Get ready! Get set! Shout!

We’ve taken your advice and now you can start any discussion you want – on any issue or ticket or idea. And you can comment on any shout by anybody else. Just keep it clean and respectful. Let’s not play the blame game we’re all so sick of.

And best of all, you can vote (once only) on each topic – and lift it to the top of the list, or drop it to the bottom. Give a thumbs up if you think a topic is important to discuss and the ensuing exchange is thought-provoking and intelligent. Give a thumbs down if you think the topic and the associated discussion detracts rather than adds to the debate.

You’ll also notice something called “Unity08 Picks” (just look for the red and white stars). These are topics and comments that caught our attention, and we think they deserve a second glance by you as well. It doesn’t necessarily mean we endorse the opinions espoused, rather we think the topic or comment exemplifies the level of discourse we seek to encourage.

A note on ShoutBox logisitics before we let you have at it; you will need to register to post a topic in one of the Shoutbox forums. You do not need to log in (for now) to vote on a topic or to post comments. Have suggestions for improvement or ideas for new forums? Post them to the Shoutbox as well.

Try it out.

This is the first in a series of introductory blogs from Founders Council members.

I’m Dave, and I’m a Republican.

(All: Hi, Dave!)

I’ve been a Republican since 1978 – when I was 15 – because my high school American History teacher inspired me to be one. He was one. He was a county legislator. He was smart, he was funny, he was kind, he was pragmatic, and he was entirely public spirited and genuinely high-minded. I wanted to be like him.

And in fact, I’ve actually run for office as a Republican. In 1984, at age 21, I was asked to run, sacrificial lamb-style, against a guy who shortly thereafter became the New York State Assembly Majority Leader. I ran. I got crushed, of course, but I made my opponent spend a good part of his campaign war chest. I got to meet Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail, and I think I did a pretty good job, considering what I had to work with.

Over the past 22 years, I managed a half billion dollars worth of operating assets in the cable television business, started and sold one very successful company and started and still run a second, while raising a family and working to elect Republican candidates in the four states I’ve lived in during that period -- California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and now, Colorado.

I did advance work for the first Dole campaign, helped build the party organization in Colorado, and raised a bunch of money for a good friend of mine who ran for and won a Congressional seat.

So I’d argue I’m a reasonable facsimile of a real deal, red meat Republican.

And in February, I became one of the very first people to sign on with the Unity08 founding trio of Jordan, Bailey and Rafshoon. Through a mutual friend, I met Governor King and got him linked in with our effort, and believe I’ve added a fair amount of intellectual and network capital to the movement. And now I plot regularly with fellow Denverite Jim Jonas on how to push things forward.

How – and why – did I come to make that change? How, after all those years, did I veer off and begin to work very hard to make Unity08 a reality?

Run, Forrest, run!!

Let’s go back to January of 2024. Both houses of the Colorado Legislature have just been taken away from the Republicans by a clever (if vaguely shady) concerted effort by Democrats and their funding sources. A top Republican fundraiser, over lunch, suggested I should consider running for the State Senate in 2024 – that I had the “chops”, the “life story”, the personal wealth, and the organizational ability to take a race on and win.

I was flattered, of course, and decided, after some further consultations with other knowledgeable folks in the business, that I’d do some retail politicking to see if I truly thought I had what it takes. I started hitting the early party caucuses in the district, sat down to breakfasts and lunches with well-connected party insiders, had a chat with the Governor, and started making the rounds of the Republican Women’s and Men’s clubs.

I loved it. I felt like I was pretty good at it.

I sat down with a senior Republican official late in my decision making process -- a good and decent guy who knew me pretty well and knew the state party apparatus extremely well. I told him about the homework I had done, and asked him what he thought of my potential candidacy.

“I think you’d make a great candidate,” he said, and told me all the reasons he thought so. He told me he didn’t think I’d have much trouble winning a primary, if there was one, so long as I was willing to work hard.

“Might not be a bad idea to just run me through where you stand on the major issues, since I’m not sure you and I have ever had that conversation. You’re a successful entrepreneur, so I assume you’re generally pro-growth and pro-business, right?”

“Right,” I said.

“How about education?”

“I have four girls under age 11,” I said, “three in public schools. It’s a high priority in the Maney household.”

“Good. How about gun control?” he asked.

“I can’t say I have any really strong feelings on the subject. I guess I’d work to represent the position of the majority of voters in the district.”

“That works. Environment?”

