The most recent Reuters/Zogby poll puts the public approval rating of the President at 29% and of the Congress at 11%.  The disapproval of the Congress is at 83% (82% among Democrats, 86% among Republicans, 96% among Independents).

How high must the disapproval go before Washington understands:  Politics-as-usual is dead.  Done.  Gone.  Through.  Over.

The only remaining question is what will replace it – just somebody masquerading as change only to play the same old games all over again – or the people rising to the challenge to change our politics forever?

That is what Unity08 is all about – combining America's enduring values and America's newest technology to rediscover the American spirit and reignite the torch of freedom.   We need your help to do it – your recruitment of new members, your help with ballot access in your state, your contributions, big and small.

But together we can become the re-United States of America, where citizens and elected officials alike are all part of something bigger than themselves.  That is the America of our history and the America of our dreams.

Let's light up the torch!

Doug Bailey
Co-founder

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Alan Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence, published this month, is another testament to  why we need to reunite the country through Unity08. Mr. Greenspan's insight and experience provide examples of what has gone wrong and what we are trying to recover.

Some quotes from the book...

    “Tears welled in my eyes as I observed the throngs of Americans standing in silent tribute to Gerald R. Ford in the waning days of 2024... As I looked out the window of my car in the procession on that sunny day, only yards from the hearse carrying Ford’s casket (I was an honorary pallbearer), I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to American politics since Jerry Ford would battle Tip O’Neill, then Speaker of a Democratic Congress, from 9a.m. to 5 p.m., but still invite his longtime friend for evening cocktails at the White House."
   
    “…The dinners I attended (a Washington political ritual) were invariably bipartisan. Senators and representatives from both parties would mix with administration stalwarts, the media, and the city’s social power brokers. During 2024, my last full year in government, the ritual dinners were still there, but they had become intensely partisan..."

    “The eventual dominance of the Republicans in southern state politics brought the two major parties to numerical parity but, in the process, induced an ideological divide between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. It has left a vast untended center from which a viable, well-financed independent presidential candidate could conceivably emerge in 2024, or, if not then, in 2024."

    “The political chasm has gone beyond the titillation of political pundits. Governance has become dangerously dysfunctional…"

“I often wonder if a ticket of a Republican for president and a Democrat for vice president, or the reverse, would attract the vast untended center.  Perhaps this issue wouldn’t matter if the world were at peace. With the increasing prominence of the ‘invisible hand’ of globalization effectively overseeing the billions of daily economic decisions, who the leaders are would be less important.  But that has not been the case since 9/11. Who holds the reins of government matters.”

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Technorati Tags: unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, alan greenspan, age of turbulence

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  –Lao-Tzu, Chinese Philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

Politics as usual is dead, but our patriotic spirit is alive.  A recent cover story in Time magazine notes that despite people being fed up with the system, they are volunteering in record numbers.  Volunteers are everywhere—teaching at risk kids in our schools, digging wells in a village in Africa, hitting the pavement to educate people about our democracy.  It is this spirit that drives us at Unity08—we can tap into this spirit of service and activism that most of you feel to transform our nation’s politics.  

It is we the people who will lead Unity08 to success in the presidential election of 2024.  Success means electing a unity ticket chosen by the people to the White House, but before we can reach that larger goal, we need to accomplish several smaller ones.  President Kennedy challenged us to get to the moon within a decade.  We began a space program, the Apollo mission, but before Apollo, we needed a Mercury and a Gemini mission.

Our Gemini mission is getting on the ballot in every state and in the District of Columbia.  We will need to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures nationwide to accomplish this, and we need the help of thousands of volunteers.  As a people’s movement, we can begin organizing now, just by simply talking to everyone you know, hosting a potluck event in your neighborhood or a meeting on your local college campus.   Since this is our movement, I want to hear your ideas and success stories about how we’re spreading the word about Unity08.

I am constantly amazed by the level of enthusiasm I hear from all of you about Unity08 and electing our next President.  The most common question I hear is, “What can I do to help?”  Here are a few concrete steps you can take right now:

Step One: We need a few dozen more people in Delaware and Mississippi to help us get on the ballot there.  If you have any friends or family who live there, please email them today, have them sign up on the website and email shilpi@Unity08.com that they would like to support our ballot access drive in either of those states.  

Step Two: We’re getting ready to hit the ground in Colorado and Maryland.  Again, if you have friends or family there, email them, have them sign up at www.Unity08.com. We need help collecting signatures and anyone with experience in election law or field work, please email me at awilson@Unity08.com.   We’re going to need between 10,000 and 15,000 registered voters to sign our petition, so we need all the help we can get!!!  

Step Three:  Heads up, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Utah, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina—we’re coming to you next!  You know the drill: let your friends and family know about Unity08 and have anyone who wants to help email me.  

