The Queen of Wishful Thinking?
I don't know about all that which Tracy has been writing, since I'm not in the desert with the sandworms like he is, but I DO know that I'm starting to lose some of my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed idealism in the way things are run in the capitol of California. I'm currently interning with one of our State Senators (the one who may be running for Matsui's spot in the March special election), and I'm just starting to see how things get done (or, in many cases, don't) around here.
Case in point: I attended yesterday afternoon's Senate session, which I thought was going to be interesting because there are some major issues coming up, like say, I don't know, the Governor issuing the budget proposal. You'd think that maybe they'd want to start talking about that, or several of the issues concerning it. Instead, they had, in this order: the Cornell a capella glee club singing the national anthem, a gospel song, and their alma mater; an announcement that a Senator's mother had just had her 76th birthday; a promise for Chris Webber to speak at one of the legislative meetings; two Crocker Art Gallery curators speaking about the current exhibits; a single vote on a resolution to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday on the actual date, as well as on the Monday holiday. Not to say that these things are entirely unneccessary, but they are the ONLY THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE ENTIRE SESSION. No substantive policy came under discussion, much less a vote. Yet here we are in the second week of the legislative calendar.
Oh yeah, as a backdrop to all of these general announcements, were the Senators respectfully listening, seated quietly at their desks? Hardly. Even as the guest speakers took the floor, the legislators wandered about the room from person to person, having conversations, greeting their friends, obviously not paying the slightest attention to their constituents who had come to discuss subjects near to their hearts. While the agenda was surprisingly reminiscent of the sorts of (non)issues brought up at the ASUCD meetings, the surroundings reminded me mainly of the behaviorally-challenged students in the high school I interned with a couple years ago, the primary difference being the dress code.
So, yes. I'm a bit disappointed to see that this is apparently the rule, rather than the exception, to the government's workings. I understand that most of the billmaking process happens in closed offices and over lunches, but I still naively expected more professionalism from our elected representatives. If they can act like that at their most public moments, I don't see why I can't, at the very least, wear jeans and tennis shoes to work every day.
Case in point: I attended yesterday afternoon's Senate session, which I thought was going to be interesting because there are some major issues coming up, like say, I don't know, the Governor issuing the budget proposal. You'd think that maybe they'd want to start talking about that, or several of the issues concerning it. Instead, they had, in this order: the Cornell a capella glee club singing the national anthem, a gospel song, and their alma mater; an announcement that a Senator's mother had just had her 76th birthday; a promise for Chris Webber to speak at one of the legislative meetings; two Crocker Art Gallery curators speaking about the current exhibits; a single vote on a resolution to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday on the actual date, as well as on the Monday holiday. Not to say that these things are entirely unneccessary, but they are the ONLY THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN THE ENTIRE SESSION. No substantive policy came under discussion, much less a vote. Yet here we are in the second week of the legislative calendar.
Oh yeah, as a backdrop to all of these general announcements, were the Senators respectfully listening, seated quietly at their desks? Hardly. Even as the guest speakers took the floor, the legislators wandered about the room from person to person, having conversations, greeting their friends, obviously not paying the slightest attention to their constituents who had come to discuss subjects near to their hearts. While the agenda was surprisingly reminiscent of the sorts of (non)issues brought up at the ASUCD meetings, the surroundings reminded me mainly of the behaviorally-challenged students in the high school I interned with a couple years ago, the primary difference being the dress code.
So, yes. I'm a bit disappointed to see that this is apparently the rule, rather than the exception, to the government's workings. I understand that most of the billmaking process happens in closed offices and over lunches, but I still naively expected more professionalism from our elected representatives. If they can act like that at their most public moments, I don't see why I can't, at the very least, wear jeans and tennis shoes to work every day.
posted by Arianna at 7:28 PM
1 Comments:
Boy, really makes you feel good about the governing of the World's 5th Largest economy huh?
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