Friday, April 08, 2005

My love of all things Senate

I must say, when it was first proposed to me that I might be good for Senate, I responded positively. In retrospect, this may not have been the best idea in the world. First, this is going to be my busiest semester at school ever - before I took on the responsibilities of Senator. Second, before this, I knew nothing about Parliamentary Procedure or any of the other myriad things that go on within the sacred doors of the Senate Chambers.

I suppose that with regards to the first one - it doesn't really matter because I managed to fit it in and it isn't like Senate takes that much out of me. The second one is where my education really took off this semester, though.

I am now learning that it is not what we can do to serve students that distinguishes us as Senators. It is what we can do to further our own agendas (or even the agendas of the few students we individually represent). Senate isn't about taking student money and putting it to work for the students, it's about hoarding that money for some future date when every student will agree on what project Senate should undertake so that every student is benefited with something the he or she will appreciate and make use of.

I was all wrong all this time. I thought that the MSC-3 little theater renovations might not be the most impactful thing that Senate could do, but I had no better ideas. I also believe that if these renovations are done, students will find more use for the little theater. But I can't believe I was so wrong as to actually VOTE for something that some students might not care about (even if these students that are against it aren't part of my constituency). I can’t believe that I represented the majority feelings of my floor over and above the feelings of dissidents on another floor. Most of all, I can’t believe that we actually took this bill to a vote and passed it because the vast majority of senators representing their floors believed that the majority of their constituents were in support of this bill.

We were so wrong; we should have listened to that dissident minority who felt the money could have been used elsewhere. I think I may recommend that an amendment be added to the constitution that any further senate legislature must be passed unanimously. This will help prevent the minorities from feeling left out, right?