Congratulations Progress!

Huge congratulations to the hardworking GDI's of the Progress Party. You won 11 seats, maybe/probably more! This iis so huge and you should be feeling like true champions. Also congratulations to Mr. Reynolds - the first Asian Student Body Treasurer .. oh no wait.... that was Dennis Ngin (for that post you actually get directly voted for), Mr. Reynolds got the ages old veep spot where the Machine places members of minority communities to guarantee every vote will be of benefit to their (real) candidate (the SBP).

Also...who can forget Mike Bowen slandering me in a Senate meeting six years ago -- and the Alligator giving him the forum to further his cause of screaming to the heavens that the Voice Party did not represent graduate interests.

TODAY... seeing Progress take 9 of 10 grad seats -- makes me totally ecstatic. You have won an entire voter bloc, but instead of moving to the next one... ensure to represent them (as you would all students) aggressively.

The residents of the IFC/PC houses are forced to vote, they are intimidated, and many are pledges being hazed daily, where voting and handing over a sticker's proof is an easy day. They (the Machine) have been fighting online voting since day 1 --- then there will be intimidation and there will be no proof - voter boards will be done away with and people that vote (that actually want to vote) will cast their ballots w/ some privacy.

In a fair election -- one side does not win all but four races in over a century. This "indepndent" newspaper (apparently) couldn't see. Regimes - where a select few rule over the masses - have been crushed in Egypt, Tunisia, and are now being confronted in Bahrain and elsewhere...but alas ... the little dictators at UF-SG continue winning election after election .... corralling fresh new recruits each term, for a variety of purposes -- one of which includes mass voting for parties they don't know about, candidates they can't count on, and a system they have even less influence over than the GDI's with their 11 seats.

The people whose voices REALLY don't count... are the residents of those house. When I went to Vice President Kate Honey and asked to get involved (as a 2x Ignite House Leader), I was ignored for over three weeks. My applications went nowhere, my calls never returned, and my suggestions never addressed. I was the person that got her elected and delivered dozens of votes, but I wasn't from ATO or Sig Ep, I was from Fiji.

The point is ... congratulations to the Progress Party -- they are the real winners in this election. The Unite Party, the Alligator, and others ... you are responsible for allowing the machine yet again to dominate a democratic institution through strong-arm tactics and downright cheap campaigning. The good ole boy system just keeps on goin.

When shall we start the 4 interviews? GDI calendars don't end with the election --- that's only when the crooks stop working. I'd like to start with Dave if possible -- ending with Justin.

There will be more posts...

but rest assured that true GDI parties, like worker parties throughout the world, do not begin w/ slating and go on vacation after elections are decided. If anything, every vote that has been earned through your noble efforts on the campaign trail, should re-invogorate you to resist the Machine through conitnued advocacy and legal-but-cripping defiance. Senators -- BRING GUESTS -- leaders and key members of the very organizations that voted you in. Make the others listen, and make them publicly silence voices of dissent.

Filibuster their meetings till they drop from exhaustion, one by one. And believe you me -- they cave real quick. Anytime you see people going for smokes or out to chat w/ their lackeys, call quoroum! File formal amendments and stall every presidential appointment you can, until the full senate has satisfactorily questioned each candidate. This after all is a key responsibility you owe to your constiuents."

The votes and new supporters you've earned over the course of the last two days, will give you even more reach into a campus that ideologically supports you. GDI's cannot look to the Alligator to be the voice of the students, much like liberals can't find a single radio station on the AM Dial. This is why liberals have been working for years on their own radio station in north central florida. In my days, it seemed to be nearly complete (through the CMC & Jack Donovan).

After the travesty of endorsing Unite! and their basis for coming to that conclusion -- GDI's should now include creating their own student paper. Certainly not a publication that sells ad-space and/or spends tons of money on color photos or fancy-font-headings, but a DIY, limited run, e-zine type of publication. It could be weekly, bi-weekly, it could be monthly, or it could come out once a semester. The focus of this paper would be to mirror the efforts we used to have such events like Radical Rush. Don't throw these copies out like it's virtually free to produce them. Talk to the students, talk to them again, and if they ask you (and they will), almost like entrust them w/ an issue. You're not being encourgaed to enter into the newspaper business, you're being asked to further the Movement.

Ask Grapksi to give you some suggestions from time to time; he is the Father of the Modern Independent movement at UF

There are no limits to how hard you can rally popular support against the century-plus FBK/Greek dominance over Student Government. You are doing a great service for the institution by fielding candidates and engaging in the democractic process, but if you can fill the streets with protesters, gather thousands of signatures on petitions, influence the arts and gain the support of creative people, and if you can win over rebels in the houses and slowly but surely Unite! (like the British/Irish trade union, not the System party you are currently facing)-- then what the fuck is 282 worth? What's a few air-conditioned offices with immaculate suits and daily, nauseating pleantries from people that wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire in the real world?

