Election Time! Damn, Do I Know You

Have you been approached by any strange faces lately? Have you had total strangers shaking your hand and asking you “What is your classification?” Not yet, well you will.
Do I know you? Why are you handing me a flyer and a T-shirt? Oh I get it. It must be election time! I should have known what the deal is.
You’ve got it. Election time is upon us. I can guarantee that you will be plagued with these same situations. They will come out the woodwork next week. Everybody that feels that they have an ounce of leadership quality to lead our classes and organizations will come out to rally support. Many will fall to the wayside because they lack the funds to run an effective campaign, some will go unnoticed because they lack the people skills to stay in the political limelight, while others will run great campaigns but will have little to no leadership traits and shaky platforms. More often then not, these are the ones that get elected. Great campaigning skills-little drive to push the items of their already weak platforms.
Nevertheless, the candidates will be at it again. They want your vote, and they want it bad. They will knock at your door at 11 at night with attempts to sway your vote with candy and buttons. They will hand out countless flyers in hopes that their name will stay with you until Election Day. However, when it comes down to it very few- and I do mean very few-will have a credible political platform to stand on. We have all heard the promises, so spare me the propaganda and cut right too the chase.
What can you do for me? On the other hand, I guess it is better stated- what can you really do for me?
Since visitation is a problem stated and solved, I wonder what candidates will have as the basis of their platforms. Surly they can come up with bridging the communication barriers between the students and the administration, but come on, let’s be logical that is what SGA and the other organizations are supposed to do. Saying that is the equivalent to saying that “I am going to do just what the position requires.” We all know that this is not enough.
I speaking from experience, last year I myself tried to remain separated from the opposition with a platform based on issues that were actually changeable and quite different from the candidates in the past. However, I will not mention them specifically because I would hate to aid those candidates that cannot produce an original thought.
Good luck to those. We need to remove them from the race as quickly as possible. They tend to be distracters from the real candidates, and we need those persons to shine in the political spotlight.
However, I wasn’t elected to office and I believe in the power of media persuasion, so I won’t criticize the efforts of those that served in their respective positions, but this year we need to move away from the popularity contest that we have been used to seeing in the past. The candidates need to look at what can actually be done by their organization and set realistic goals for their term. That is what the student body needs to hear. The things that can be done, not the things that you wish could be done.
Please don’t get my position screwed, I am merely saying that the issues that need to be pushed are not always the ones that can realistically be changed by the student organizations.
To the candidates, your platform should come first. There is no need to rally support if you have nothing to stand on but popularity.
To the student body, make them give you a better reason than just knowing them. Just because you took a class with them doesn’t mean that they are fit to lead us. Let’s think about the things that we need to have done and make them push those issues.