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April 11, 2005
On MGA, or The Dead Fish Essay
life, thing
Two weekends past, during spring break, a sizable chunk of my high school headed over to Richmond to participate in the Model General Assembly, which puts the roles of various parts of our government on the heads of students and lets them work in the position, mostly creating, debating, and passing laws.
To be more accurate, I myself went to MGEC, the Model General Executive Committee, or something along those lines. I always mix up the letters. The topic was transportation, and although I had no blooming clue what the heck I was supposed to do, and was rather worried about this during the few days leading up to it, it didn't turn out too badly.
MGEC consisted in part of a number of speakers who spoke on transportation, reviewing how exactly things relating to roads, railways, ports, and airports get done in this here state, as well as how these services get funded. These speakers were mildly interesting, especially considering that transportation isn't exactly a striking issue itself. The other part of MGEC was when we split up into groups and, with all of our newfound knowledge, tried to come to a consensus as to how exactly we could solve our transportation issues – primarily, how to fix the great funding hole that is widening with every year.
MGEC actually reminded me of CTY, except with the topic of the governing of transportation replacing that of the philosophy of the mind. I must say, I like debating and learning about philosophy much better, although I expect MGA proper will be much more intriguing than MGEC was. In addition, CTY offered a much longer period of time to get to know your fellow participants; at MGEC, we only had a handful of hours in which we worked together over the course of two days.
In addition to MGEC itself, there were the elections for next year's officials, a tea-toting banquet, and a rather fun ball. The elections were interesting, with speeches ranging from meager attempts which fell on their face to humorous entries of various qualities to full blown guitar-backed songs. One of the adults affiliated with the event later complained that the speeches relied too much on audience appeal, rather than expressing the qualities of the actual candidate. While I agree with this sentiment, I think that it's rather infeasible in the MGA environment.
The few offices and leadership positions which candidates can cite as past experience don't prove much; the voters have no idea how well the candidate did in these positions, whether they were a dead fish who merely enjoyed the title, a good worker who fulfilled the duties, or an exceptional officer who used his power for the greater good.
Rambling on about the qualities that you think will help you fulfill the office you're running for doesn't help much either; even if you're doing more than trying to sound professional, we have little way of knowing if you actually have these qualities. Only a few of the pieces of supporting evidence which the candidates provided actually motivated me to feel that they may indeed have good leadership abilities. Studiously maintaining a job or doing great in school doesn't necessarily mean you have great people skills, and I'm not inclined to take just the word of a candidate who I've only just been introduced to as proof of their claimed skills.
So, while I sympathize which the plea for more seriousness in the candidates' appeals to the voters, before we scour the humor away I think we need to make sure the material beneath it is strong enough to hold the weight of the candidates by itself; if not, we may end up with a bucket full of dead fish to feast on in place of real speeches.
But, on the whole, MGA was an entertaining diversion and an interesting opportunity to learn about things I wouldn't normally even think about. I eagerly await next year when I'll get to participate again, and I hope that my legislative fellows in the House and the Senate then will be more lively and participatory than rumor has it they were this year. Otherwise I may be forced to slap them around a bit with a large trout...
Posted by Trevor Savage at April 11, 2005 11:10 PM