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

It is a needed, and truly remarkable idea to put a non-partisan, third party, or independant candidate in the White House in 2024. Something about this excites our passions, to believe that this person would be responsive more to the will of the people than to any party machine as the Democrats and Republicans often seem to be. Even further than that, we have assembled here what was once commonplace in the time of the ancient Greeks, the agora, the city center, the "marketplace of ideas", where all have a spot to speak and be heard. Except Unity '08 has taken that ancient concept and rebuilt it ten thousand times larger with the force of the message board. Who rah.
However, before we all proceed forward here, there is a historical precedent for our movement, and its forecast for our outlook is not good. After his outrage over not being nominated for the 1912 GOP ticket spilled loose, Teddy Roosevelt created the "Bull-Moose" or Progressive Party to move forward his agenda and move him into the White House. The movement worked with no legislative majorities (or even representatives) in most states, few elected officials nationwide, and no grassroots organization and literally gathered around the cult of personality for TR. Roosevelt's complaint echoes much of what the people of America today are fed up with. He said, upon declaring his candidacy that "To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." However, cult of personality was not enough on its own. Roosevelt lost, and the Progressive party was effectively defunct, though in 1924 it was resurrected by Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin as his party to run for President also. Many of the planks of the party platform, including social welfare programs, universal pensions, voting rights for women all became law. But not through the Progressive Party, whose ideas (and base) were largely swallowed up by the Democrats.
And not only that, but the abolition of slavery, the enacting of child labor regulations, the graduated income tax, the direct election of U.S. Senators, all were once proposals of third-party or outside influences not from the Washington mainstream. All however were parts of party platforms that were inevitably swallowed up by the two major parties. All have the same fate, they attempted a run at the White House and failed because of a lack of recognition around the country. My question is, are there any plans/do the delegates believe that it would be a good idea to spread the Unity movement to achieve a legislative majority around the state legislatures and the Congress? Even if we are to elect a ticket of say, Bloomberg, Powell, Bradley, Colbert, Stewart, whomever to the Presidency, they will work with a gridlocked congress largely owned by corporate and special interests.

If we raise a ton of money now, it should be directed also to the achievement of a majority where laws can be passed in several states, so that people can see nationwide that the Unity candidates (or whatever we wish to call them) are effective in spreading change. If I'm off the mark here, or if this has already been discussed, forgive me. But it seems awful relevant.

Kingfish

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