University of Virginia Library

Colloquium

VPP: No Candidate Shortage

By Jeff Kirsch

There is always some critic who
manages to cloud the issues before
a Student Council election. The
"Mickey Mouse" criticism of
Charles Weir in his Colloquium of
Monday did the trick this season.
From his overly-partisan standpoint
while appearing to be objective (he
is a Jefferson Party member, to the
best of my knowledge, and knows
nothing of the workings of the
Virginia Progressive Party), he
managed to raise issues that can
only confuse his readers.

He first criticizes the lack of
candidates available to the parties.
He did not attend the VPP
convention; the VPP had more than
enough candidates and some
dropped their candidacy when they
saw the slate offered at convention
time. He praises the JP (their "wise
choice") for fielding only four
candidates. They had no choice;
they only had four candidates. The
VPP had excellent contention for
the nomination of both the
Presidency and Vice-Presidency of
Student Council. The JP, for the
second year in a row, had no
qualified presidential candidate and
also had no vice-presidential
candidate.

Mickey Mouse

For someone who condemns
politics as "Mickey Mouse," his
description of the almost riotous JP
convention is filled with he rhetoric
of a political admirer. "Could these
wearied veterans of the campaign
trail (the JP) still carry the victory
banner as they had just a year ago
in last spring's election?" If his
verbosity was an attempt at
sarcasm, one cannot be sure after
reading other columns of his (see
the mashed potato story). The JP
has not won since last spring.

And his mention of finances -
yes, the spending limit is different
for obvious reasons. In fielding its
"best men" (their only men) the JP
sacrificed the added expense
allotment. Of course, the VPP will
spend little more than the JP,
anyway!

"Me Too Liberal"

However, not all Mr. Weir says
in his column is distorted. "A major
fallacy in the JP is their lack of
diversity in political
opinions. There are few moderates
and no liberals in the party." I
agree.

Mr. Weir also charges, and in my
opinion attacks correctly, that "in
an attempt to lose their
conservative image, the JP has come
out with their 'Me too liberal'
posters."

But this "Me too liberal"
attitude has characterized not only
their posters for the past elections,
but their platforms as well. The
VPP, since its conception, has run
on a platform of student
involvement, minority recruitment,
a funded transition program,
academic reform, and other
programs that at one time were
liberal. The VPP has continued in
these areas. The JP, on the other
hand, often has waited until the
VPP platform has appeared and
virtually copied it.

And today the programs and
ideas that are aired in political
campaigns, for all practical
purposes, are the same for both
parties. This leads people to
discount both parties as out of the
same mold. But there are
differences.

Faits Accomplis

The VPP, its members and its
platforms, have consistently pushed
for the reforms which today either
are faits accomplis or "obvious."
The VPP began the effort with
regard to student participation and
university-wide reform.

The VPP's members and
candidates, by and large, have
worked hard to familiarize
themselves with the issues, and have
shown their concern by working
with University and Student
Council related activities. This
familiarity and effort cannot
usually be seen in the JP
candidates.

As to Mr. Weir's charge that the
"Virginia Progressive Party seems to
be content in going around in
circles ending the war in Vietnam,
freeing Angela Davis, and enlarging
the already bulging Student Council
bureaucracy," he indeed misses the
point. Yes, the VPP has signed the
People's Peace Treaty in an effort
to end the war because the
members felt this should be done
and that it is a legitimate interest of
students (since we're the one's that
must fight, if for no other
reasons!). As far as Angela Davis is
concerned - though I'm sure that
members' opinions differ, no party
opinion poll or stance has ever been
taken. And I feel the VPP must
forfeit the right of feeding the
bureaucracy by itself! Of course a
bureaucratic structure is somewhat
necessary, but the responsibility for
its functioning belongs to people,
not parties (and again the VPP has
not taken a stance on
bureaucracies). Mr. Weir...?

Many of us have become
disenchanted at times with the
party structures and the parties
themselves, but they do serve a
useful purpose. The financial
support is invaluable and the idea
of "tickets," (if the candidates
agree on general ideas and
directions) help a great deal in
campaigning and voting. Also, it is
important for the candidates to be
responsible to somebody for their
actions, and often the student body
as a whole is not aware of their
actions.