Citizens party hopes to reverse
student apathy toward politics
By David Steinmetz
Of the Emerald
Only seven per
cent of University
students who regis
tered to vote actually
voted in the May 18
primary elections.
That trend among
University voters needs
to be reversed, accor
ding to a recently
formed political party
The three-year-old
Citizens Party believes
that through a series of
forums, films and
speeches. University
students can be en
couraged to participa
te in political, econ
omic, and educational decisions
Several of the 125 local chapter members are
also looking forward to getting involved in the
possible reinstatement of a campus chapter,
which has "lapsed" since a 15-member high in
1980, according to Glen Gibbons, Citizens Party
state secretary
“We want to organize people, not just
promote big-name candidates," Gibbons says
The Democratic and Republican parties have
approached local politics as virtually non-parti
san, but the Citizens Party is getting involved in
issues that are "extremely important to the future
of the city and the quality of people’s lives "
An outgrowth of this involvement is a slate of
75 Citizens Party candidates running tor offices
across the country, including several guberna
torial and seven U S. Congressional candidates
Citizens Party member Laurel Paulson will be
on the ballot tor District 40 of the Oregon House of
Representatives, and Laura Stine is one of two
candidates running for District 44
Party candidates are also running for the
Portland Metropolitan Service District position,
and Yamhill County commissioner and clerk
Citizens Party members currently hold seats on
a number of city councils and school boards,
including three seats on the Burlington, Vt , city
council
In a recent election a Citizens party candidate
came within 1 percent of being elected to the
Atlanta city council.
Barry Commoner, running in the 1980 pre
sidential race on the Citizens Party platform,
received nearly a quarter of a million votes
Gibbons said the party's 20.000 to 30,000
members are active in 30 states, with most of the
Rocky Mountain and Southern states absent
The membership is generally middle-class,
white, and employed in white collar jobs, he says.
The party calls for "massive cuts "in the
defense budget as a remedy to the shortage of
higher education funds and high interest rates on
loans, Gibbons says
They also want the ROTC and Department of
Defense research contracts off college cam
puses, and disagree with the draft and the present
system of registration
The party also
proposes a "disar
mament race" which
calls for one of the nu
clear nations to per
manently inactivate
one nuclear weapon,
with a pledge to disarm
another one if the other
side will do the same,
and so on Several
European political par
ties also support this
plan
Gibbons says the
University is
"squeezing out
students" from deci
sion-making where
there needs to be more
student participation
The low voter turnout in the recent primary
election shows University students are not con
cerned about local politics, according to James
Gore, local chapter treasurer
"Students really are affected by the (Eugene
City) Council's decisions, he says
Many voters have lost all hope in politics,"
and become disillusioned with the current
democratic process because of the lack of choice
between the two major political parties, he says
But it is the party's commitment to their
platform as much as the platform itself which
separates this new progressive party from the
familiar two, Gibbons says
Domination by corporate interests have
made the Republican and Democratic parties less
committed to their platforms and to their
members. Gibbons says
Gore suggests United States presidents are
"more or less rented for four years" under this
kind of system
The Citizens Party is also "interested in a
more democratic style of politics," by increasing
input from all of society, according to Eugene City
Councilor John Ball
But it all begins in local politics, which
currently has a terminal case of hardening of the
arteries," Ball says
Citizens Party members are "a very good
source of energy, committed to local politics,"
and can "jazz it up," he suggests.
Ball, an Independent, says although he is not
yet a Citizens Party member, he agrees with their
platform and attends their meetings.
He first became interested in the party and
their ideas after Commoner's 1980 presidential
campaign
Locally, Ball has translated the Citizens Party
platform into goals of economic diversification for
the area, a better representation by women and
minorities in the city’s decision-making process,
and more involvement by the community in local
politics
The local chapter's involvement in his recent
campaign, through canvassing and "basic
grass-roots work," gave him "a real good victory
margin” over a better financed campaign in a
largely blue-collar, working class area, Ball says.
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