Not trying to be flippant.. but if Unity offers no financial support,no grassroots organization and is not and has no intention of organizing as a political party..

Then where does the leverage come from ?

Ideally an informed electorate would make reasonable hoices....but local media sometimes interferes with that process..

What would be more effective if each voter convinced just one non voter to the polls.. made it their special project....

On the subject of how are unity 08 represenatives going to be different....

Right now the mechanisism isnt there to make then different... Right now they cant be identified..

And we dont know at what level... the represenatives will be???

A lot of work needs to be done

Republicans, by their actions, extort monies from Americans and redistribute it to corporations; Democrats extort monies from Americans and redistribute it to 'the needy'. Both groups achieve the Marxist ideal of 'from those according to their ability to those according to their need' and remarkably achieve both a fascist and socialist state in close proximity.

If the goal is to improve America we need to abandon both Rs & Ds as too corrupt and beyond redemption.

I will direct my answer to DWB's question since he/she started this forum question.I feel that unity08 needs to stick with a vision.That vision I hope will base it stances in listening to the people and not listening to special interest groups.I hope the candidates that are elected from this project will be devoted to reading this website daily as to not have enough time for special interest groups.My personel vision of unity08 is that we can get rid of high paid corrupt politicians and have non paid citizens pass laws and work out issues behind those high paid politicians and at least the corruption is decreased.I hope they wont forget who put them in office and at least adhere to the founding guidelines, (For the people by the people).Unity is a powerful thing if directed in the right way, can bring forth good change.Maybe we wont make any headway for 08.Rome wasn't created in a day.I at least hope even in failure we can stick together and be a powerful enough force that we can still make a difference.I'm already noticing little things in the politicians tone now days that suggest that we are making a difference.

This website is swimming in issues and opinion and that is fine. But the mechanics of an online election's 'ability to select' is the process that will determine the quality of the candidates. By that I mean the process for getting to a majority vote for a "ticket". A webvote for a TV talent show can be a farce and who cares; but no farce allowed for real a candidate to the US Presidency.

Delegates negotiating in the blogsphere or where?

We need to see these methods develop.

I don't believe you can lose something when you are just starting to come together. This is a wonderful concept and I embrace it wholeheartedly. I hope it can work because America is lost if the people can't clean up Washington DC. That's a fact. We need to get off our duffs and actively participate in this. For starters I am going to email this to everyone I know and ask them to pass the word on and embrace it also. We need to take a hands on approach to this and voice what we feel and believe in. Right or wrong at least we can be heard. People, if we don't take control of our country then we have nothing left. They have almost taken it all now.

I'm usually an optimistic guy, but I don't have a lot of hope in reforming our present system of government. I think we have veered too far from what the Founding Fathers had in mind to turn it back without MAJOR action.

I believe the first thing we need are "office holders" and NOT politicians. We have to break ourselves of professional politicians. That would be a great start!

Unless we can, somehow, come up with an idea that will get more people to the poles there is little that Unity08 or any other organization can do to effect real change in our political processes. We have ALLOWED our rights, freedoms, and yes, our votes to be marginalized to the point that only drastic action by ALL of us on this forum make a PERSONAL effort to influence even one voter. If we could all cause only ONE more voter each to exercise his/her voting rights we COULD make a difference.

One of the reasons our system is not working is due to Political Parties. If you wish to get ahead in Politics, you have to belong to one of the Parties. Once you do, you cease to think independently - irrespective of the merits of the issue, you have to vote along party lines.
Do we need Political Parties. Could we have a system where every candidate is Independent? Can we have a system where the funding for all political activity / campaigns etc., is provided by the Government and all donations (political) go to Government and then government dish it out for each campaign equally to all candidates? Is this too utopian?

San Diego - Check Brad Blog With a top notch candidate how do you expect to win! Write, call, e-mail for a re-count. Not for Dems or Rep. but for unity08

Due to the way it is set up, I'm sure that the overwhelming majority, like 90%, of Unity '08 folks will be informed voters. I'm so tired of people voting in the electoral process who don't have a clue.

I think Riversong33 has half the answer, in saying that we have to have informed voters.

The other half is that we need candidates who have the courage to state their positions plainly, and not try to weasel-word them every time someone may disagree.

It's unlikely that I will agree with _anyone_ on every single issue, but I can still support someone when I know where they stand, can follow their reasoning, and can agree with them on most of the major issues.

I think what we're really talking about here is what qualities we're looking for in candidates. That being so, it might be good to change the title line of this thread. "You're losing it" isn't likely to pull that line of discussion in.

Behind it all lies one thing: Being an informed voter -- informed on the issues, and informed about the candidates and their stands.

I hope Unity08 will simplify this Herculean challenge with a lot of plain talk. We the public have been lied to, have had sand thrown in our eyes, and yet have not given up on the belief that Democracy can work. We still believe that representation is possible.
Let's give this all we've got.

I used that heading to get attention. I don't want to waste my time and get the same ole, same ole.

I'm not sure why you made the title "You're Losing It Unity 08", but to address your questions:

Even though unity08 is in its very early stages, I personally can say that I haven't had this much hope and excitement in a political movement in my life time.

As far as the representatives are conserned, I guess it is just up to us as unity08 delegates to make sure we sufficiently questions, and ultimatly choose, a candidate who will not pander to special interestes, will not fall into polarizing political dialog, and will listen to the people.

I hope that the Unity08 candidates will be different because they will be chosen by the people - directly. I doubt they will pander to special interests because special interest will not have a typical role in their election. The whole purpose of the campaign is to take a moderate stance. I think questions are good, but let's not assume Unity08 is dead in the water because of the poor activities of current politicians.