With the upcoming student government elections I have been thinking about what student platforms mean and platforms in the greater sense of government and politics.
For example, when someone runs for president of the United States they are elected based on what they stand for. Once they get into office the expectation is that they will represent the entire country. Thus, somewhere along the line between campaigning and elections, politicians must change who they base their policy on in order to best democratically represent their constituents.
This is where I see an inherent flaw — If you must change to represent an entire community and not just those who you were trying to represent from the beginning, you perhaps betray some segment of your original supporters. If your agenda solely consists of what you ran on, you are not being truly democratic. Its a catch 22: you cannot run for office without having a stance on issues, and yet when you get into office you are expected to have no bias and act in a way that represents the majority of the population.
Thus I see little point in creating platforms before people are democratically elected to office. If you cannot guarantee you will be able to carry out your goals democratically or create policy that best represents your entire constituency, you might as well wait and run based on your abilities to listen and react to the majority's opinion and thought.
I have personally received some criticisms for expressing my opinions in meetings. To be a leader is it more important to not speak and purely run the meetings or is it more important to act on what the platform you ran on stressed? I have yet to figure it out myself. While I have taken psych courses and have a basic understanding or anarchism and democracy, it is hard to realize what works best and what is ethically sound.
I would be interested in what students outside of student government think is important for elected student officials to uphold; is it more important to stick to your campaign platform, reach out to the campus regularly to gauge student opinion in every process, or to allow those other students elected to act as representatives of the community?
Post your thoughts, I'm interested in hearing other opinions.
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We cannot neglect the relevance of campus politics in the field of education. This will help the students prepare for bigger responsibilities outside and exercise their rights with integrity.Exercising political rights and be an active participant will enable us to drive our country towards socio-economic development. We understand that the primary function of the school is to impart knowledge and develop skills but part of this development is leadership and engaging in campus political activity is one best avenue to cater this need.