"The statesman's duty is to bridge the gap between his nation?s experience and his own vision," the young professor explained, in English laced with a faint German accent. “Leaders are responsible, not for running public opinion polls, but for consequences of their actions"

That was 45 years ago. Since then, our hair has turned grey and knees arthritic. And that obscure lecturer we know as US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His tenure saw world the Vietnam War end and Beijing and Washington establish diplomatic ties. “There can’t be another crisis," he’d joke. “My calendar until Thursday is already full."

His words resonate in the aftermath of our turbulent elections. Indeed, what vision will the “victors, individuals, family dynasties and institutions — offer to alter a people’s painful experience to a more hopeful one" “Without vision, the people perish," the Good Book says. Voters have concluded that little comes from candidates who offer only celebrity glitz, like the basketball star Robert Jaworski et al.. Hence, they gave short shrift to 2007 election bids of pop idols like Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, comedian Tito Sotto and boxer Manny Pacquiao. Baby boomers don’t recall that the first to exploit movie star status was the suave Rogelio de la Rosa. His senate record was ho-hum. But by dint of hard work, intelligence and humility in learning, he emerged as one of the more effective diplomats.

“Masa_ voters are now more discerning and want to hear candidates articulate their positions," Columnist Antonio Abaya wrote. “Singing, dancing are no longer enough to win hearts and minds. This election was a watershed political exercise in that it marked the end of the political rallies and ‘miting de avances.’

Does this also signal curtains for those who have nothing else but tinsel to offer in the 2010 elections? In Bataan , meanwhile Bishop “Soc” Villegas and 49 priests denounced, winners, losers and voters, for vote buying in a pastoral statement.. These transactions denigrated the voting precinct as a place for national renewal into a den of thieves, the pastoral statement said. “And he but naked -though locked up in steel- whose conscience is with injustice is corrupted," Henry VI once wailed.

This reveals a conviction of church leaders that “what people what they require of their church is not just the catechism and the sacraments but something much harder : to speak out against injustice? This is the role of prophet will shape national experience. It is also a task shunned by El Shaddai, Iglesia Ni Kristo and similar groups.. Leaders like Mike Velarde and Erano Manalo prefer the comfortable role of election brokers. In Cebu , Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’ representative stalked out of a meeting with the Iglesia when a cancelled contract was thrust before him to be approved.

And what about big spenders like Ilocos Governor Luis “Chavit”Singson and Rep.Prospero Pichay of Surigao? Pichay ladled out over P150 million for propaganda, some estimate. Yet, the two never made the ‘Magic 12" at this writing. “Money can’t buy you friends. But you can get a better class of enemy." The snail-pace Commission on Elections tally of the May 14 polls tacked on new names of winners — without altering the skewed structure of dynastic families. The Nurs, Atienzas, Dimaporos and Martinezes are fading. In their stead stand the Antoninos, the Dys, Singsons, Garcias, etc. But one gets an uneasy feeling that, like those they’re replacing, the victors haven’t got the slightest clue where they’d like to lead their people to. Thus, their priorities are vintage mid-1950s: more pork, more patronage, more privilege, for themselves. They have a stapled list of projects.. But these do not add up to a vision.

Tomorrow, they complacently, assume will be another today.
E-mail : juan_mercado@pacific.net.ph