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

This blog caught my eye the other day. It's written by Ryan Miller, a student at Sacramento State Univerity as a way of highlighting the excessive partisanship and polarization he sees in the news every day. Check it out -- there's plenty of fuel for lively discussions -- and if you know of other blogs (maybe you have one yourself?) that draw attent

You may have heard about Survivor creator Mark Burnett's effort to create an independent presidential candidate through a reality show. It might be good TV, but it's probably doomed from the start, thanks to FEC regulations. But in the latest issue of Variety, the top Hollywood trade publication, writer Ted Johnson notes that Unity08 presents a far more credible alternative to the two-party monopoly.

The question of why Unity08 does not plan to adopt a formal platform has been the subject of some pretty intense discussion lately on our message boards. The criticism boils down to this: How can we possibly attract delegates if we don’t stand for anything besides basic bipartisan cooperation?

I completely understand that line of thinking. But I think we actually stand for something much bigger than a platform. Look at it this way:

The people of France will choose their next President next week, and if you’re a geopolitical dork like me, you may know that the candidates are named Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal. (And if you’ve been too preoccupied with the first month of the baseball season to pay much attention to the European political scene, well, kudos on leading a much more balanced life than me.)

Anyway, the Cliff’s Notes overview is this: Sarkozy is the choice of a right-leaning political party that is the rough equivalent of our Republican Party, while Royal represents the dominant party on the French left, the rough equivalent of our Democratic Party. They were the top two vote-getters in the April 22 preliminary election. (Royal would be the first woman to lead France.)