We should all disabuse ourselves of the notion that the 2010 elections will usher in a new era of positive change because it probably won’t. Better for us to just view the upcoming elections for what it really is — a transition from one disappointment to another. Being realistic about it will spare us a great deal of pain and frustration later on.

I apologize for my rather bleak view of the situation but I don’t really see how a change of administration would prompt the evil-doers in government to suddenly abandon their nefarious ways. That may not even happen even if God were elected to the presidency.

So what should we do? Should we even bother to vote? Of course. As I said in an earlier post, election day is the one day we can truly say we have the power. Let’s not waste the opportunity to use that power.

On second thought, we actually have power during the whole campaign season. Just think about it. We can practically control our politicians during this period. We can make them sing. We can make them dance. We can basically make them act like fools if we wanted to.

But, why waste our power on such cheap entertainment when we can make them do something of more value to us as voters. We can make them think hard of why they are running for office. We can push them to work hard to convince us that they have what it takes to lead us into greatness. Let’s demand that they regale us with their ideas and specific plans for a better Philippines instead of distracting us with out-of-synch dances and out-of-tune song numbers. Let’s ask them the hard questions that require real answers and not just run-of-the-mill motherhood statements. I, for one, would ask what they plan to do to make healthcare more affordable, how they plan to do it, and for how long they plan to work on it before we see results.

Better yet let’s have the candidates participate in debates where the mudslingers are shunned and the really sensible ones are rewarded, perhaps, with a few minutes to showcase their long prepared song and dance numbers.

We can use our power to criticize, vilify and demolish each and every candidate that will come out with cheesy campaign ads. By doing this we are sending them the message that they won’t get our votes just because they look good on TV acting like heroes of the masses. We can also set aside our fascination with showbiz personalities for a moment and boycott all variety shows masquerading as campaign sorties.The goal is to force our candidates to treat the campaign and election period with more respect and to provide voters a clear idea of how they plan to serve and lead us.

There are so many things we can do. It would be a shame to let our power over them during the run-up to the elections go to waste.