clearly does not understand or appreciate the democratic institutions that so many Filipinos have fought so hard to attain.

Call them the masa if you wish. They are the ones who keep dynasties in power because they refuse to fight for a better quality of elected leadership. They are the ones who elect con men to public office on the premise that they would do the same things if they were given the chance to become mayors, senators, governors, congressmen and yes, presidents.

Another impossible condition
Add to this requirement another one that will have human rights groups up in arms —only those who can read and write should have the right to vote.

This, too, is another sound proposal that deserves serious consideration once the emotional arguments are set aside.

This can be implemented not in the next elections, but somewhere down the road. Those who say that it is an anti-poor proposal should be reminded that poverty cannot be used as an excuse to get an elementary education. The government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program sees to it that the poorest of the poor may not use their economic state as an excuse to deprive their kids of an education.

For one, education is free nationwide. And secondly, they receive cash from the government on the condition that their kids of school age be enrolled.

A generation or two from now, the overwhelming majority of Filipinos will be able to read and write, and more importantly understand, what the voting process is really all about. Theoretically, because of the CCT program.

Also, one or two generations from now, the country’s economy would have reached a point where the chronic problems of unemployment and underemployment would have been solved.

By then, an enlightened, educated and tax-paying population can lift the Philippines out of its present state as an imperfect democracy.

In the meantime, we have today’s mid-term elections to plod through.

You’re not voting for any notorious crooks or non-qualified candidates for senator, governor, congressman or mayor, are you? Of course not. I’m sorry I asked.

mobygrape53@yahoo.com

-manilatimes