The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines dynasty as a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time. This term is commonly used with sports teams or politicians, and while the former usually take pride in earning one through dominance in team building and salary cap management, the latter don’t like to associate themselves with the word too much because of its negative connotation, even if they also work as hard as any sports team to build their own dynasties.
What is wrong with a political dynasty, you may ask? Well for starters, our Constitution explicitly forbids it, but because our lawmakers have somehow conveniently been unable to pass a law that defines it and sets the penalties, a proper ban on political dynasties remains a suggestion, allowing them to blatantly proliferate with impunity all over the country.
The simplest way to recognize a political dynasty is if family members are involved. Husband and wife, parent and child, throw in the titos, titas, nephews and nieces too, for good measure. Politicos will justify this method of perpetuating power by saying it is the voters that ultimately decide, and even go further by saying that the votes for the same last name are because of their amazing performance as elected officials, but if you strip down the excuses and take a look at it from simple definition of terms, that is a political dynasty that should’ve been illegal if only our lawmakers did their job and created and passed the law that the framers of the Constitution naively expected of them.
Defenders of the political dynasty will ask: what is wrong with power being passed from one family member to another if they are doing a good job? The answer to that question would be another question: how do you know they are doing a good job if nobody else outside their family can get to do the job?
Political dynasties are like incest and inbreeding. It doesn’t really sound that bad in theory, but if you come to think of it, it is yucky and the long term effects on either the community or the gene pool could be potentially devastating.
If qualification and competence were part of the equation when it comes to public servants, political dynasties that are formed because of a surplus of such qualities from one family wouldn’t be such a big problem for any community or nation. However, we all know that the country is already operating on a massive deficit of such leaders, since our voters choose based on popularity and name recall, which works best for budding dynasties.
Aside from popularity and name recall, a third ingredient is necessary for most election victories in this country. This last, but definitely not least, factor is actually quite an improvement for us already because it used to be part of the unholy trinity of guns, goons, and gold. While it can be now said with relative confidence that guns and goons are not as necessary for politicians compared to before, the same cannot be said for gold.
Gold, which is necessary for a successful campaign that usually culminates in the age old practice of vote buying, is one of the biggest advantage for most political dynasties because in this country, as it is usually the incumbent that has hoarded enough ill-gotten wealth that not only makes up for the cost of getting elected, but has also prepared for reelection which is necessary for the perpetuation of their dynasty. Anyone who challenges their dynasty building project better have their own stash of gold that they are prepared to risk, since vote buying is such an accepted fact of life in this country during election day.
Just like the 90s Chicago Bulls, a dynasty does not form by accident. The first championship could possibly be won with a bit of luck, but the succeeding ones are deliberate efforts with lots of cash thrown in to make it work. The difference between sports and political dynasties is that the former only affects a fandom, while the latter turns communities into kingdoms.
The proliferation and domination of dynasties, to the point that in some areas, people no longer even think it’s worth running against a powerful family that is so deeply entrenched, is a symptom of a lot that is wrong with our so-called democracy. The ability of the heads of those families and groups to stay in power through relatives and proxies, using loopholes in electoral laws and the inability of the authorities to police wrongdoing, particularly the accepted practice of vote buying, has allowed them to game the system so much that it is at the verge of breaking in their favor.
Unless something happens, either by voters waking up and rejecting political dynasties, or the elected miraculously man up and come up with the laws needed to benefit the greater good instead of their powerful clique, along with an executive department that will implement those laws, the normalization of the political dynasty is something that might have to get used to.*
