Unity08
Unity08 is an American political group whose aim is to build a coalition of supporters from both Democratic Party and Republican Party through various methods, mainly their web site. Unity08 started as (and is currently) a 527 non-profit organization though its legal status may evolve depending on rulings of the Federal Election Commission on how and whether Unity08 can legally do what it intends to do in 2008.
Organization
The first three people involved in Unity08 as an idea were Doug Bailey, Hamilton Jordan, and Gerald Rafshoon. They reached out to other people including: Roger Craver, Nicco Mele, Jim Jonas, Angus King, Dave Maney and college students Lindsay Ullman and Zach Clayton. This group recruited rest of the the Founder's Council which existed before Unity08 became an official organization. [1] [2] After the announcement of Unity08 at the beginning of June 2006, people began organizing around the group in a less tightly coordinated way. The first political candidate running under the Unity banner and explicitly inspired by Unity08 is Harry Welty. Grassroots organizing efforts like the Unity Supporters formed and began to grow. At the same time, Unity08 began a general public outreach, based mostly its official website and outreach to college students (spearheaded by Lindsay Ullman) via on-campus activities and Facebook.
As the Unity Movement gained support (possibly in part due to public pressure on its web page for more transparency[3]), people became involved in its governance in more formal ways: a steering committee (composed of four people from the founders council) was formed[1] to oversee Jim Jonas (the already announced CEO of Unity08) and a rules committe was formed to develop written recommendations[4] on the basis of public comments[5] for the way the online Unity Convention should operate in 2008.
Beliefs
Unity08 claims that neither the Democratic Party or the Republican Party reflect the will of the majority of Americans. Among its claims are that both parties have polarized and alienated their constituents and that both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups, as well as excessively dominated by money.
The organization believes that while the leaders of both major parties are well intentioned people, they are trapped in a flawed system – and that the two major parties are today simply neither relevant to the issues and challenges of the 21st Century nor effective in addressing them. [6]
Goals
According to Unity08's web site, the organization has three specific goals:
- The election of a Unity Ticket for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States in 2008 – headed by a woman and/or man from each major party or by an independent who presents a Unity Team from both parties. [6]
- For the people themselves to pick that Unity Ticket in the first half of 2008 – via a virtual and secure online convention in which all American voters will be qualified to vote. [6]
- To effect major change and reform in the 2008 national elections by influencing the major parties to adopt the core features of their national agenda. [6]
In addition to these goals, Unity08 claims that its effort is not to begin a new third party, but to "fix" the two major ones. However the organization does not rule out the possibility of a new party forming because of the action taken by the project. [6]
Because of its democratic and electoral nature, the organization does not have a platform and does not take sides on issues. However, the organization has divided issues (presumably that its elected nominees will have a platform for) into two distinct groups: crucial issues and important issues. Crucial issues are those that the country's future is dependent on, such as foreign or economic policy. Important issues are polarizing "wedge issues" issues such as gay rights, abortion, and gun control. [6]
The organization has also introduced the [www.unitypetition.com][Unity Petition]] effort, aimed at gathering over one million signatures of people supporting the organization's goals during the 2006 midterm elections on November 7, 2006. [6]
Criticism
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Many people in the left-wing political blogosphere have expressed frustration with the amount of energy going into the project. [citation needed]
Others on the left contend that Unity08's "pox on both houses" viewpoint concerning the major parties is unfair to many recent centrist Democratic presidential tickets. They contend that the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry have tried to skirt polarizing issues, while Republicans have used those issues to motivate their conservative base.
Still others of all political stripes contend that the Unity08 ticket will serve as a "spoiler" for one party's ticket, siphoning off enough votes from one candidate and delivering the election to the other (while failing to win the election itself). Critics point to the third party tickets of Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 and Ralph Nader in 2000 that may have delivered those elections to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
References
- ^ a b "The Governance of Unity08". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^ "Unity08: Founders Council (in process of formation)". Retrieved 2006-06-12.
- ^ "Forum: Ask Unity08 Founders". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^ "Rules Committee". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^ "Forum: Unity08 Rules Committee". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Our Beliefs, Our Goals & Why We'll Succeed". Unity08. Retrieved 2006-06-12.