Who’s dumber, Filipino or American voters?

Whether you vote in the Philippines or in the US, scientists have claimed that many voters are just too dumb to make intelligent decisions.

“To the extent that you are incompetent, you are a worse judge of incompetence in other people,” Cornell University professor David Dunning revealed in a study.

To put it as Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago would in her own hysterical way: “Any idiot can run for president and possibly poll a certain number of votes among his fellow idiots.”

Just like the 10 million-plus “Erap” groupies who elected to public office ex-convict and former president Joseph Estrada. Or the 14 million Filipinos who voted Jejomar Binay as vice president in 2010 while he faced multiple cases of graft filed against him in 2008 that led to the Sandiganbayan ordering his suspension as then mayor of Makati. (READ: Corrupting God’s name for political gain) 

But while Filipino voters may be misguided in their choices of leaders, they should be given credit for their zealousness in participating in elections – unlike their American counterparts who are too lazy to drag themselves to the nearest polling precincts even while the US government spends trillions of dollars and sacrifices thousands of lives to impose its dysfunctional brand of democracy on the Middle East.

Their apathy was highlighted once again when this year’s November 4 midterm elections brought the lowest turnout of voters ever. Since those who trooped to the polls were mostly old, white and conservative, the country handed over to the Republicans full control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

You think Ebola is scary? Wait for an outbreak of paralysis in Washington when the Republicans, together with their ultra-right wing Tea Party zealots, rule Congress with their uncompromising and filibustering ways. With them currently in control of the House, the Congress has passed the least number of legislations, mostly bills naming government buildings in conservative strongholds after Ronald Reagan.

So why are we bringing back the laziest sacks in the most hated and least effective Congress in history to the nation’s capital? Dunning attributed it to dull voters not knowing what is happening apparently because they only tune in to Fox News.

“Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is,” Dunning stressed, especially for some Americans whose knowledge of geopolitics is limited to a trailer park. Just ask vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin who’ve mapped-Quest the White House on 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue. (The White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.)

With mediocrity comes mediocre candidates flourishing in elections, Dunning said, like having Lito Lapid and Nancy Binay in the Senate. And Manny Pacquiao is in the House!

The Filipinos may claim that poverty makes for uneducated voters. Even dumber if they are poor and members of religious groups like the Iglesia Ni Cristo and El Shaddai who allegedly trade their bloc votes with the highest bidders. But just as equally polarizing is the evangelical Christian right in the US buying politicians so they would toe socially conservative policies like banning same-sex marriages and abortion.

You’d say patronage politics pushes Filipinos to vote with their stomachs. Of course. It’s hard to think intelligently about choices on an empty stomach unless they are dishes on the menu. But even the poor voters of America are overweight, and they were gullible enough to reelect George W. Bush to a second term despite his lying about invading Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then there were the 330,000 Californians who carried suspended State Senator Leland Yee to a strong third finish in this year’s June 3rd primary elections for State Secretary, besting 8 other candidates, including an independent endorsed by the editorial board of The Chronicle. Never mind for a second that Yee has been indicted on multiple federal money laundering and weapons charges.

Dunning may be right in his claim that our democracy is anchored on stupidity. But he failed to mention the influence of big money in politics that distorts our views of issues and corrupts our politicians into robbing us blind and acting on behalf of the vested interests that bankroll their campaigns. – Rappler.com 

Oscar Quiambao is a businessman and former business journalist from Manila who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

 Voices is #BalikBayan’s section for sharing opinions, insights, analysis and inspiring action. Email us your contribution at: desk@rappler.com