My regret for voting for Matt W. snuck up on me slowly. At first, I was thrilled — my candidate won and I could sleep peacefully knowing that he would start fulfilling all of his campaign promises.The next day at school, I proudly wore one of the buttons his dad bought for his run — MATT ATTACK! — and giddily awaited Matt’s first speech. I didn’t have to wait long. Miss McCormick called on Matt in homeroom and asked him to share his plans for the future and maybe tell us what he would do at the first student government meeting. Matt looked dumbstruck. “Student government meeting? I’m not going to that. Presidents don’t have to do that!” I was floored.
Deciding to vote for Matt W. was not an easy choice. When he was caught cheating on a spelling test for writing the spelling words on his pants, I thought, I’m definitely voting for Xavier. But then Xavier dropped out of the race due to stress from the death of his guinea pig (though rumor had it that he actually dropped out after Matt W.’s smear campaign against him that revealed his pants-wetting history), and I was left with only two options. Matt W. or Amelia.
Amelia was far from the ideal candidate that everyone made her out to be. Sure, she proposed a way of reallocating funds to allow for one extra chocolate milk day a month, but she had also skipped a grade and was kind of jerk. Then, we found out that Amelia was passing notes with Aiden P.
This would be Matt’s main campaign promise — Amelia would face detention time for passing notes to Aiden P. Even when Amelia insisted she felt that note passing would be the best way to discretely let Aiden know that someone had taped a KICK ME sign to his back, Matt’s followers — myself included — wanted her to face justice.
Now that Matt is student body president, I see that his promises meant nothing. I see that I was foolish to think we needed a shake up. We wanted a non-honors student and what we got was Matt — big, bold Matt, unafraid to stand up to teachers, just crazy enough to make grand promises, but also, unafraid of breaking those same promises.
And now, as I watch Matt tell us lie after lie — he’ll release his report cards when he’s good and ready, he never made fun of Brian’s stutter, he once met John Cena — I can’t help but feel regret for my vote. His policy decisions have been brash and misinformed. When he barred 6th graders from the playground, a move applauded by many in his base, I couldn’t shake the feeling that all of us, at some point were 6th graders too. How could we fear and vilify the 6th grade when each and every one of us has known a 6th grader or been a 6th grader at some point in our history? News just surfaced that Matt himself is secretly passing notes. Can we stand by and let him get away with the same so-called crimes that sunk Amelia’s campaign?
I know I’ll face some ridicule for this article, but it must be said. Matt W. is not the candidate we had hoped he would turn out to be. My peers still think Matt W. can deliver on his promises. That we’ll have an extra hour of recess and no school on Fridays. I know better. I live with my regret everyday.