COLUMN: If Old Main Hill were Capitol Hill
This semester I’m serving as a supplemental instructor for USU 1300: American Institutions. Over the past week, our class has focused on the various types of government with which humankind has experimented and the benefits and disadvantages that come with each type. In true nerd fashion, my experiences around campus the past few days have been filtered through the lens of those class discussions. Let’s explore the cornucopia of mini-governments I saw this week at USU.
First, I discovered you can witness a state of anarchy, or the complete absence of government and order, while trying to drive down Aggie Bullevard right after the last classes on Friday. The hysteria of students fleeing the classrooms reaches nearly Black Friday proportions.
Next, we have mobocracy – a sort of perverse twin to democracy where the government is controlled by the people, but runaway mob emotion and excitement ends up directing policy more than measured and rational deliberation. Most of the time, that means that mobocracy is pretty sketchy. On the USU campus, though, our resident mobocracy – the student section at Aggie basketball games – is magnificent. Hey, there’s a time and a place for everything.
College seniors are clearly the aristocracy of the USU campus. Sagacious, disciplined and accomplished scholars, these often-sober academicians are rapidly approaching transcendency into the glorious ranks of college graduates – stop laughing. Let these poor folks believe their lie for just a few more months. Like the aristocracies of old, the proletariat – freshmen and sophomores – seethe with envy when they talk to graduating seniors.
Students instinctively know that monarchy – a government concentrating absolute power in the hands of one person – can be found in every USU classroom, where our beloved faculty members ascend the sublime throne of academia to reign over their micro-kingdoms. Few systems of government are better and inspire more loyalty than a just monarchy. We could also broach the subject of dictatorships here, but I’m sure there’s no need.
Finally, a fine example of representative democracy is the USU Fee Board, which is presently undergoing deliberations on the proposed student fees for 2014-15. Members of the board, who are elected by the student body or appointed by USU/SA officers, gather to extensively discuss and debate proposed fees, taking into account the will of the student body and the advice of expert witnesses. The fee board, analogous to a representative legislative body like Congress, will ultimately craft a set of recommendations that will advance to the office of the president – analogous to the executive branch- for final approval.
The process that the fee board uses, which is typical of a representative democracy like the United States frankly isn’t the most efficient system. Democracy in general is not efficient – but, on the other hand, democracy provides for accountability and the opportunity for the voice of the people to be translated into actual government policy.
As Americans, we love the idea of democracy in theory, but we’re easily frustrated with democracy in practice – read: Congress. It’s healthy for us to keep in mind that the benefits and disadvantages of our form of government go hand in hand. No government is perfect, but representative democracy protects and reflects the will of the people remarkably well.
– Briana is a political science major in her last semester at USU. She is an avid road cyclist and a 2013 Truman Scholar. Proudest accomplishment: True Aggie. Reach Briana at b.bowen@aggiemail.usu.edu.