A disinterested first-time visitor to your website
will quickly see from your statement at
unity08.com/believe#4 that you are *against*
of public life. You are
*against* uncompromising political partisanship
*against* the federal deficit
*against* corrupt lobbying practices in Washington
*against* climate change
*against* dependence on foreign petroleum
*against* terrorism
And that little list of obvious present-day "bad things"
is all that you say you "believe."
The trouble is, what you list are not "beliefs." They
are only a little collection of big grievances, an
expression of mere disgruntlement without any of the
energizing, uniting power of true, *positive* political
beliefs or principles. Your manifesto as presently
written only grumbles and rails against present facts
without any redeeming hint as to what specifically you
would expect Unity candidates to do about what you
dislike.
Because there is no such positive declaration
anywhere in it, your manifesto is devoid also of
effective power to *unite* those who read it.
Everyone--Democrat, Republican, or Independent--
deplores uncompromising political partisanship
(except uncompromising partisans)
deplores deficit spending
(except those who profit from it)
deplores corrupt lobbying practices in Washington
(except the special interests they serve)
deplores climate change
(except those who release excessive carbon dioxide)
deplores dependence on foreign petroleum
(except vendors and traders of foreign petroleum)
deplores terrorism
(except terrorists)
None of this *unites* you with anyone, it merely
makes you *indistiguishable* from others, because
you offer no more positive idea than anyone else
does of what specifically you expect or propose
should actively be done about what you decry.
Mere Indistinction is not Unity.
If your intended movement toward Unity is to end
in anything better than a quiet fizzle, surely
you must devise a more positive message, saying
forthrightly what particular good endeavors you
expect your eventual nominees to be qualified for,
and committed to accomplishing.
Otherwise, what's the point? Why pay attention,
time, or money to your mere disgruntlements if
you have no collectively shared notion what
concretely needs to be done besides just vaguely
electing "somebody else?" Who of intelligent mind
will suppose that alone might somehow be enough?
Perhaps in fact you are not really sufficiently
united amongst yourselves to constitute an
effective Unity movement.
Or perhaps you fear that the requisite specificity
regarding policies, while attracting some, might
alienate others. But as you very well know,
that is the inherent and inescapable nature of
efficacious political purpose.
If, as you say, you want actually to unite millions
in adherence to your Unity movement, you need
forthrightly and courageously to articulate and
advocate precisely what you believe such millions
positively want, and let the consequences of your
express suppositions about that be what they may.
You cannot merely put all such consideration off
onto some completely unforeseeable candidates'
shoulders with any reasonable expectation of
electing such candidates, or of their being
actually beneficial if elected. To do so merely
toys with a modality of political purpose,
completely ignoring its content.
It may not matter whether you get a bank loan
online or in a physical bank building; either,
way, there has to be a loan officer, and funds
to lend.
It may not matter whether you hold an auction
online or in a physical auction shed; either
way, there has to be an auctioneer, and something
for sale.
It may not matter whether you fill a medical
prescription online or at a physical pharmacy;
either way, there has to be a pharmacist, and
a stock of pharmaceuticals.
It may not matter whether you hold a political
party convention online or in a physical
convention hall; either way, there has to be
a political party, and a campaign platform.
Where and what is the Unity Party? Where and what
is its platform?
As potentially just one of your millions of
voters, I have rather exact ideas of what
I want done politically, and I am not so
vain as to suppose there are not many millions
more like me in the exactitude of their wishes,
if not the specific content of what they wish.
My problem is not to know what I want, only
to find some larger movement that expressly
commits itself to at least some major part
of what I want. Are you that movement?
Here are some elements of my insignificant
little personal list, in no particular order:
1. good border security
2. effective immigration control
3. health care reform
4. federal budget balancing
5. trade balancing
6. serious national energy policy
7. politically unshackled scientific research support
8. Alternative Minimum Tax correction
9. poverty reduction (including minimum wage correction)
The question is: which of those items, if any, do
YOU want too, and how do you think your movement might
actually achieve them?
If you cannot answer now, when can you?
