For as long as there have been planned economies, planned economies have failed — miserably. The former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia are examples, to name a few. Even the shortfalls of planned economies are well-known: shortages, surpluses, lack of incentive for innovation and even corruption. Yet, year after year at Northwestern we students willingly submit to the failed policies of central economic planning: ASG.

Every year, ASG begins its tyranny by stealing a sum of money from each and every student. Sure, it gives this theft a rosy name — the “Student Activities Fee” — but I certainly did not voluntarily give this money to ASG. Did you? And then with this money, ASG relies on its friends—or should I say comrades?— on the Student Activities Funding Board to decide where this money ought to go, before officially giving away your money in whatever fashion it deems appropriate. And so it goes with the status quo.

Certainly this band of college students knows how to spend my money better than I do, right? I might do something silly and spend it all on things I value, rather than give it to groups which other people deem important. In fact, if I were allowed to spend my own money, I might do something crazy and give it to a group not “recognized” by ASG. What a ridiculous, horrible outcome that would be!

If only there were some allocation mechanism for funding that did not involve ASG or another central planning committee…

The question regarding ASG funding is not to whom ASG should give money, but rather — should ASG be allowed to provide funding at all? Emphatically, no. The fact is simply that ASG fundamentally can never allocate funds efficiently or fairly the way students working in their own self-interests can. Markets work. Period.

How many students were denied tickets to see Girl Talk, B.J. Novak, or The Flight of the Conchords this year? Well, that is simply too bad for those students since they were forced to fund events they could not attend. How many ASG funded events have you, the reader, not attended this year? Well, too bad — because you paid for those too.

Critics will claim that certain events would never happen without ASG funding. To that I say: good riddance! If the free market would not provide such events, it is clear that the students do not actually value them. But what critics do not consider is the events that do occur will be better than ever.

Imagine if student groups were required to fundraise for and charge admission to their events. What do you think would be the likely outcome? As with any sort of competition, the product, in this case the events, would get better and better as groups vied for students’ dollars. Groups would collaborate with one another and pool resources in efforts to win students over.

All ASG’s central planning does is promote mediocrity. Mayfest, for example, has no real incentive to make Dillo Day great. If it is simply good enough for students to attend, then of course they will. Mayfest just has to sit back and wait for ASG to bless them with thousands of dollars. What if Mayfest had to work for that money? Imagine how responsive they would become to students’ desires. (I mean Mayfest and Dillo Day no offense. I simply chose them as timely examples.)

Central planning has never been and will never be an efficient means of allocation. History is strewn with examples of failed attempts. When will Northwestern students stop submitting themselves to such oppression and rise up to take control of their own lives? We do not need ASG funding. Give the students their money back and allow freedom to thrive.

– Daniel Kaatz

SESP junior