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

"Do the founders have any plans to alter/enhance this web site to allow anonymous voting on individual postings?"

Addressing this as it's more of a technical question than a mission question. A system to allow ratings for comments is likely in the near future.

Do the founders have any plans to alter/enhance this web site to allow anonymous voting on individual postings?

Unity08 is supposed to be a group with an "agenda" (not a platform), but at this point an independent observer (or potential Unity08 candidate) would be hard-pressed to ascertain what that agenda IS.

We need a way to cull through the "meaningless noise" (to use Epicetus' phrase) of the postings in the various forums. Most of the postings are thoughtful, but taken as a whole, don't produce a theme - a coherent picture. A set of issues that unites us rather than divides us.

Do the Unity08 founders trust the people to vote on solutions that are "middle of the road" or will they continue to filter and prioritize the information on the web site as they see fit?

Just a quick thought on Epictetus' approach. In eastern thought there is really no up or down, left or right. There are infinite directions and infinite aspects. We get trapped when we view things from an unreasonably limited perspective. For that reason, I would suggest that rather than focus on "what divides us?" type questions - disecting that which others have created and defined for the specific purposes of dividing us, we might be better served to search for what is missing - in other words, "What will unite us?"

Put another way, is the electorate disgusted because of what is there, or disenchanted due to what isn't. Just a little "getting your mind right" notion...

I want to thank all three Unity08 founders, Zack Clayton, Lindsay Ullman, and Jim Jonas for providing such completely direct, unambiguous answers to my colleague's questions.

I do not recall feeling as satisfied with replies in a context such as this before.

I would say that this puts me on the same sheet of music with you all.

I am far less interested in a specific solution to the fundamental questions to which Seneca refers than I am to a common recognition and commitment to stay on task and work out a consensus solution to those questions.

That is exactly what I'm hearing from you three as the mission of Unity08.

More folks need to be brought into the realization that there is mere, meaningless noise washing over them to distract us all from what our task should be.

We all need to adopt a technique from Eastern "insight" meditation, the purpose of which is to give the meditator insight into the nature of reality and accurate understanding of how everything works.

The technique is to dismiss the outside world as well as the background noise in our heads, the random memories, the thoughts drifting in and out that make us lose our concentration.

One dismisses this noise by simply thinking "noise, noise" or "thinking, thinking" to make the content of these distractions fade away. Over time, this technique let's one stay on task, focus on a single thought for extended periods.

We need the political equivalent to this now and to dismiss the noise so we all can focus on fundamental questions.

Those who refuse to engage on these questions are those who must go and go now.

Those who will work with others of widely disparate views on these questions, willing to work until some agreement can be had, are those I want in government.

You don't have to agree with me on the solutions; you merely have to be willing to engage in the same process and commit to work things out to reach agreement.

That would satisfy me as enough of a platform on which to take a stand.

SMH,

I will google that. I have to admit I was not aware of that, thoguh I suppose everyone has made votes that were wrong, but I would be willing to rething my support which is prompted by a range of things but here because he is being attacked from the fring, sort of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, though like I said I like Senator Lieberman for a range of issues beyond him just not being the most extreme candidate.

vry,

RET

RE: Anyone is Welcome *
SATXRich on July 6, 2024 - 10:58am

Reminder: Two faced Lieberman was the one that opposed the proposal to revised corporate accounting rules in 1993. If these rules had been inacted, the corporate fraud of the 90's, enron etc.. would never have had happened. Lieberman sold out to the insurance industry in his state.

As SEC chairman Levitt said "Lieberman had done the most to prevent the regulatory agency from requiring the proper accounting ..." NO to Lieberman and his corrupt staff.

Lindsay,

Sure anyone is welcome but isn't the idea of Unity08 to be centrist? And sure if someone that was on the fringe is moving to the middle that is great but doesnt' Unity08 have to be an alternative to Air America- Rush Limbaugh , College Replbulcans- College Democrats , YAF - Roosevelt Institution.

On a side note -- are the Unity08 folks in Ct supporting Lieberman as a push back against the extremist that would push him out of the party? I know U08 is focussed on Presidential race but how can one sit on the sidelines?

vry,

RET

Question: What are the plans for recruiting students to balance highly ideological and/or partisan organziations like College Republicans, College Democrats and the Roosevelt Institution?

We've found that Unity08 appeals to a really diverse group of people, from the right and the left. We have students who were former chairs of the College Republicans at their schools and students who led the College Democrats. We have students who have never been politically active before, and students who have always considered themselves moderates. Our recruitment is focused on finding students who feel as we do- that the political system is broken, that neither side is doing anything to fix it, and that our generation, more than any other, is going to pay the most if we don't do something soon.

Question: How can Unity08 succeed without distinguishing between those issues that are fundamental and those which are merely tactical evasions of fundamental issues?

Unity08 supporters themselves will make those decisions. We envision spending a considerable amount of time and effort in building the significant numbers to this movement that will give us the strength to force the candidates who run for our nomination to focus on the fundamental (we call them "crucial") issues that matter -- and not the evasive, emotional, wedge issues that will sidetrack others. The key for our movement is to build the critical mass of people to this movement so that we can, by sheer strength of numbers, force candidates and the movement to stay focused on those fundamental issues.

Zach since you hare here and one of our college founders was curious what the plans are for recruiting students to balance highly ideological and / or partisan organziations like College Republicans, College Democrats and the Roosevelt Insittuion?

vry,

RET

Question: Can we agree that most of these cultural or social issues are a mere smokescreen designed to change the subject of the political debate over basic economics, fairness and equity in this country? Or are we going to contend endlessly without ever considering or even looking into why so many people today feel disgusted with politics in light of the obvious corruption of our government and its clear domination by corporate special interests at the expense of the public interest?

We think people are so disgusted with politics because of the disconnect between politics and the things that really matter to them. Because of the corruption that has infested Washington, the domination of special interests, and a focus on less important issues (like the social issues you mention), politicians are unable or unwilling to take on the issues that are so crucial to the future of this country. No wonder people are disenchanted. And unfortunately, we believe that unless we make a massive change, and quickly, more and more people will continue to turn away.

Note: We're going to answer this forum question in three parts and by three Founders.

Question: What do the Unity08 founders believe divides us? Is it a true difference in politics over questions related to fairness, equity, and property rights -- over sharing the burden of paying for our government? Or are we divided rather by a series of emotional issues related to cultural differences, perceived slights, things used as a tactic to outrage and divide -- what Tom Frank calls Backlash issues?

Both the Republicans and Democrats are manipulating wedge issues to manufacture emotional divisions in the nation that don’t reflect consensus among most Americans that we should be tackling big problems together, regardless of party. But both political parties have such a dismal record of addressing these big issues (like energy policy or the growing economic threat of India and China) that they have to focus on wedge issues to change the subject. It seems like people elected to office should come to Washington to run the government. Instead, they’re engaged in a permanent campaign which makes our politics “us” vs. “them” instead of “we can work together to fix this.”

So, who and what divides us? Political Parties, and their leaders, who secure their seat at the table by purposefully pushing wedge issues at the detriment of political progress.