At the Patriot, we wouldn’t call ourselves big fans of the ASUC. And now it’s election season, that wonderfully nauseating time of year when our student government molts and renews itself with a self-importance rarely seen outside of Washington.
Everyone in this school is bound to be a member of our student government and pay its dues. An institution that was once voluntary is now mandatory; and once it abdicated its free participation, it lost those crucial things that only accountability can possibly provide: incentive, responsibility, and efficiency.
The ASUC is corrupt. This isn’t corruption in the sense of bribery, but in the sense that the ASUC betrays its basic functions of a contractual government. An institution supposedly devoted to providing student convenience, supporting student groups, and advocating student rights is anything but. Rather, it’s a pile of bureaucrats sweltering in heaps of imperial complacency and self-indulgence. The ASUC as an institution robs students of their money through massive incompetence, and robs students of representation through partisan bickering and ideological inanity.
While the recent history of the association is smattered with transgressive spending, we needn’t look any farther back than the debacle of the recent special election in November. The ASUC, in a supposed effort to educate people about the propositions and assist students in their ability to cast an informed vote, took it upon itself to distribute fliers that advocated a “no” vote on Proposition 73, which attempted to require parental notification for under-age abortion. The absurd act of taking a decidedly ideological position was spearheaded by Sharon Han, the external affairs vice president of the group.
Needless to say, this partisan and wholly inappropriate action is not an isolated case in the ASUC’s history of political involvement. The Association has a history of biased politics, including many ‘symbolic resolutions’ passed by the senate condemning a range of absurdly broad topics ranging from nuclear testing to Palestinian injustice. These types of flagrancies get in the way of productive governance. Simply put, the ASUC doesn’t do its job.
So the ASUC stinks — it’s broken, partisan, and unaccountable. An entire issue wouldn’t be enough to catalogue all its problems, so let’s just assent to that right now. But we all go to this school, and we all have to make an effort to fix the problems we see, so later on in this issue you’ll see endorsements, packed with words explaining why we chose who we chose. But why do we even try?
Well, we believe there is always a chance for resurrection — call us hopelessly hopeful. There are those few individuals who believe in the ASUC as well as responsible governance, and we believe in them. Over the past few years, readers with a keen eye and a steel-trap memory may notice a pattern in the Patriot endorsements — we tend to go with Student Action. Over recent history, they fielded candidates with ideologies that meshed with ours.
So this year, in our endorsement of two non-SA candidates, we’re breaking tradition a little. But perhaps this will send a note to people who are entrenched in the politics of politics — you have to be accountable to your constituents. For too long, the people who are elected to the ASUC have not made their existence and responsibilities a communicative priority. And as a result, like with any form of benign neglect, apathy has entrenched itself in the minds of the student body.
The days of ASUC parties promising to “get things done” and “move forward” have been digested and discarded. The pleas for enthusiasm and votes come hobbling out of a year entombed in utter mediocrity. Such pleas are insulting to the intelligence and devotion of the people who rely on representatives to be responsible and committed.
The ASUC has promise — it always has. But that promise doesn’t lie in the institution, it lies in the men and women who run it. While it’s very easy to expect rules and procedure to carry the torch of advancement, life never works that way. It takes individuals of character and spirit to bring that light to the end of the tunnel. If anything, the ASUC as an institution impinges on its productive members’ capacities for improvement.
We would be remiss not to specifically mention Senators Ben Narodick and Igor Tregub as individuals in whom we do have a carriage of faith. We endorse these men, who are running as third-party candidates and independents, because of their character, not their ability to fit a system. Parties are important, but it is people who get things done, and Narodick and Tregub are faithful, devoted, and passionate individuals. We encourage all to vote for these individuals who have the ability and will to make substantial change.
The form and function of ASUC representation is begotten with partisan hackery of the worst kind. When political suits run for office and win, we cannot expect any more of them once they are in Eschelman. To fix our government, we have to look to character and to ideas, and not remain blindly loyal to petrified opinions. And so we look forward to successful elections and to a successful student government, one which will serve us well. Competence can be elected, and things can be accomplished, through the power of individual merit. We can do better.
We have to eventually, right?
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