6
Clackamas Print
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
EDITORIAL
The proper role of
student government
The better the checks and balances are in a
system of government, the better chance it has
to improve and avoid corruption.
There are no checks and b<
Clackamas Associated Student Go
and no importance is set on fairness.
As a result, Clackamas’ ASG is a poor
pie of what a student government can be.
It’s not even a government. It’s a club.
The only difference ASG has
club pertains to the magnitude oi
It would be interesting to see how much gr
the Global Activism Club could do with
over a budget in the hundreds of
ASG could be a great resource 1
Instead, it has become a bimonth’ *
-a burger stand paid for with student fees.
To the knowledge of most students, this
the only thing ASG does.
It is important to acknowledge that ASG 1
raised funds for many charities over the yean
The Gaekamas Print has seen first-hand
the good student government has done for
students.
It’s important for a student government to
improve its community, but it should not aban
don the community.
ASG could earn back a great deal of good
will by increasing grants and loans to students
who can barely afford the $5-per-credit-hour
increase it chose to support last term.
It would also benefit the student body if ASG
made its services a little better known.
Perhaps energy could be spent on letting
students know that ASG can offer them a wide
array of emergency loans.
This neglect of student interest is a direct
result of the manner in which student govern
ment operates.
It ignores questions and critiques, and sys
tematically expels any persons who suggest new
ideas or ask hard questions - tactics remini scent
of some of the worst and most crooked govern
ments the world has ever known.
How can a government ensure stability and
fairness when the president of ASG handpicks
all officers and senators except for the vice
president?
What if the president of foe United States
was able to handpick the members of Congress?
If the president wasn’t a completely upstanding
individual, he or she could get away with any
thing, as the people selected to supervise would
not object
In order to run for ASG president, a person
must be a member of student government. In
order to be a member of ASG, he or she must
be selected by ASG.
The college no longer offers leadership class
es for students to take that would qualify them to
run for president without first being selected.
That is not democracy. That is a joke.
Most student governments within United
States colleges and universities have a much
larger number of elected offices than simply the
president and vice president
If s not entirely
those student
governments tend to
substantial
services for their student body.
Those who advise officers and senators at
Clackamas should be more concerned about
the kind of fixture politicians and government
officials they are grooming.
Clackamas is a mi
thecoantty.lt
may just be a student gov
in teeny tiny
Oregon City, but one of these
these people
will take office in the real
carrying all of
their bad habits and se
-perpetuating
tactics with them.
For now, ASG has lost si
of its real pur-
pose: to serve students.
Instead, it seems it is
mserv-
ing burgers.
The
Clackamas Print
The Clackamas. Print
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-657-6958, ext. 2309
Youth apathy and the vo
J ohn
H urlburt
THE CLACKAMAS
PRINT
In junior high school, I was a fanatic about
politics. Politics became what I read, what I
obsessed over and what I wrote songs about in
my first “band.”
At one point, a group of friends and I started
a protest against foe war in Iraq, which at the
time was just beginning.
Tn the protest we all wore armbands that
had “impeach W” printed on them.
Five years later, it seems a lot has changed,
and I am finding it really hard to get motivated
about politics.
Hard to care
The problem’s not merely mine, though; all
over the nation, college students are finding it
difficult to care about politics.
Youth apathy is a feet made brilliantly clear
when you look at the percentage of young
people who choose to vote.
According to The Center for Information
and Research on Civic Learning and
Engagement, in the 2004 presidential elec
tion, the percentage of registered voters under
the age of 25 who cast their vote was 54.4,
whereas the percentage of voters age 25 and
older was 74.
Why aren’t youth motivated anymore?
In the ’60s and ’70s, students were among
Dear Editor:
I want to start with a thank-
you for recognizing Kate Gray
for making the decision to ride
her bike, but most importantly,
her leadership on helping all of
us by reducing her carbon foot
print.
I think this is such a big
problem, and most of us are not
even aware of it
The more we talk about this,
the more we educate and, in
turn, can make a big difference.
Going green, carbon foot
prints and global warming are
a few topics I’m passionate
about and have been studying
in depth.
I’m proud to be a student at
a college that is trying to make a
difference in such big issues.
