Last semester’s Student Government elections were something of a spectacle. Swamp Party candidates won 48 out of 50 seats in the Senate, ridiculously overpowering any voice of opposition. The Swamp Party’s competitor in the Fall elections, the Students Party, is responding to this near-death experience by not running an executive ticket. Rather than waste momentum going after seats they have dubious chances of winning, at best, the party will focus on gaining seats it knows it can win.
A new party is using a similar strategy. Consolidating its platform, though, not its ticket. They call themselves the Taco Libre Party, and like all great dissident political groups of the past, they’re fighting single-mindedly for one idea: bringing Taco Bell back to UF’s campus.
The party was created by former Students Party members who, I can imagine, were disillusioned with the results of last semester’s election. Their split from the Students Party was formal and final; efforts by the Students Party spokesman to contact them were met with silence.
The Taco Libre Party’s platform is unbelievably simple. Do they have ideas for budget appropriations? Innovative ideas for the student body? New programs?
Not exactly.
Its whole deal is truly just “Queremos Taco Bell.” That’s all they’re gunning for.
Taco Libre’s lack of a complicated platform may be an advantage for the party in that potential voters have only one thing to consider: Do you want Taco Bell here, or not? In this case, the cliched argument “Either you’re with us, or you’re against us” actually applies to the situation. If you hate tacos, there are other parties to vote for. Simple as that.
But the party’s platform takes its genius a step further. Who, in the 21st century, actually hates tacos? Even though I’d rather bring a Chipotle onto our campus, I’m definitely not opposed to having a Taco Bell nearby either.
And then there’s the fact that, by the mere fact it exists, the Taco Libre Party has bought itself huge amounts of attention and publicity. Any political party that has the word “taco” in its name automatically gets itself printed in newspapers and posted all over social media sites. Even the name brings to mind thoughts of both delicious food and freedom. Delicious freedom.
However, not everyone is amused with this party of delicious freedom. Supporters of the majority probably find it amusing, but some veterans of the opposition aren’t happy at all with the prospect of having to compete against a Taco Bell party on top of the political behemoth that walked all over them last Fall.
Senate minority leader Michael Christ has expressed dismay at how the Taco Libre Party seems to be treating the SG election as a huge joke. This sentiment was shared by the SG Elections Commission, which reprimanded the party Tuesday night for slating candidates with Mexican food-themed nicknames such as Shannon “Salsalicious” Hill.
Christ has a point. People have called him whiny and unprofessional online, but his anguish and outrage is at least understandable. He’s the leader of a party that won two seats last election, a party whose survival depends on the outcome of the elections in two weeks. At a time when SG elections carry some of the most serious implications in recent memory, the fact that a taco party might derail the opposition’s last chance for survival is upsetting.
But I also disagree with the statement. Taco Libre may take votes away from the Students Party. It doesn’t have a goal apart from opening a low-tier Mexican restaurant on campus, and its candidates tried to run with silly taco nicknames. But it might also be the best way to show the Student Body what voices in the SG can accomplish. If you want Taco Bell, you can elect someone that will get it for you. That’s powerful.
[Alec Carver is a UF journalism freshman. His columns appear on Fridays. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 2/7/2014 under the headline "Yo quiero SG: Taco Libre promises freedom"]