“Maybe a little greener than most Republicans, but in a property rights-respecting sort of way.”

“That’s good, in your district. How about abortion?”

“Well to tell you the truth,” I said, “with those four young girls…I’d have to say that when they’re old enough, were one of them to make a bad choice or have something happen that they didn’t intend, that would be a very tough spot. I guess I’m really not okay with the notion that the state might be telling them what choices they did or didn’t have. So I guess I’m saying I’m not exactly comfortable with it, but I’m not comfortable without it.”

Short silence.

“We’ll have to nuance that,” he said.

And you know, he wasn’t saying it in a disapproving way (he’s pro-life but surprisingly tolerant of differing views), or really anything other than a pragmatic way. In fact, insofar as Republican nominating processes go, I actually think he was entirely correct. You want to be a Republican, you better get right with the base.

But as I left the meeting and drove home, I started thinking how ridiculous that was. And then a day or two later, I heard a satellite radio news story on the hard line that the right wing of the Republican Party was going to take on the subject of any possible future Supreme Court nominee’s abortion views.

I had just about had it.

Let’s face it – there is no, NO, reconciling of the pro-life and pro-choice positions. There just isn’t. There can’t be. They are in diametric opposition. But multiple opinion surveys suggest that a large majority of Americans sit in the center on the subject of abortion. Like me, they’re not comfortable with it, but they’re not comfortable without it.

And here my party was saying that such uncertainty…such acknowledgement of mixed feelings…such centrism…on an extremely difficult, contentious issue, was unacceptable.

“We’ll have to nuance that.”

How did my party, the party of Lincoln, decide that abortion -- an issue that is important but clearly not as crucial to the country as, say, homeland security, nuclear proliferation, energy policy, or our broken health care finance system – was going to be the be-all, end-all issue? That a fundamentally irreconcilable social issue – abortion – would be the crucible around which all candidates would be measured? How strange. How unfortunate for the country. How screwed up.

I ultimately decided not to run for a couple reasons – philosophical, family, and timing-related. But I began to think that perhaps it was time to put my entrepreneurial thinking cap on and aim myself toward pondering why there was no provider addressing a huge and seemingly obvious market opportunity: The American center. The reasonable middle. The pragmatic rather than the dogmatic. Those who prefer win-win solutions and seek common ground versus those who prefer pile-driving political opponents into the dirt.

That journey led me to become an early co-founder of Unity08. We’ll cover that journey next time.

Dave Maney
Unity08 Founders Council

The news media are always professional skeptics. So when the skeptics took the launch of Unity08 seriously it shook Washington a little. (Not a lot yet, but sonic booms are coming.)

In 72 hours, Unity08 had more people signed up to be delegates at our 2024 online convention to nominate the next President than both the Republicans and Democrats had at their conventions in 2024. (Have you signed up? If not, click here.)

When Broder (Washington Post), Brownstein (L.A. Times), Alter (Newsweek), Carlson (Bloomberg), Schneider (CNN), and Jim Lehrer’s Newshour all noted what we/you were doing it surprised us.

What’s more, most of the media understood. Peggy Noonan (former Reagan wordsmith) wrote in the Wall Street Journal "I have a feeling we’re at some new beginning, that a big breakup’s coming." She’s writing about you. When she says that "the parties in Washington, and the people on the ground in America, are polarized" she is exactly right.

Joe Trippi (of Howard Dean fame) wrote in the London Guardian: "Alarm bells should ring loud at both party headquarters in Washington if thousands of Americans begin to join together at Unity08 to work around the two party system and nominate their own candidate for president."

When Joe Trippi and Peggy Noonan agree, it’s for sure that, as she says: “Something’s happening.”

Click here if you haven’t signed up yet. If you have, how about your mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, neighbor, friend, Aunt Tillie? Pick one and get them to sign them up today. And one more tomorrow. And one more the next day.

You’re changing America – and you want them with you, don’t you?

There are eight ways you and Unity08 will make history and change American politics forever:

1) Unity08 will hold the first-ever online presidential nominating convention and of the United States right here.

You don’t have to leave your party.

All you have to be is an American citizen, 18 or older, and registered to vote in your State by convention time.

(Next, get your family, neighbors, relatives and friends to sign up to be delegates too. Right here, right now.)

2) Long before the Spring 2024 convention we will welcome candidates from either Party (or independents) to run for the convention nomination. We will allow them to campaign right here at Unity08.com – with streaming video of their positions on the crucial issues, with their own daily weblogs, with online debates among the candidates, and presentations of their platforms.

