I LAMENT the intellectual shortcut that often results in relying on clichés and platitudes. Examples are “heads must roll” every time there is a failure or scandal, “jail them without bail” and “impose the death penalty,” as if mob rule and demagoguery provide justice, when the problem is often not laws, but their implementation and prosecution. Add the present generation is hopeless, and our hope is the next generation. I find this devoid of serious analysis.
I decided to write about this after receiving a mass email last Dec. 20 from David Hogg, who is a political and gun control activist in the United States. He was one of the survivors of the Parkland High School shooting in 2018. It was titled “Not every young person should be in power,” which was mainly a criticism of the relatively young 45-year-old Kash Patel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He wrote this very eloquent and meaningful statement: “It’s one thing to be young in power. It’s another to be reckless, corrupt and desperately hungry for it.”
Such an eloquent, deep and meaningful two sentences. Saw analogies to us. One of the comments I read and hear from the less insightful types is that the present generation of leaders have failed, and we must rely on the next generation. Well, wasn’t that said of my generation when the preceding one was wallowing in mediocrity at best and often worse? Isn’t the same happening today? Why would the next generation be better if they are taught and rewarded, and penalized or not the same way as my generation and those prior? If we still have the same incentives and rewards, wouldn’t the results be analogous? Won’t they react in a similar way? Or at least enough of them?
Another cliché I don’t follow is Santayana’s often-quoted “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I much prefer Mark Twain’s “history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” There is some dispute if he said that, but as many have commented, it is too good a line. Observing some of the next generation of elected political leaders from afar indicates a mixed but repetitive result to prior generations that while not identical rhymes.
Ironically, three prominent next-generation politicians are from dynasties which already augurs against much change. We have Mayor Vico Sotto, who is seen as very ethical, progressive and promising. A great hope. Then there are two lawmakers. One who legally made a lot of money, but did it by leveraging his family’s political clout in a heavily regulated business that he started in the last administration, then divested after it barely got going, which implies the biggest value was its franchise. He seems to be eager to constantly push himself in the media but has been increasingly criticized for being unprepared, biased and passing on the unverified and often inaccurate or incomplete as facts or accusations. One appointed government official got fed up and resigned because of his unverified accusations. The targets of his selective and uneven disclosures are now fighting back and sense he may have thrown a boomerang. He appears to be very ambitious and in a hurry. Read Charlie Manalo’s columns in this paper on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2 for detailed examples. I do not begrudge him his ambition, but suggest he earn the esteem he seeks by preparing rather than often seeming to be in the “fire, aim, ready?” mode and to not show chutzpah and arrogance given his lineage and how he made his money. As an aside it is also revealed that among the two largest independent renewable energy firms are those set up by a son of a former governor and senator, and another by a former energy secretary. I suppose that suggests much of the work needed to get going in that space may be cajoling the government. Another well-off and dynastic congressman was recently disciplined for unparliamentary behavior and immature conduct. He is rumored to have a past where he exhibited behavior typical of a princeling who would have benefited from more discipline rather than coddling. I suppose he is not alone there given what we know of some prior silver-spoon politicians smugly acting like faux populists. Read former senator Orly Mercado’s column on Jan. 6, where he writes about Representatives Leandro Leviste and Francisco Barzaga. Rather than praising them, he praises US Rep. Jasmine Crockett. He implies the contrast between them and her. “What truly distinguishes her, however, is not her volume but her grounding. Beneath the viral clips is a lawmaker who understands procedure, who knows when rules are being bent or weaponized, who always has evidence to back her claims, and who is willing to call that out publicly. This combination of substance and fearlessness is very rare among first-term legislators in any country. She does her homework very well.”
I think these two are discovering one of the realities of democracies and pseudo-democracies. You start thinking you initiate and control the narrative but often find the narrative eventually ends up controlling you and others. Ask presidents as powerful as George W. Bush how the narrative he thought he controlled on Iraq ended up controlling him.
With these three next-gen examples, which I do not claim to be representative of, or that it represents permanent behavior from them, isn’t this similar to prior generations? When the Buddhists say, “change comes from within,” they are spot on. I have yet to see meaningful change between generations rather than updated versions of what we have. I don’t see any magic elixir of reform and improvement arising just from generational change, especially if they are trained and incentivized the same way. This predictability is expected. As Alphonse Kerr said in 1849: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Sadly true. Like my generation, I expect the full spectrum from exemplary to reprehensible from the next generation. I have classmates who were dissidents and reformers. Some were even detained. After success in politics, some became more “trapo” than those they criticized yet kept their sanctimoniousness. Smugness, chutzpah and arrogance are not limited to any generation.
Just hope the exemplary ones are more prominent in the next generation. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “The arc of moral history is long, but it bends toward justice.” That is personally true, as I would rather live today than a century ago, but I sure hope it is also so for most of us. We need it to be the case, but beneficial change and substantial improvement won’t happen just from the actuarial clock and generational change.
Disclosure: The author is an independent director of the state-run Maharlika Investment Corp.