Hugo's Post Election Round-Up, Part I

I've been busy, so I apologize for the delay. This will be a multipart post outlining my mistake, the bad, the good, and thoughts for the future.

My Mistake

Last year, I predicted that Student Action had died, much to the joy of the progressive and liberal community and campus conservatives alike. After this year's results, I have been shown incorrect in my analysis. CalSERVE lost 3 executive seats (2 by less than 50 votes, mind you) and a number of senate seats. Why?

The number one reason that my prediction turned out so poorly was my overestimation of several campus leaders. In short, I overestimated the characters of Misha, Rocky, and others of their type. This is not rhetoric, nor is it campaign season. This is an honest belief of mine shared by many. I, and I believe most of those I work with, are sincerely motivated by our beliefs. It is quite clear that CalSERVE says what it means and means what it says, often providing ample quotes to be thrown around in the conservative blogosphere by those who disagree with us.

At the end of last year, I saw a united anti-Student Action front (including CalSERVE, BCR, and "APPLE") that had come together against a common foe. Student Action represented all that was wrong with the political system. Run by opportunists soley interested in their resumes, Student Action had run the ASUC into the ground. The Jesse Gabriels had been able to throw themselves at the feet of the administrators (sad lesson 1: obsequious behavior may destroy the pride and humanity of person, but it earns powerful recommendations) while looting the ASUC and casting away its power and autonomy left and right.

I thought I saw those interested in issues and advancing those issues (even those I disagreed strongly with) had to come together to rid the campus of this cancer. I was wrong.

It pains me, but hindsight shows that Misha and Rocky, among others, are the worst kind of politicians. Any issue, any cause, any values that they may have espoused in the past appear as calculated to gather support. I hope that at one point, they truly believed what their former shadows stated. (Am I really such a horrible judge of character?)

The reader may at this point be wondering why I have progressed along this tangent. The reason is simply this: Student Action, the party of opportunists, survived solely because it recruited into itself a new breed of opportunists that outdid their predecessors in cunning, lack of integrity, and real political skill. I didn't see it coming. Now pessimistic, I will be more conservative in my analysis, more guarded in my judgments, and more wary of those who grasp for power.

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- posted by Progressive @ 1:26 AM |