Anyone constitutionally qualified for the office may run.

All they need to be qualified to use the Unity08 website and get on the convention ballot is to meet a minimum threshold level of public support.

You and the convention can even decide who the next president should be and draft him or her to run (as long as they don’t rule out running if nominated).

3) For the first time ever we’re going to require that the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates run as a Unity Team – one Republican and one Democrat, in whichever order – or an independent running with a Unity Team from both parties.

On each convention ballot each delegate will vote for one Unity Ticket (just as Presidents and Vice Presidents are elected as a team in November).

There will be as many convention ballots as are needed until one Unity Ticket wins at least 50% of all delegates voting.

(The reason for the Unity Ticket requirement is to force the two political parties to stop bickering and start working together to solve the crucial problems facing the country.)

4) Unity08 and our delegates will get the nominated Unity Ticket on the November ballot in all 50 States.

That won’t be easy because the two major parties in the states have made it very difficult for anybody else to get on the ballot. But we will do it.

(One reason why we invite your contributions to Unity08 – large and small – is to fund the organization we need to build in all 50 states.)

5) During 2024, even before presidential candidates announce their decisions to run, you will be discussing and debating the crucial issues confronting the country right here – and defining an Agenda of Crucial Issues we expect all candidates to address.

We think the next President will face very difficult and important issues that Washington is too polarized (and paralyzed) to do anything about.

Some of those issues are energy independence, affordable health care, global climate change, the education of our children, the soaring national debt. You will set the Agenda of Crucial Issues you expect the candidates to address.

Unity08 believes that when the two parties pander to their base voters, left and right, they ignore both all of us in the middle and many issues crucial to the safety and welfare of the country. Issues like gay marriage and abortion, which rile up the base voters of each party, are both important and worthy of debate; but most voters do not see them as crucial to America’s future.

6) A Unity08 Rules Committee has already begun work to recommend precise guidelines for how the website will function, how candidates can use the website to campaign for delegate support, and how the convention will be conducted.

As it proceeds, the Rules Committee will report its deliberations on the Website, ask for your ideas, and consider your recommendations in its
decision-making. The process will be transparent.

The rules process will be completed before the end of calendar 2024, in order that all candidates and delegates can clearly understand the process (and be comfortable with it) before presidential candidate announcements begin.

7) After meeting initial expenses of website and start-up costs, Unity08 expects to be funded by small contributions raised off the website (and at 1-877-UNITY08) from those who believe that the American political system is broken and desperately needs a dramatic jolt to get back on track. We will take no corporate or PAC $$$.

8) We intend to win the White House. This is not some kind of spoiler effort. The political system must produce some genuine leadership, for a change. The first-ever online presidential nominating convention right here at Unity08.com will be a transforming vehicle to make 2024 a transforming moment in American history.

You don’t have to leave your party.

All you have to be is an American citizen, 18 or older, and registered to vote in your State by convention time.

(Next, get your family, neighbors, relatives and friends to sign up to be delegates too. Right here, right now.)

You voted. We listened. And we heard a lot. It was clear that the first issue (of the ones listed in the poll) you want to tackle is “dependence on foreign oil,” but you’re passionate about many other issues as well.

First, we want to address a sentiment we heard LOUD and CLEAR: you want to talk about immigration. And we will. And we'll talk about a lot of other issues here, too. But let’s all agree not to jump to conclusions and to disagree, agreeably.

There will be no special agendas here – every voice is welcome – every opinion to be respected. The last thing we wish to do is stifle debate and discussion about real issues. We'll leave that to the two parties. The issues included in the first poll were based on the findings of a research survey we commissioned weeks ago. We're not out to exclude one issue over another. We'll get to them all.

The Unity08 movement is not like the two parties - that's one of our key strengths. We will not point fingers and accuse each other of some slight or hidden agenda. We're here to focus the country, our leaders, and the parties on the issues that need serious, sober discussion and passionate discourse. Some critics claim we're here to force everyone to "just get along" for the sake of just getting along. Not a chance. We will debate (and frequently disagree on) the solutions to the critical issues with all of the passion our blog contributors can muster - but it will be about the critical issues and not the emotional wedge issues, which the parties manipulate to their own benefit.

We need you to help everyone who participates in these blogs to understand what Unity08 is all about by continuing to encourage and cajole those who would rather just rant and rave to get on board with what we're doing. Enough said?

On with the blogging!

