The reason students don't participate in Student Government is that it fails to make a step toward a greater society. Apathy isn't the issue, relevance is.
Instead of turning the goals and image of SG into something that reflects a common measure of greatness, those who participate insulate themselves in a fake world. In their bubble, they are able to act out an illusion of greatness. Like a collection of children playing monopoly and imagining themselves to be powerful realtors, they have redefined what is prideful and fundamental while onlookers merely smile, halfheartedly wish they had time for such things and move on with the work of understanding the larger world and their part in it.
As long as the goals of SG amount to passing pointless resolutions or throwing the best Gator Growl ever, students will continue to let the children play their game by themselves.
As a Democrat, I can say that there is plenty of room for an SG party to champion the causes of the defenseless, voiceless and less fortunate. Campus organizations such as Pride Student Union and Human Rights Awareness struggle to extend civil rights protection to the vulnerable and abused.
Off campus, the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry is taking on the most critical problem in our region: the plight of the sick, hungry, homeless and hopeless. And a strong stance against increasing tuition is a message that many would rally for.
Imagine if there was an SG party that committed itself to this sort of noble work first and foremost as an extension of a shared, lifelong commitment to a set of core principles?
Why isn't there a Democratic party in SG politics, a group of registered Democrats who are committed to higher-minded goals? For that matter, why isn't there a Republican party in SG committed to cutting wasteful spending and lowering student fees? Why is there just a bunch of fake movements with catchy action words for names, two-year shelf lives and the same silly platform planks?
People I have talked to about this idea have told me that real political parties have no place in SG, that it would be illegitimate. These people are the ones participating in SG politics, to whom I respectfully respond that SG is already illegitimate. I should know; I was a student senator for a year. I even held a seat on the Budget Committee, which means something to maybe 13 percent of you.
Maybe.
Mike Belle is a political science graduate student.
