The Undergraduate Student Association Council and the Los
Angeles City Council are guilty of theft.
And while it might not be inherently obvious that they have
committed a crime, a quick analogy explains their gross misuse of
power and misappropriation of student and citizen funds.
Imagine yourself an employee of a company where your job is in
administration. The company gives you resources and freedom to do
what you will in order to find pockets of inefficiency and make
decisions to better the company. Yet, instead, you use their
resources to further your own whims, at the company’s
expense.
You e-mail, download songs, play incessant free-cell, and chat
on AOL Instant Messenger. Of course, you are not surprised when
your boss catches you, fires you and presses charges for the misuse
of company time. You have effectively taken money from the
employer, used it to further your own agenda and have not repaid it
in the form of labor and services, as your contract would have
mandated.
The purpose of any governmental body in a truly democratic
institution is to serve the people. Hence, we espouse that famous
founding phrase of government for the people, and by the people. Or
at least we claim to.
In the past week, both USAC and the Los Angeles City Council
have grossly misused the funds that were issued to them by taxation
and tuition, have wasted the time they are given to do their jobs,
and have betrayed their constituents. There is a surprisingly
minute amount of outrage at this disgusting misuse of power. While
it is true that the war will have an effect on the entire nation
and that everyone is entitled to an opinion and their right to free
speech, it is not the job of local governments or even state
governments to dictate foreign policy. State and local governments
are mandated by the people, who pay taxes, to take care of issues
that are rightly left to the state and city level (or university
level in the case of USAC). This astounding concept is called
Federalism, and it is one of the foundations of the United States
government.
When USAC used our student funds to print a full page
advertisement in the Daily Bruin stating their disapproval of the
way the United States has handled Iraq and the imminent war and
when the Los Angeles City Council spent hours discussing a similar
action, students at UCLA and citizens of the city of Los Angeles
were robbed.
Los Angeles has one of the worst school districts in the United
States, is the home of terrible drug and gang problems, has
dilapidated streets, and must handle the massive amounts of illegal
immigrants that come to our beautiful city. UCLA is in the middle
of a budget crisis, is trying to decide whether semesters or
quarters are more desirable, has had a recent surge of crime and is
about to face Tidal Wave II. Yet both governmental agencies have
told the rest of us to screw off, taken the money that we have
provided, and decided to further their own anti-war agendas at the
expense of the people they are mandated to serve.
If the people in USAC and the Los Angeles City Council want to
make any statements regarding the war, either for or against, it is
their right to do so. However, they are not given the right to do
it on our time and with our money.
If some of the members of USAC had gotten together on their own
time and submitted a Viewpoint column, their published opinion
would be completely justified and relevant. Likewise, if the Los
Angeles Times had let members of the Los Angeles City Council print
an opinion piece, it would be a warranted act. Using taxpayer and
student funds to forward an agenda is out and out theft and a
terrible misuse of governmental power.
We should not idly sit by and let our money be used for personal
vendettas. It is immoral and illegal. Both the Los Angeles City
Council and USAC owe us an apology, and each group should pay back
constituents for its waste.