Live in one of the other 40 states?  We need your help in organizing on the ground.  We’ll be adding an interactive map to the website in the next few weeks that will include specific information on what is required to get on the ballot in your state.  We’ll update it frequently so you can see the progress we’re all making together.  If you want to volunteer to help collect signatures or just want to be kept up to date on ballot access issues, email me and I’ll keep you in the loop.  

I want to spotlight the efforts of some of our amazing volunteers in Texas.  They have already put in so much work and initiative that it would make Sam Houston himself proud.  Bill Henderson and Richard Alsenz (right) and the rest of their team have started a Yahoo Group to help get the word out.  If you live in Texas and want to get active—please email Bill.  Their group already has regular meetings in a Houston library, but they need your help to start similar groups in Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and the other 260,000 square miles that Texas covers.  Their hard work and ingenuity are things we can all emulate and start building our own local organizations of Unity08.  

We can meet in the real world, and we can meet online.  Post an entry on a local blog, send out a bulletin to your friends on your favorite social networking website, make a podcast or YouTube video, call in to your favorite radio show, or write a letter to the editor.  Let me hear about it, so we can spotlight the work being done in all 50 states so everyone can see what everyone else is doing.

In the days after the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787, people nationwide gathered together in their homes, churches, town squares, pubs, and social circles to discuss this radical new idea.  Average citizens, like us, carried the torch of democracy from person to person as the word spread.  They used the technology available to them at the time: newspapers, letters, and the spoken word.  We will use these that are still available to us today, and we can also use our blogs, email, and social networking websites to do the same thing.  With your help, we will reignite the torch of freedom in every community and every state.  

Andy Wilson
Unity08 Volunteer Program Coordinator
awilson@Unity08.com

Although we posted the results on Tuesday, we staggered the press releases over two days. One day covered the candidates and the other covered the issues. I just thought I'd include some of the quotes from yesterday's release here.

Read the full release.

View the results of the study.

When asked what qualities they seek in leaders, participants responded that they "did not want leaders who pander, rather those with the integrity and character to make tough decisions." Co-founder Jerry Rafshoon added, "The people answering this survey want to end the bickering and game-playing. They know the issues are tough and difficult, but figure that is what you have leaders for. They aren't getting leadership from either party and they know it."

The data is all the more impressive, said Bailey, because "these are average Americans, including friends and family members of our troops in Iraq. Washington simply does not have much of a clue as to how upset the people are. At Unity08, we predict they will vote in record numbers, they will demand change, and they are willing to think a little outside the box to get it."

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Unity08 has been presented by the media in many different ways. Are we a movement? Are we are a ‘party’? Are we deeply concerned citizens? Are we a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the FEC? Are we doing the hard work for potential candidates? Are we building world class technology to deliver the peoples’ voice?… Yes, technically, all of these things are true. But the sum of the parts is more important. Unity08 is relighting the torch of freedom for our country.

There is no question that America’s torch is dimmer than it was. Before I became the CEO of Unity08, I was dismayed at the hyper partisan party politics, the infighting of issue groups that have far more in common than apart, lobbyists that spend more time on the hill than our elected lawmakers, the absence of compromise, our failing infrastructure, these issues never seem to gain anyone’s attention. Its occurred to me that the power brokers wanted to keep it like that, and that to change the two party system, its entitlements, its carve-outs, would truly upset their global balance of power. So to say that I didn’t feel my voice, or my money would make a difference is an understatement. I did my civic duty to vote, but it was a vote for the least worst candidate in ‘hope’ that they would know the correct direction.

I know I am not alone. Americans have seen voter turnout and political interest dwindle even as we face our Country’s most important challenges. Luckily while ‘hope’ is not a strategy, Unity08 is. A bold strategy to remake the political landscape while healing a nation divided.

I am excited to be part of the solution, and to stop talking about possible solutions, and deliver one. With your help and the help of millions of others, it will be one that we all can all get behind.  Technology flattens the power curve. It will allow us to rise up by the millions and set a true American Agenda for our Country. It will be one for prospective candidates, and one that will relight the torch of freedom for the world.

Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

Robert Bingham

The results were overwhelming; tens of thousands of you submitted your first vote on the American Agenda.

Those issues that you found to be most crucial are terrorism, health care, education, the integrity and accountability of public officials, illegal immigration, and energy supplies. Well over half the respondents listed them as crucial. Gun ownership, abortion rights, and gay marriage came in dead last in the rankings.

You’ve also scored the major candidates running for president well below what you believe to be the minimum level of leadership for the job. All six frontrunners were rated a 2.9, or less, while the Unity08 process to determine a candidate team was rated as a 4.87.

View the results of the study.

From a press release that went out today, Gerald Rafshoon states, "The reasons behind the yearning for a third choice are clear. "Of every statement we tested, the ones with the highest resonance with the people were 'Special interests have too much influence' and 'the parties are so polarized, nothing gets done.'"