When people like Kate start
doing things like riding her
the most boisterous groups.
Now, we have relegated ourselves into
a dingy comer of a whorehouse, where our
voice doesn’t matter because we’re too silent
to be heard.
I can’t speak for the millions of voters
out there, but many individuals my age are
discouraged or apathetic toward the political
process.
What I have noticed is a feeling of hope
lessness.
Some don’t feel like their vote makes
a difference, and for a lot of reasons Ibis is
understandable.
Our country doesn’t vote democratically.
Instead, we have a system in which citizens
vote for a representative and the representative
votes for the president
Originally, the electoral colleges were insti
tuted to give every state a fair say, but foe
system has become dated.
As opposed to promising a fair political
process, the colleges ensure that Americans
don’t technically vote for foe president - foe
representative who foe people elect votes for
foe president.
What is the pant?
Not only does it mean foe popular vote isn’t
meaningfill, but the representative dected to
vote for the nation’s leader can change his or
her vote and earn foe title of “faithless elector.”
The mudslinging campaigns that we endure
every four years spread so much disinforma
tion that it becomes difficult to decode the
candidates’true character.
This has resulted in foe general public get
ting stuck watching two actors in a Wild West
showdown in which whoever has the best
bike 12 miles from Sellwood,
it inspires me to start making
changes in my attitude and life
style.
Thank you for foe inspira
tion, and I hope to see more ar
ticles like this.
- Jackie Wheeler
Dear Editor:
The fact that Hillary Clinton
is one of “the agents of change”
for our country is, in my opin
ion, very foolish.
This reminds me of old-Eng-
lish monarchs with the office re
maining in the family over the
years - similar to Bush senior
and Bush junior.
The policies that Bill Clinton
represented for his wife were
things such as the problems in
the economy, healthcare and
trade.
Editor in Chief: Megan Koler
Copy Editor: Colleen Watkins
News EditonuLydia E. Bashaw
A d M anager : Meredith James
A&C Editor: Emily Walters
Sporte Editor: Andrea Simpson •
Feature Editor: Kyle Steele
Photo Editor: Kayla Berge
Opinion Editor: Armondo Borboa
Photo Associate: John Shufelt
Kenton Benfield, Robert
Crawford, Matthew Garrison,
John Petty, Lisa Sellars, Jess
Sheppard
News Associate: John Hurlburt
campaign and the most money i
When voter turnout for you
high in foe ’60s and ’70s, there v
cast ballots, and it was called the
The issues today have very I
young voters.
Rather, politicians pay attend
lems that affect most of foe in
make foe effort to fill out a ballot
of this is prescription drug costs
to the elderly vote.
The result of foe current red
tern is that Americans are no
paradox.
Young voters aren’t voting
have no passion for what candid
ising.
At the same time, topics fa
foe youth vote are being ign
candidates do not want to waste
money on a demographic that
their campaign.
Lying liars
It’s true that candidates oftet
themselves. It’s also true that ot
necessarily be a factor in foe big
Regardless, I believe we nee
We need to exercise that rigl
way important issues will be t
with foe power to change them
When I cast a ballot, I am sa
voice, and it needs to be heard."
In all honesty, I am going to1
party in foe upcoming election,
been told is a throw-away vote.
To me, that’s not what it is.
show what you stand for, not fi
willing to settle with.
He said that “she has the
best ideas, the best record of
achievement and the greatest
likelihood for turning this econ
omy around.”
Hillary Clinton’s foreign
policies seem to reflect other
not-so-pleasant outcomes.
Her statement recently on
“obliterating” Iran would basi
cally continue the Bush admin
istration’s policies: keeping the
economy crippled, healthcare
impossible to uphold and trade
an absolute mess.
Our nation is already drown
ing in war debt, and “obliterat
ing a nation will jack the debts
up to an unbelievable level.
Due to these circumstances,
I believe that the Clintons are
not in the business of change,
but of simply keeping the presi
dency in the family.
- Rachel Schreindl
P roduction A ssistant :
Mallory Bashaw
S taff W riters / P hotographers :
D epartment A dviser :
Melissa Jones
D epartment S ecretary :
Pat Thompson
Dear Editor:
I am writing a i
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