Editorial

First off, let's consider what real people think about this issue. Because of the size of the government sector these days, a fiscal disaster such as this puts an enormous amount of people out of work. It should not come as a complete surprise, however, because the government has had no money to operate nine times since 1981, and has actually sent workers home four of those times. Understandably when this occurs, almost everyone becomes somewhat disgusted with government. Accusations fly back and forth between Republican and Democratic factions, because both agree that someone is definitely to blame. Just to emphasize the gravity of this situation, and the fact that both sides have good reason to argue, remember that this shutdown could lead to America's first ever default on its trillion dollar loans.

Again, what do students care? Perhaps the best analogy would be that of the ASUO shutting down. Most students have a vested interest in student government, whether they know it or not. Everything from Club Sports to this magazine receives funding from student government, and all of that could come to a screeching halt if a similar situation occurred here. Just as the US government will continue to fund only "essential" positions during this fiasco, student fees would probably only be used to keep the EMU open in a similar situation.

One of the strangest things about the federal shutdown is that even if employees wanted to work for free, just to keep things going, they wouldn't be allowed to. There is actually a law which prohibits people from volunteering for the federal government. Luckily, there is no such law at the University. In fact, many parts of the ASUO function entirely on a volunteer basis; the Commentator is one such example.

If the ASUO was to freeze all but the "essential" portions of its expenditures, a large number of student organizations would continue to operate. Certainly these groups would have to seek some outside contributions or request that their members pay to play, but this is not an entirely unheard of proposition. Last year's student government elections yielded a fair amount of discussion on optional students fees, an idea which is essentially the same as what would need to happen if the ASUO had a fiscal shut down. Of course it wasn't presented as an emergency measure; it was actually a desirable proposal based on fairness, efficiency and certain constitutional freedoms that are currently infringed upon.

If we consider that the University is a microcosm of the real world, then this discussion of the federal shutdown and the hypothesized ASUO shutdown lead to some interesting conclusions. For instance, it must be recognized that if something as profound as the federal government can simply freeze up, then it is entirely possible that the ASUO could also--and in fact this has come close to happening in years past. However, we also see that this would not cripple student life, and in fact, would parallel the existing optional fee plan. Despite the similarities, implementing an optional fee system would be far less painful than the aftermath of a student government collapse. As for the federal government, perhaps its enormous and unwieldy size has caused it to stumble, but in the right direction. Instead of looking for scapegoats in this fiasco, let's all step back for a moment to consider the potential benefits.