Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey

In my four years of observing AMS politics, I have seen some very entertaining political theatre. Constitutional and budgetary crises, incendiary personal squabbles, national scandals—the record is too lengthy to document. To say that the AMS is an institution prone to scandal is a gross understatement.

Despite the fireworks, there is a far more pernicious problem few speak of. Year after year, voter turnout remains dismally low. Since 1986 there have only been three occasions where it eclipsed 15%. We ought to start calling the AMS the Almost Matters Society, because it has made itself virtually irrelevant and invisible to average students.

And the crisis continues: in this year’s election, two of the five executive positions are running uncontested.

Why the disinterest? Why do so few run, and so few vote? It is easy to reflexively condemn students for their apathy, but this is far from the truth. Outcry over AMS presidential scandals (see: all three of our last presidents) are latent expressions of the passion and conviction of this vibrant student community. Even on less sensational matters, such as land use and governance, there has been popular outcry.

In truth, the AMS receives little attention during elections because students lost confidence in the institution long ago. Most see their student society an uninspiring and incestuous clique of self-serving politicos, afraid of what real advocacy might entail. The narrow bounds of respectable opinion, the insipidness of campaign rhetoric, the myopia of conventional wisdom, the self-absorbed focus on petty political squabbles, and the impotence of unthreatening orthodoxy: these are the reasons students don’t vote.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If we have moral and political courage, we can inspire students in our society once again. So here’s a little advice for the candidates in this year’s election.

Be bold and break convention; don’t succumb to the culture of pretend politician. We’re not inspired by neckties, pantsuits and pleasantries, we’re inspired by intrepid advocacy.

Be honest about the society’s challenges, and specific about your prescriptions. In so doing, spare us from platitudes and euphemisms: tuition has doubled in recent memory, university governance is undemocratic, professors are unaccountable and crippling budgetary problems endure for the AMS.

Above all, a candidate should aim to inspire by radically re-imagining this society’s potential. The AMS has become a small place for small people who persist in thinking small; it must begin to think big, or it will persist in irrelevance. Be courageous enough to tell students what you think we’re capable of achieving, and they just might be inspired by your vision.

We should not be resigned to what we are, but motivated by what we could become.

(+15 rating, 9 votes)

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