EDITORIAL - Time to make our vote count

Maybe it is time Cebuanos living in Cebu City start putting some value to the votes they cast in the election. For so long, they have been voting on the basis of personalities, with nary an expectation of what these personalities can do to make their lives better and meaningful. 

Of course this is a frame of mind that is not unique to Cebu City voters along. It is an affliction gripping the entire mentality of an overly-politicized nation. But we have to start somewhere, and Cebu City is as good as any to do so. 

The fact that this is where we all started as a nation should make it fitting for Cebu City to act as the model for the way voting should be done in the future. It is time our investment in suffrage pays out some dividend useful to our lives. 

Right now, all the parties that are likely to figure in the next election in Cebu City are starting to stir. But stir they do in the same old way, meaning self-promotion and how we almost owe it to them to go out and vote. 

But if you pay attention closely, not one of the probable candidates has uttered even a peep about what it means to the Cebuanos if they get elected. No one has given an inkling how life would be better for Cebuanos if it is they in whom we entrust the mandate of our votes.

Everything seems to be always about the candidates, or how this group is gaining some advantage over the other, or who is going over in exchange for whoever. The Cebuanos should start being honest with themselves and tell the candidates they do not care. 

What Cebuanos should care about, if they had a little self-respect for themselves, is the value of the vote. A vote is an assertion of power. It is the only power citizens have over the politicians. It is the only testament proving that power resides in the people.

For so long, year after year, we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the game of politics, knowing fully well that in the end we always end the losers for failing to exercise the power that is rightfully ours. 

With our votes, it is the politicians who get to sit in the best places, get served the best food, get doors opened and traffic parted. They do not even pay the right taxes while we pay them their salaries with our own. Isn’t it time we get to enjoy the value of our votes? Think!