A curious thing I often hear both sides argue about is what this country's founders would currently want for the nation, how they'd see us, etc. Sure, as if any of us have a clue what men who lived in 1776 would think about today's world. They'd probably be pretty intrigued by the cars and all the tasty foods. Ben Franklin would probably enjoy our delicious popsicles and other assorted frozen delicacies, while Thomas Jefferson and George Washington may want to take one of those Dodge Chargers out for a test drive. Something tells me they'd make a beeline for the Dodge dealership. Don't ask me why, it's just a hunch.
But let me take this seriously for a moment, join this vast "what if" club and offer that I think the founders would find our democracy to be quite fantastic, thank you very much. We are, after all, the most powerful country in the world and one hell of a free society. High-fives all around from the founding fathers on the overarching freedom stuff. Well done America. Bravo.
However, I think it's a safe bet that there would also be things they may not find as heartening. The bickering. The backbiting. The Moores. The Coulters. The intellectually dishonest bombs that each side throws over the fence at one another. No pretense of reasoned debate anymore. Just talking heads and screaming blogs.
No...Tom, George and Ben wouldn't be too fond of the signal to noise ratio in politics today. And they'd probably be smart enough to realize that the reason more people don't come out to vote is not because they're lazy. No, this country isn't filled with lazy people. What we do have, however, is a very tired nation. This partisan nonsense wears people down so they don't have any fight left in them. Count me in that group. However, there comes a point at which people get sick of being tired, and that's usually the time when they're the most dangerous.
Yes, look closely, and you won't see a country divided. We all see that we're better than polls, pundits and talking points. We are a people who believe in a collection of very powerful ideas and who would fight and die to maintain them for this generation and those to come. And where would you find the greatest number of these people? Well, you already know the answer. All this talk of a moderate majority is true.
However, there are a few sticking points. For example, the question I'm often asked about my blog Donklephant, and centrism in general, is "What exactly do you stand for?" I think it's a fair question, considering that terms like "centrist" or "moderate" bring to mind images of a) a person being ripped apart by people on both sides (a political tug of war, if you will), and b) a person who can't make up their mind about anything. And this is where I'm supposed to say, "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Well, I can't. Moderates, centrists...yeah, we can be wishy-washy. We change our minds. We do, on average, take a little longer to come to a conclusion. And frankly, isn't that what's lacking in the current body politic? Because right now all we're being presented with is a reality that you'd find in the halls of a fictional high school from some cheesy 80s teen movie, not in the halls of government. Who do we have to blame for it? Take a look in the mirror folks. We've sat on the sidelines for too long now. It's time to do something about this nonsense. And so...Unity08.
Listen, I'm not going to ramble on about what Unity08 stands for, where it should go or what they should do. They've got a good vision and the team to make it happen. But what I will say, and continue to say, is that an idea like this is long overdue. Something tells me the founders would think so too.
Of course maybe they'd want more delicious frozen treats and faster muscle cars. Your guess is as good as mine.
