Scott Brown’s electoral win last Tuesday is as interesting as it is gratifying. Sure, the Republican gets mad props for pulling off the come-from-behind victory in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts to fill the seat of Chappaquiddick Ted, the Fredo of the Kennedy clan. And yes, Brown’s success means the president’s health care reform bill will die a deserved death. Maybe Obama will spend a little less time on TV trying to sell a bill nobody wants and a little more time making sure those guys itching for some jihad aren’t riding on our planes or infiltrating our military.
But there’s something else about the Massachusetts Miracle I appreciate. The incumbent party, the Democrats, got walloped. I like that. I’m not an across-the-board incumbent basher, but there’s something pretty cool (and American) about voters taking the opportunity to deny one party or one person complete control over our government. As a country, we can be pretty reliable when it comes to throwing out the corrupt bums.
Unfortunately, Vanderbilt undergrads don’t have the luxury of throwing out the incumbents when it comes to student government. According to the VSG constitution, the members of the executive board are required to have had at least one year of student government experience. That means the six people on the three presidential tickets are all entrenched incumbents.
Where’s the chance for an insurgent citizen campaign? When will your average psychology major or marching band member or humble Hustler columnist have the chance to make his run for VSG president? Never, and I suppose that’s a problem. It’s one more reason why VSG appears, to an outsider, more like a self-promoting leadership club than a realistic arbiter of important issues between students and administrators.
Take yesterday’s debate in Sarratt Cinema. While most everyone was enjoying watching the Colts come back and dominate in the second half, I was stuck “watching” the game on ESPN’s GameCast while the candidates pontificated on why they deserve to be in charge of our money. Incumbent veep Lori Murphy explained that her top priorities included installing GPS in the Vandy Vans, while Aysha Malik’s campaign wants a free shuttle service downtown on Thursday nights. Huh?
About the only candidate that made any sense to me was Andrew Morse, who said he had the shortest platform and the least experience on the executive board. He wants to cut waste and acknowledged that many lofty plans for VSG just aren’t feasible now. Governments great and small seem to be on a “let’s try to fix everything” bender. It’s nice to see politicians acknowledging their limits and realizing exactly what government can’t do. We need more of that, locally and nationally. But in VSG? It’d be a start.
—Mike Warren is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at michael.r.warren@vanderbilt.edu.
