Posted by Nathan Miller in Question for the Candidates - Clarification About Questions
Unless I’m mistaken, I think the point of Joe’s question about questions was missed; and if I am wrong, I think this point is worth asking as well. This is for all the candidates, and to reiterate, the following comment had been made:

If only questions mattered other than to piss off the candidates…

Everyone answered about questions targeted at pissing someone off, but I believe the point is actually do questions to candidates actually matter? Will answers to these questions change anything?

With that in mind, I reiterate Joe’s questions:

Do you agree with this sentiment? Why or why not?
If you were in a conversation with someone and they said something like this, how would you react?
Do you think this sentiment is indicative of a larger problem with our club? If yes, what is the problem and what (if anything) would you do to solve it? If not, why not?

Sincerely,

Nathan

There’s something funny about the initial conversation for this election being “why do we bother?”

1. I don’t agree with that sentiment, but I empathize with it. I understand feeling distant, removed from the process. If you don’t normally engage with government, the sudden emphasis on it every eight months, where the great impact you might have could be a simple question, that might leave those feelings behind.

2. I could say that I would try to persuade them, show them that their voice matters. And I very well may. But that is a bigger goal, a bigger project than one conversation. Is it systemic? I don’t know. It is bigger than just the elections. It’s a year-round problem, that I want to discuss with people. From all over and all vintages of member. If it’s truly all one or few problems making a common symptom of holding back from engaging… there’s a common thread to be found. And act from a basis of more information.

3. To begin with, I do think questions matter. If no questions are asked, it’s just a popularity contest and whoever wins gets to be in charge. Questions offer the opportunity for members to bring up their concerns for the club and have them addressed wholeheartedly. I contrast any question here with Abigail G’s thread in command recently where the question and any attempts to answer it got lost in the arguing. Here, each person makes their response and quiet exit, absent the bickering. Will the answers to these questions change anything? Maybe, maybe not. But having 0 questions is guaranteed to do nothing. The attempt is valuable.

-Fleet Captain Sage Pennington