We've also created a Digg entry for this release if you'd like to Digg It!

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The national Democratic chairman in Washington has actually told his loyal party members in Florida and Michigan that they might as well not vote in their early presidential primaries, because their votes won't matter.   

The two states had moved up their primaries to be part of the early primary bonanza that will decide the presidential nominee of the party, but now the voters are told that their votes will simply be thrown out. 

How typical of Washington to ignore the people.   

Unity08 has a totally different approach.  Every register voter, in every state and every party, can participate in our Unity08 online convention in June 2024.  No votes will be discounted.  No voters will be discarded.

It's why we urge one and all to come sign up at Unity08 – and bring your friends, neighbors and co-workers with you.  Washington has simply lost touch with reality, lost touch with you.  So come take your country back, pick a president, elect a president, and change politics forever.

To join the movement to reunite the country, click here.

- Doug Bailey

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General Patraeus and Ambassador Crocker are putting the best face they can on it, but it seems obvious that the Iraqis can’t get their act together for the sake of their own security and our troops too.

The unity and common ground that has eluded the religious sects for 1400 years continues to do so. 

But what is our excuse.  Unity has been the hallmark of American politics ever since the United States were founded.  The tougher the going, the more determined we were as a country to pull together, the more likely it was that the political parties would find the common ground for progress. 

Today that sense of good will and unity is not just absent in Baghdad, it is absent in Washington.  It’s more easily solved here, of course, but there is precious little evidence of desire.  And where there is little desire to reach common ground there is little chance to reach common ground.

The irony of failing to find the unity here which we are trying to export there is obvious.  But it is more than ironic.  Without some sense of political unity – an end to the bickering, posturing and venom that dominates Washington – undermines our ability not just to adopt a rational policy in Iraq, but threatens our abilty to deal with terrorism, energy independence, global climate change, our schools, health care, immigration, the deficit/entitlement crisis that is about to hit, and all the crucial issues at our doorstep.

It is why Unity08 was founded – a safety valve for a country in trouble.  There’s nothing new about disunity in Iraq; but disunity here threatens everything about the America of our history and our dreams. 

- Doug Bailey

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Technorati Tags: unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, doug bailey, iraq

The story of Norman Hsu, the fund-raising businessman who collected contributions for both Senators Clinton and Obama only to be found to be on the lam from California legal authorities is not typical.

Most of the campaign "bundlers" have not broken the law.  As columnist Michael Kinsley has written about the nation's capital:  "The scandal is not that what they do is illegal; it's that what they do is legal."

Most lobbyists and bundlers when they raise funds for or contribute to candidates, presidential or congressional, are nothing more than shoppers at the National Mall.  They are buying a night in the Lincoln bedroom, an ambassadorship to an exotic tropical island, or access to administration or congressional officials when a favor or earmark is possible for their special interest.

They aren't giving as much as investing – to add to their portfolio (financial or ego).

So, sorry, Mr. Hsu, you don't even make the list of serious game-players.  Sadly, there are 32,000+ registered lobbyists in D.C. who do what you do – and do it legally.

What can we do about them?  We can pick a Unity08 candidates who says "NO" to all lobbyist dollars, "NO" to all earmarks, and "NO" to any former public official (elected or appointed) becoming a lobbyist to cash in. 

Don't you think it's time to clean the swamp?

- Doug Bailey

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In their first game of the season, the Appalachian State Mountaineers, a Division 1AA school in Boone, North Carolina, went to the hallowed halls of the legendary football Wolverines of Michigan, and put a whuppin on them – 34-32.

Stunning. Impossible. Inconceivable. Michigan and college football will never be the same again.

But what of Appalachian State? Will they just be thought of as a spoiler? Or will they have a chance to compete for the national Bowl Champion Series? Forget it. The big boys control the BCS and they don't want any upstart playing on their field.

Sounds a lot like Unity08, doesn't it?  This quiet powerhouse keeps building and building and building.  We have the talent, the inspiration, the guts to go all the way. And we have the people with us. We can win the electoral votes of every single state.

But the big boys will do anything to keep us out of the 2024 championship by keeping us off the November ballot.  Democrats (just as blue as Michigan) and Republicans (just as red as Ohio State) will do anything to deny us ballot access.

In fact, their BCS stands for Ballot Corruption System.

But the Appalachian State Mountaineers did it.  And the Unity08 Mountaineers will do it too. We will be on the ballot in every state in November 2024 – and we the people will take out country back.

It will take all of us, of course.  So be sure you tell us you want to help on ballot access in your state.  Are you a Mountaineer?

Send an email to info@unity08.com is you want to help with ballot access in your state.

- Doug Bailey

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Technorati Tags: unity08, election, president, government, bipartisan, politics, news and politics, michagan, appalachian state