The Grand Lottery
It is often the case, especially in the study of political science, that people espouse meritocracy as the most just form of organization. Such a position is common among both the Left and the Right in this country, being taken as a matter of common sense and good governance. Indeed, meritocratic practices, such as greater transparency and efficiency, have become common calls for action made by the people to the government in order to achieve a better Philippines. The formula of success is simple: those of talent and those who succeed should be elevated according to their abilities. At base level, however, what unites the Philippine Left and the Philippine Right is the plain old story of corruption in the Republic.
Indeed, that money is being siphoned off for the ultimate pleasure of the bureaucratic elite is a grave tragedy, and one which has ruined our chances of being taken seriously as a country. Many of us are aware of the plethora of news articles, opinion pieces, or common discourses on how the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbors such as Vietnam and Singapore in terms of the degree of corruption present in those states (much to the chagrin of Filipinos). The Left campaigns against corruption for no greater reason than that it hinders the march of progressivism, for what drives the Left is its insatiable desire for so-called progress (which in reality means the further development of modern society’s veneration of the Devil and all his works through Liberalism); though nothing more shall be discussed of the matter as I do not wish to delve into the nuances of leftist thought.
What many would be surprised to hear, however, is that our own Right Wing also conducts a parallel campaign alongside the Left, and follows the Left’s lead, insofar as it also pushes for Progressivism — though their belief in progressivism is not as reverent as that of the Left in its submission to its tenets. For the Philippine Right seeks, as its highest end, the wealth and convenience of First World and East Asian countries; and takes for its models the states of Japan, China, and the United States. So, in a way, both the Filipino Left and the Filipino Right are progressives when it comes to their campaign against corruption, because they see corruption as a stumbling block to a modern and globally competitive Philippines. The concern is economic the whole way down.
But what does this have to do with meritocracy? This false unity of meritocratic aspirations is but an empty dream, a delusion of fairness that plagues the mind of even the most astute conservative (of this nation’s variety at least), and blindly follows the will of its concept. The Right needs to move on from such libertine concepts of equality and abandon their meritocratic foundations, for no man has an equal shot in life. Indeed, all is set by Divine Providence and the Christening of blood that lays on even those disparate fledglings, for it is found in them the will of their ancestors to thrive in the midst of these chaotic times by which God has seen fit to test the grit of the lesser and bitter souls of this world.
My contempt for the idea of meritocracy stems from its liberal precepts, and in extension its emphasis on “equality,” which holds that all men, being equal, have a chance to achieve their desires with great effort on their part; and that the stars are but simple pickings of fruit laid before them by an amused deity. No man can believe in nobility and at the same time believe in this anarchic state of effort and chance. If we are to believe in the true goodness of aristocracy and blood, then the meritocratic pulse must be severed from the hearts of the conservative who still holds the favorable winds of change of that bygone era.
Often people on the Right fear to make this change because they fear alienating the Leftists whom they consider as lost brothers and sisters — rather than acknowledging them as the enemy (as they ought to be perceived). Dialogue is necessary and dialectic is a good: but if we are to advance in the dialectic, certain necessary steps must be made in order to cut what weighs down the collective good of the people. One such weight is the idea of meritocracy which burdens the souls of every individual participating in it.
It is a classic trope to portray modern life as a rat race. Many dread it (and rightly so), but many others (on our side even) would rather believe that the “rat race” is nothing other than a dishonest portrayal of existence in market societies, with some even ennobling the struggle by calling it the “grind” — a phrase that leads many to walk with their heads held high, believing that despite living in such sultry conditions, they are contributing to a mass struggle that only few would know for the great riches reserved only for those who grind the most! I pity the fools and so should you. What I see in meritocracy, however, is a vision of disgust: a mass of flesh covered in feces spread throughout the streets like butter on toast; the stench of sweat dripping down the elbow; an eternal march of the lousy and busy locked in the grinding mills of society in order to be free from material mediocrity.
These are the grinders, the meritocrats, searching for the wealth promised to them by the false gods of society to create an ever functioning city where they can bring the paradise of the West to the dung heap of the east. Meritocracy allows the poor peasant to dream of riches unattainable in his lifetime: whereas in the old days the swagger of the city would approach honest hamlets in their pin-stripe coats and black and white wing tipped shoes dressed to awe the simple folk of their lives from the city; the charlatans would conjure up tales of wealth and fashion, of the swankiest clubs with their spiciest of cocktails, the decadent vaudeville, and the allure of silk dressed women, hauling them away to find better opportunities in a city that leaves more impoverished then it does uplift overtime, creating the schema for the rat race that lasts for a generation, and like rats they breed and infest the cities, dumping waste on the rivers and carelessly dumping the waste of humanity with the hopes that one day their lives will be the lottery number that wins.