Virginia Has Its First Whig Congressional Candidate in 160 Years — Against Rep. Gerry Connolly

Not that Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) is in the slightest bit of danger politically speaking in 2018, nor should he be as he’s done an excellent job, but still, it’s noteworthy when a political party runs a candidate for Congress for the first time since the 1850s! FYI, the Whig Party platform includes things like the following (most of which sounds fine to me):

• “Electoral reform lies at the heart of Modern Whig methodology. We believe all citizens have an equal right to be represented in the democratic process and an equivalent duty to participate in it. We oppose all attempts to limit participation or distort representation. Our current political system unduly restricts political competition and undermines the average citizen’s ability to properly exercise their political rights and duties.”
• ” An economic model relying on people spending money they do not have to buy things they do not really need is a house of cards which will inevitably collapse under a growing mountain of debt. Whigs also do not subscribe to failed models of statist wealth redistribution. What our nation needs is a new economic model based on innovation and entrepreneurship.”
• “While charter schools may offer a temporary solution for some of the students currently trapped in low-performing public schools, it is a moral imperative that our public schools be fixed.”
• “Modern Whigs have always supported equal treatment under the law for all adults.  We do not believe that the inalienable rights to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ are in any way negated by a person’s race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
• “The Modern Whig Party believes the federal tax code needs to be drastically simplified and made more equitable.”
• “End our dependence on oil and develop alternative sources of energy (wind, solar, nuclear, etc.) in order to satisfy our needs without placing our economy and national security at risk.”
• “Implementing a domestic Marshall Plan focused on replacing our 20th Century infrastructure with modern, 21st Century systems”
• “Modern Whigs value reason above all. For us, the question of whether global warming and the associated changes to our climate is happening, and whether human activity is the primary cause of it, is completely non-political. The best available science indicates unequivocally the use of fossil fuels is gradually driving the average global temperature higher, and as the temperature rises most of the effects will be detrimental to our way of life.”
• “Health insurance should be available, portable and affordable for all citizens, with means-tested government subsidies for those who cannot pay in full.”
• “The United States is and has always been a country of immigrants. The Modern Whig Party understands the dual responsibility of securing our borders while also dealing realistically with those undocumented immigrants already in the country.”