Where have all the good candidates gone?

The deadline has passed for official candidates for Student Body President to declare themselves, and we have four tickets running.

How disappointing. I'm not disappointed in the people running, or that they are running at all. I think it's great that we have a student government that is made up of representatives of the student body, and I think it's great that, every year, we have a few pairs of people who decide they want to run the whole thing.

No, my disappointment comes from the fact that, every year, there are so few.

So few people who think that they could unify the student body to take action to defend our rights as students, so few people who think that they have what it takes to deal with the politics of the student government, so few people that think running for political office at UND is worthwhile. At the very least, I'm disappointed that so few people think about student government office as something more than a nice line on their resumes.

I'm not ragging on student government: they have a purpose I support, which is to be our representation to the university administration. The people who are involved all care (more or less) about the welfare of the student body, and some of them genuinely want to know what their constituents think and how they can help. My issue is that in a school of 12,000 students, only four decide they will officially run for office. Only four think they are good enough to be in charge. Only four think they have enough money or enough time to run a decent campaign (and really, who the hell spends real money on running for student body president anyway?)

Where are the rest of the candidates? Where are the people who are running just to see their name on the ballot? Where are the people who genuinely care but hate politics? Where are the people with the common sense that could help us in the next year with all the changes that are occurring? Where are the hockey players, running because they know they would win just out of popularity? Where are attractive women, running to see how many votes their looks can garner?

Where are the people who wish they could put "candidate for student body president" on their resume (every little bit helps!)? Where are the people who realize that even if they don't win, it was fun, or that it was still something to do instead of spend the rest of the semester drunk, or that they could change things just by running and getting their opinion heard? Where are the people who debate for the sake of debate, who will argue with the other candidates and expose their weaknesses, who will be the most hated people on campus but who will be remembered, even if they lose?

My point is simple: what do you have to lose? A couple hours a week and the cost for printing out some posters? If you think that you can make a difference, run for office. If you think the system is idiotic, run for office. If you just don't like any of the official candidates, run for office. Run because you want to piss people off or run because your boyfriend bet that you wouldn't, it doesn't matter what your platform is or if you have a chance at winning. All that matters is that, by running, you are saying something about this school, about this government, and about yourself. What you want to say is up to you, but it won't be heard unless you get out there and get involved.