The word \progressive"" is used all the time in describing the UW-Madison campus and the Madison community. But what really is progressive?
I've wondered this since I first came to Madison from Wichita, Kan., and was in awe at all the ""liberals"" doing ""liberal"" things.
Well, things are not that simple. Breaking down the dichotomy of liberal versus conservative is crucial to understanding society as a whole rather than through the tunnel vision created by those arbitrary terms.
Recently, the Associated Students of Madison had elections with a record-breaking 17 percent voter turnout. That's not even a quarter of the student body, but it is the highest turnout yet. Not voting is definitely not due to lack of knowledge that elections were going on, since I can recall being asked if I voted at least ten times passing through Library Mall.
Regardless, the Progressive slate won the votes; the Student Alliance of Madison shut out the traditionalist Badger Party. Great. Now what? Well, we are already seeing a preview of next year as members of SAM range more than people expected during elections.
The culprit of the situation is the same as it has always been: big egos with no concrete goals. Looking at the work ASM has done in the past two years can easily drive you to apathy. As the same old song has been sung year after year with the same internal battles and the tune of ""student power"" being played in different melodies, we can expect only the same for next year.
It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to accommodate societal constructions to progress one's ideas. The basic example of this is claiming that a white person in power who supports people of color is stronger than a person of color in power. Claiming that there needs to be representation by the majority rather than self-representation is a dangerous path to take. It directly contributes to the socializations that institutions strive to enforce so as to maintain race, class and gender inequalities.
This brings us to the root of Madison's dilemma. When the traditional, straight white males are running the show and claim to be progressive or compassionate, we cannot expect them to directly fight for issues that directly affect the underrepresented groups in our community. Even with good intentions, allowing that power dynamic to exist only feeds into the systematic problems many of us are trying to fight.
The drama that has completely occupied student government has hurt students more than anyone. As individuals get caught up in this power trip, ASM turns into a training ground for the U.S. government. While this may not be a bad thing, it ends up paralyzing student organizations that rely on ASM's support to fund the work they do. We need to strive for the best and not compromise for anything below that. There is no reason for students to act like politicians or for freshmen to act like they have it all figured out. None of us do, so we need to stop and listen to those we are trying to help rather than get caught up in our own drama.
We are some of the most fortunate people in the country, being of the elites who landed in a university. Some of us get through wealth, others by earning scholarships and the rest are getting by with loans. Regardless, we are all here, and we have an obligation to strive to move beyond our past and work to progress ourselves forward through education and social interaction.
High school socialized all of us to put white, rich males up on a pedestal and to believe that we must strive to be like that if we want to get anywhere in the world. Of course, there are variations, but for those of us who grew up in the United States, we were blessed with that opportunity. Now is the time to deconstruct those values and to proactively pursue a multicultural, diverse experience. Progressives need to stop and question themselves constantly to realize they too suffer from the same socializations that conservatives accept. Denying racism, sexism, classism or homophobia will not free you from their chains; rather, recognizing them and working to deconstruct them internally may actually lead to the change for which many are fighting.
jesawan@wisc.edu.