You're GDI's, you're not office bureaucrats. Your only goal in getting to the 3rd floor is to bring it down to the ground floor. You don't want to rule over the student body, you want to co-rule w/ them. Go to Orange & Brew -- or whatever it's called, boohoo, clap your hands, maybe walk over to the Unite crowd and discretely rip one and turn to their most popular candidate and be like "that was just not cool, I mean don't you have any manners? I mean farting in the middle of a group of people? (J/k don't do that...but would be funny).

Student Government is about the students. Slate, run, go to Orange & Blue, win or "lose," but you're a GDI (not an independent, you're a GDI) and you're work never ends.

Alligator Proves It's a System Rag

"Although we love the underdog mentality and the activist bent the Progress Party espouses itself to, the Editorial Board has decided to endorse the Unite Party in the election. It was a choice between our belief that a party could accomplish all items presented in its platform and the knowledge that they — both the party and the candidates themselves — have a proven record of doing so."

Source

With students and workers taking to the streets, facing off tanks and gunfire for democracy --- you would think The Alligator would actually reward a student SG party that also had an "activist bent," but t his second-rate off-campus rag is incapable of actually putting their money where their mouth is.

What does Unite represent? When's the last time a UF Student Party has had a stance on anything beyond the boundaries of the university? I want the names of every member of the Alligator board. I want those names in the comment section. Let's see who these people are -- and where their loyalties lie.

How can they say they appreciate the activism and then endorse Unite?

It's Good Seeing Progress in 2011

It was undeniable to many by the famous (or infamous, depending on your political position) 12/11 Meeting that the Independent movmement had reached a point where the last remnants of the Access/Unite project were being forced out. The days of Samuels' theory of blending independents with the mainstream were coming to an end. Independents, once again, wanted to be different. It wasn't about being different in an Iron Fist or Pants (1st term era) kinda way, either - it was a lot deeper than that.

A mainstream independent party (the likes of O&B, Action, Unite, and Access [Fall 2004]) would never dare openly challenge the UF President, aggressively put UPD in check, back migrant workers, SDS, human rights, or the struggles for democracy and dignity of oppressed men and women, worldwide.

I still remember being only one of two senators to vote against UF-SG support of our military operations overseas. My fellow colleague was Sen. Becca Guerra, who would later become an established name with the other side.

I still think in terms of FBK-backed Greeks and Independents when it comes to UF - nothing's changed and nothing will. Some will say they're not of any particular side -- that they're liked by all -- but that's largely a crock of shit. If you're liked by all - drink w/ all, party w/ all, break bread w/all, but it when comes down to slating, tabling, and voting -- all bets are off. Indies with indies and FBK-backed tools with the like. When someone backstabs them (the Maj.) -- they're written off. They get even, we forgive. If you get betrayed, don't take it personally -- take it partisanly. They didn't betray you - they betrayed all the students whose interests you represent. It's a far greater slight than taking it personally. STOP making the Minority the safehaven for Judases and opportunists. If they betray The Movement, they shouldn't be let back in.

Progress was always much more than SG, just like the Voice core of Access took on great things - from a Human Rights Rally to my good friend Peter Gruskin being illegally fired from his position, with hundreds of pages redacted in black, in a conspiracy that may very well have gone up as high as the Dean of Students Office. We weren't your Unite/Action people, we were your Student Alliance '03 and Progress kinda people.

Christian Duque is your Progress kinda Indie, Ken Kerns is prolly closer to the middle, and James Argento is the middle (but secretly pulls liberal towards Kerns). Charlie Grapski is our maker.

Progress has amplified what we tried doing with Voice -- or let's get real -- what I tried doing w/ VP. By Fall 2005, Voice had been registered three terms straight and was the oldest SG party in existence -- but Voice was largely Christian Duque -- I held all the power and nothing was ever done w/o my stamp of approval.

Progress is a real party, with many great members, and everyone has a vested interest - a key role to play. For a brief moment, Access, Spring '04 felt like a revolution. It didn't matter if we won or not, it was icing on the cake... but we were poised to shake the very foundations of an almost century's old regime. I suspect Progress is up to the same no good as we were :)

I labeled four people on this post -- I'd like to release an interview with each person from here up to the election. Whoever would like to go first, please message me at: Christian@StrengthAddicts.com or on FB. If one of the four would like to pass the honor onto someone else -- that's cool too. Usually a blogger would want to interview the presidential candidate only -- but usually the "blogger" is a system tool and the "parties" are fan clubs for "1."

In a real independent party -- everyone plays a role and everyone is integral to victory. :) And no one is expected to break out the knee-pads for a chance at getting on E-board. lol