Jeremy McElroy will be the 102nd President of the Alma Matar Society. That fact is now well established. Established, to be sure, amid controversy, but established nonetheless.
Caught Red Handed did not endorse Jeremy McElroy. Caught Red Handed called for his resignation following the websitegate scandal. Most recently, Caught Red Handed called for a blue ribbon commission to investigate the websitegate scandal, determine its facts including possible deterministic effects on the results of the presidential election, and report to the Student Council and the students at large this information and possible courses of action.
But politics are dynamic. Policies that made sense last year, or for that matter, yesterday, may not make sense tomorrow. Ignorance is the unwillingness to change view in light of new information. None of the actions previously called for in relation to websitegate or President McElroy's impending presidency make sense anymore, given the social and political climate of the UBC and the AMS.
Caught Red Handed, therefore, is obliged to extend Mr. McElroy the respect he is due, as the soon-to-be president of our beloved student union. He will be the leader and the highest manifestation of student authority at UBC held by any individual person. As such, he demands, and deserves, our respect.
I took several days to meditate and reflect on McElroy's apology for websitegate.
(It can be found here: http://www.votejeremy.com/2011/01/an-open-apology/ )
Apologies, especially political ones, may have many motivations. There is no doubt that this apology was written with an eye toward pacifying the upset over the scandal. In the past, I raised further questions about its late date of issue. Nonetheless, after careful reading, I find there is a genuine apology at its core. A genuine desire, moral as well as I'm sure, practical, to go back and undo what had been done.
At the last AMS meeting, our dear president Bijan also apologized. Amid criticisms of Bijan, McElroy, and the AMS at large, it is essential to remember that humans are fallible. The cause for concern should not be those who carefully accept this fallibility, but rather, those who attempt to deny it. Those who deny their fallibility are surely the most flawed.
McElroy says, in the apology, that he is ashamed of his actions. I don't doubt that. They were shameful. But there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the past. Everyone has done things of which they are not proud. There is a courage required to accept this, and continue. This is the courage of the gentleman who accepts his fundamental human limitations but does not cede to them more than he must, who begins everyday determined to do his best in spite of them. This is the message of McElroy's apology, and it is a good one.
Any lingering concerns I had about the apology were assuaged last Wednesday. The AMS meeting on Wednesday demonstrated to me that Mr. McElroy deserves more than the minimum of respect with which his office may afford him. His conduct since websitegate, and at other times in the campaign, was nothing if not honorable.
Most notably, his decision to abstain on a tremendously unjustified motion censuring our current president, Bijan, deserves respect and admiration. The animosity between McElroy and Bijan is clear to all. McElroy's decision, though perhaps motivated in some part by self interest - censuring a president ostensibly for election misconduct would be a dangerous precedent for him to set for reasons which should presently be quite clear - was, I think, fundamentally rooted in his acknowledgment that he could never be impartial in such a vote.
McElroy must have had an emotional and political desire to see Bijan censured, yet he abstained. There can be little doubt that this, and the rest of his conduct during the most recent AMS meeting foretold a genuine, mature desire to set aside differences and get into the real business of governing.
It is that business of governing, after all, that McElroy has sought to do throughout his extensive involvement with the AMS.
Caught Red Handed does not flip flop. Even during my most honest and scathing criticism of websitegate, I never doubted McElroy's sincere desire and eminent ability to lead the AMS, if given the proper mandate. It looks as thought he has received the mandate he needed.
President Elect McElroy - you have our respect. We respect your restraint, your maturity, and your authority.
Now I urge you to use all those to the most honorable ends. Improve our student union and our school. Be honest and open and transparent. Don't get caught in conflicts. Not within your executive, not within the AMS, and not with the university, the province, or the federal government. Seek cooperation and genuinely positive change. If you do, we will support you.
Even if you make decisions and pursue policies that we consider destructive, we will continue to respect your authority and your office so long as you uphold the democratic values it represents.
I remember when Rush Limbaugh, a radio host for whom I previously had substantial respect, publicly expressed his desire the United States should suffer and flounder, so that the American people would see the mistake they made in electing President Obama. I've never thought of Rush the same way since. I had been a McCain supporter since well before his intention to run for president in 2008 had been declared. I thought, and still think, McCain was the right choice for the United States. But to hope for your people to suffer for any kind of political gain is among the most heinous forms of treason. All more heinous because it lacks even the grand, if misguided narrative of a true rebel.
Caught Red Handed is not Rush Limbaugh. We do not wish you fail, Mr President Elect. We wish you, and our student union, every success. Don't let us down.
It is no secret that you have strong allies in the campus media, Mr. McElroy. Your cousin edits the UBC. Your girlfriend is similarly involved in its publication. AMS Insiders endorsed you and its editor has publicly supported you. AMS Condifential also endorsed you, and shares with you intimate personal connections too complex to state here. They may sing your praises, but I would encourage not to look to them, tempting as it may be, for an evaluation of the job you're doing.
The Shah of Iran was deposed because he listened to the wrong people. In the weeks before the revolution that threw him into the exile in which he would eventually die, the United States could have easily intervened on his behalf, indefinitely safeguarding his regime. They didn't because he didn't ask them to. He didn't ask them to because right up until the end, his own security team - top notch by any metric - was telling him everything was fine. Of course, they had good reason to. The Shah didn't like bad news. And nobody wanted to give it to him. His intelligence services, well acquainted with the terminal risks to his reign, fed him good news to save their own lives - ultimately at the expense of his government's (he died in exile of natural causes, his government died in terror made by men). Don't listen to those who have every desire to feed you good news and well wishes. Listen to Caught Red Handed, and its ilk. I'll be fair, but thorough.
I suspect you'll have little difficulty listening to the independent blogosphere right now. Caught Red Handed, among others, are eager to see you succeed. But in times of criticism and crisis when the temptation retreat into your well-regarded inner circle will be greatest, embrace the outer circle the most. It is then that you will need Caught Red Handed more than ever, and it is then that Caught Red Handed will need you. Need you to listen clearly, and act decisively on what you hear.
Do good work, honestly, and I assure you that you won't get CAUGHT, RED HANDED.
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