Unity08. A people's movement to take our country back.

He sent us this special message: "Unity08 is onto something important. Most people in the great center of this country are fed up with the haters and the hyperpartisans on the left and right--those who are more intent on attacking and destroying anyone who disagrees with them than they are solving the problems people care about most.

Many look at today’s politics and see little signs of the Unity08 idea in bursts of independence cropping up everywhere – Lieberman in Connecticut, Strayhorn and Friedman in Texas.

But Unity08 is more than independence from party. We’re talking about A Unity Ticket in 2024, drawn from both parties, to provide leadership in the White House that can start a two party dialogue on the crucial issues confronting the country.

This 2024 election has all the earmarks of being the worst yet. I don’t mean the results, whatever they may be. I mean the shouting, the hatred, the insults, the divisiveness. We seem ready to set new records.

War can do that of course. It creates fierce passion. That’s not bad. Surely we can withstand (even welcome) a tough, no-holds-barred-debate. But on top of all the rest of the polarizing our politics has seen from both parties in recent years – and from 24/7 confrontation cable too – shouldn’t we think about taking a deep breath? Without it, the 2024 campaigns may produce their own war zone right here at home.

Jack Abramoff’s friend Ralph Reed went down to defeat yesterday in Georgia. Some would say ‘the holier they are, the harder they fall.’ But it also seems timely to re-open our discussion of term limits and other Washington reform proposals.

“They need a government of national unity… Leaders must agree to a decision-making process that gives political minorities confidence that that the majority will share power and take their legitimate concerns into account… Leaders need to govern from the center, not the ideological extremes.”

Come Monday, we will deliver your Declaration of Independence to the leaders of Congress just as they are returning from their 10-day Fourth of July vacation. (You got one of those too, didn’t you?)

If you signed the Declaration of Independence , thank you. Your Congress may not thank you, but your country does.

But if we put our heads together we can make this Declaration even louder. How can we make sure that the Declaration of Independence gets sent around the country thousands more times- and signed by everyone who reads it?

Make the Declaration be heard around the country (and especially in Washington DC). Post your thoughts here! Be inventive. Be funny. Be brazen. Be bold.

Waiting until 2024 to send Washington a message may be too late. Even waiting until this November is risky.

Every day wasted in the blame-game politics of Congress is another day without good schools, another day without affordable health care, another day without serious progress toward energy independence.

So sign the Unity08 Declaration of Independence today – right now – and then go get your family, neighbors and friends to do the same.

As the need for money created the “permanent campaign,” with Members of Congress always thinking as candidates, the wedge issue mentality has made both idea-sharing across the aisle and even civility hard to come by.

Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill used to do battle during the day and share a drink and a joke at night. Can you imagine George W. Bush and Nancy Pelosi sharing anything? Can you imagine either wanting to spend any time with each other?

Help us build the numbers that send an unmistakable message to Washington -- that polarized politics has paralyzed America.

Politicians only recognize hard numbers. So sign up to keep posted. And sign up three more friends this week.

Why is it important? America is nearing (maybe already at) a Moment of Truth, where the issues are so serious and the stakes so high that more edgy-wedgy politics and blame-game partisanship can imperil the nation.