I would like to address two columns that were published Wednesday and Thursday critiquing the Alligator for covering the various events of the Progress Party and Dave Schneider.
The common point that each brought up was that there are members of the UF community who volunteer, and they aren’t given the front page of the newspaper, so why should the Progress Party and Dave Schneider get all the attention?
I would first like to say that I respect and openly admire those active members of the UF community — it’s because of you that our campus is as alive and inviting as it is. The second point I would like to bring up is that these esteemed members of our Student Body aren’t currently running for Student Government.
If we were to look at UF as a microcosm of the United States and draw a parallel between the two, we could observe this similarity: There are hundreds of people in both environments who volunteer and help out. However, if we look at the U.S., the only people who get due attention are politicians.
John Doe may go out every day and volunteer at the local hospital, but it’s when the political candidates volunteer that the cameras start flashing and the reporters start gathering.
It doesn’t mean that John Doe’s efforts are pointless and should go forgotten; it simply means that John Doe isn’t trying to obtain a seat of power and isn’t looking for the overwhelming responsibility of running our country. The people of the United States don’t need to decide whether John Doe is a good choice to represent them, but they need to decide which politician is going to represent them.
A more crass example would compare the average working man with the politician and how society deals with their respective extramarital affairs. If John Doe had an affair somewhere in Alabama, we wouldn’t even bat an eyelash — we wouldn’t even care. However, why did the whole nation go into an uproar when they caught wind of John Edward’s, Eliot Spitzer’s and, the most infamous of all, President Clinton’s affairs?
The simple answer is because these are men in power and these are the men whom we trust with the future our nation. When they fall, we do too. When they are dishonest, America is, too.
This brings me back to our immediate environment and the current political elections.
The Alligator should publish the events that the Progress Party and the Unite Party partake in because their actions are the catalysts that help the Student Body decide who is going to run our government.
If there are some students who are upset because they feel one party is getting more attention than the other, my advice is that the party in the shadows needs to step up its game.
