O
nce again, the Swamp Party walloped the competition in the student Senate elections this week.
What’s ironic about that statement is that as I’m writing this article, not a single ballot has been cast. The certainty that Swamp will once again walk away with Student Government elections can in no way be called into question for two simple reasons: minority parties and candidates mounted no effective opposition to Swamp this year, and the Swamp Party has a complete lock on the constituency groups — namely fraternities and sororities — they need to win.
Despite Swamp’s overwhelming dominance, Swamp representatives still campaign throughout campus, handing out stickers and occasionally looking desperate enough to strike up a conversation with fellow students. The image of Swamp campaigning is almost as hilarious as someone campaigning for Vladimir Putin in Russia. Let’s face it: like Putin, it’s an absolute truth that Swamp will win, regardless of if any candidate or party representative campaigns on Swamp’s behalf.
Here’s a question for Swamp: if you have no competition and have near totalitarian control over SG, why bother to campaign? Is it to give off the appearance of a functioning democracy on UF’s campus, or do you think it makes the party look good?
Now, Swamp is not entirely to blame for its overwhelming majority. The Students Party — the minority party in the Senate — has ceased to exist, and since no other party appears ready to challenge the majority, Swamp rules supreme.
Generally, the issues surrounding a one-party rule of SG would not be a big deal. After all, we’re not talking about legislative and governing bodies that rule your life with an iron fist like Putin, but SG does wield significant power on UF’s campus and controls a sizable multi-million-dollar annual budget.
Although the minority was close to taking control of SG following the Spring 2012 elections, the dominance of the Swamp Party — or the Unite Party, as it was previously known — has never truly been threatened.
To win, a new party would have to find a way to break the Greek voting bloc, devise a strategy to win almost every other vote or drastically increase turnout.
If this seems damn near impossible, that’s because it probably is. Any minority party seeking to challenge Swamp’s dominance has a tremendous uphill climb.
Maybe comparing the Swamp Party to the Russian autocracy is a bit unfair. After all, nothing in Swamp’s policy platform is particularly nefarious. Swamp wants more solar power on campus and hand sanitizer dispensers in dining halls and dorms, both of which seem like noble endeavors.
Although Swamp has engaged in questionable campaign tactics in previous elections, none of those were anywhere near as heinous as the persecution and torture faced by Russian dissidents.
Swamp may offer a slew of positive-sounding proposals. However, what drives the majority to work and fight harder for all Gators is a functioning minority that can actually challenge Swamp’s rule. It’s likely that our student fees — also known as university taxes — would be better spent if a functioning minority could challenge Swamp’s spending proposals.
UF students deserve additional checks and balances within the Senate to ensure that our fees are spent wisely and aren’t wasted by Swamp.
As a grad student, I often feel far removed from UF’s complicated and arcane political process. However, from an outsider’s perspective, it certainly seems that we can and should do better to provide a truly democratic — or representative — system.
SG’s $20 million budget, largely comprised of student fees, is nothing to scoff at or ignore. Turnout is likely to be excruciatingly low for the elections this week and, unless major reforms happen, little will break Swamp’s control over SG, nor will a serious minority party challenge Swamp’s authority.
If that ever happens, most of us will be long gone, complaining about how our state or federal governments spend our tax dollars and completely forgetting that we conveniently ignored how our peers spent our funds while we were students at UF.
For the time being, we might as well enjoy Swamp’s rule because it’s not going anywhere.
Joel Mendelson is a UF grad student in political campaigning. His columns usually appear on Wednesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 9/30/2014]
