I hate to break it to everyone who got worked up over the Student Government elections last week, but nothing new happened.
Last semester, the exact same issues were argued. Transparency, online voting, "I voted" stickers - heard it all. And the same issues will be debated next semester.
Sure, there are slight twists. What will the majority party call itself this year? What will Frank Bracco decide to file a complaint about this time?
Let me share what I've learned after four and a half years at UF, during much of which I was editing Alligator stories about SG. Each party has really awesome people who are in it for the right reasons. Each party also has really shady people who get high off power and manipulate the system for their own motivations. And I really don't believe that there are more of either type of people on one side than the other.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The system is corrupt. But it's a corrupt system that spends $14 million of your money, regardless of the corruption level.
I'm not going to say that the 83 percent of students who didn't vote in this semester's elections were irresponsible. I completely get the apathy.
Despite knowing a lot about SG and how it works, I was still extremely tempted to not vote in this semester's election. I told a volunteer who was trying to give me a sticker, "I know more about Student Government than I can ever hope to forget."
And even though my SG-passionate best friend dragged me to the polls, I still don't believe that election day or the issues that get brought up in the preceding weeks are the ones that actually affect students in their day-to-day lives.
Don't get me wrong - I believe that the student paper has a duty to look into these issues, and that the minority party should continue bringing them up. It creates a checks and balances system that's necessary in any type of democratic government.
I just don't believe that voting for a certain party in the election is the way most students can best participate in SG politics.
Do you think that food in the Reitz Union is overpriced? SG officials have office hours, just like your professors - stop by and express your concerns. Are half the chairs in your lecture hall broken? Learn the name of your college's representative and send him or her an e-mail. Want to make sure your voice gets heard? Show up at a Senate meeting. They're open to students.
It's interesting to me that the SG pundits who bemoan lack of student involvement just before and after the election always seem to disappear during the year.
If you really care about SG, don't vote and then complain that the same party always wins or complain about even having to vote because your party always wins.
Newsflash: It's true! The same party always wins! That doesn't mean that you're never going to see the results you want out of SG or that you can assume the party of your choice will do everything it promised.
In the end, whatever party you voted for, your representatives are students who should care about the same things you care about. Being active during the year is a more surefire way of getting what you want out of UF's student political process than just casting one vote.
Hilary Lehman is a journalism senior. Her column appears on Wednesdays.