So you want to talk about America's dependence on foreign oil. As a primer, here are a couple of recent commentaries about the subject: One from Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, and the other from Mike Rosen, a commentator from Denver and columnist for The Rocky Mountain News.

Friedman, among other arguments, says (taken from "A Million Manhattan Projects" column found here - subscription only, we're sorry to say):

When you're talking oil, you can't just say, "Let the free market work," because there is no free market in oil: the producers have a cartel, and governments -- like ours -- subsidize oil, so we don't pay the full cost.

If the government would just do a couple of things, the energy start-ups we're seeing today would turn into real products, Mr. Sridhar said. One, the government should institute a carbon tax or gasoline tax that would ensure that the price of gasoline never fell below $3.50 to $4 a gallon, which would make a host of new technologies competitive. Second, the government should set high goals for mileage and CO2 emissions for its own vehicle fleet, as well as high goals for eco-friendly, low-energy electricity generation for every government building -- and then promise to be the first customer for whatever company reaches those high goals.

"The federal government is the single largest consumer of energy in the country," Mr. Sridhar said. "It's time for the government to lead by example and flex a little consumer muscle. It's time for government to use its buying power when buying power."

President Bush remarked the other day how agonizingly tough it is for a president to send young Americans to war. Yet, he's ready to do that, but he's not ready to look Detroit or Congress in the eye and demand that we put in place the fuel-efficiency legislation that will weaken the forces of theocracy and autocracy that are killing our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan — because it might cost Republicans votes or campaign contributions.

This whole thing is a travesty. We can't keep asking young Americans to make the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan if we as a society are not ready to make even the most minimal sacrifice to help them.

On the other hand, Mike Rosen says, (taken from a recent column, "Our silly little 'addiction'" found here):

...the point is that all oil production becomes part of the world supply, and the price of oil is a function of aggregate demand for that finite supply. Changes in the amount supplied or the amount demanded cause the price to go up or down. It doesn't matter where the oil comes from or what it costs to extract it from the ground. So, lower cost producers, like Saudi Arabia, make more profit per unit of oil than higher cost producers like the United States. OPEC doesn't set the price of oil; the world market does that, although OPEC can influence the price by controlling its production.

It's silly to talk about our "addiction" to oil. We're no more addicted to it than we are to food or water. It's a commodity. We use it as an energy source and petrochemical raw material because it's abundant and a better value than other alternatives. We could have horses pull our cars but it wouldn't be as efficient - and you'd have to feed and house them, anyway.

It would be nice to find economical alternatives to petroleum and we no doubt will some day. Perhaps we'll solve the puzzle of nuclear fusion and figure out how to harvest water for its hydrogen power. General Motors and other automakers are working feverishly on developing fuel-cell technology. Conventional nuclear energy is a viable alternative for more power generation right now but environmental extremists have succeeded in sufficiently demonizing it to scare much of the public and politicians away - at least for the time being.

Once upon a time, whale oil was a major energy source and people worried, then, about demand outpacing supply. Petroleum solved that problem - temporarily. In President Bush's State of the Union address he talked about accelerating the pace of technological research into energy alternatives. That's a necessary and obvious remedy.

The history of human progress is the history of solving today's problems with tomorrow's technology. And we will do just that once again. But don't kid yourself about kicking our oil "addiction" or ending our dependency on foreign petroleum any time soon. For inescapable economic reasons, we're stuck with that for the foreseeable future and with all the international political complications that go along with it.

So what say you? Have at it.

We are impressed. People say Americans are apathetic, but the rapid-fire discussion taking place on our blog and poll prove otherwise.

With new comments posted every ten seconds or so during peak times, many of you have rightly pointed out that it’s difficult to absorb all of the ideas presented or to find the issues that matter most to you. Our blog is an energetic and sometimes messy exchange of ideas; a true reflection of the diversity of thought in America.

Not only are you commenting on the crucial issues of the day, you are providing great suggestions on how to improve the website, in particular, the blog.

We are listening. Here’s what we have in the works to provide a more user-friendly and meaningful forum for you to use. We want to make sure your voice is heard.

• Shoutbox: Early next week we’ll be launching a new discussion forum called the Shoutbox. The Shoutbox will consist of multiple forums organized by issue. All Shoutbox comments can be rated by the community and the most popular comments will be featured on the Unity08 homepage.
• Blog Improvements: We admit that we launched Unity08 with a pretty basic blog that’s been overwhelmed by heavy usage. We’re working on several improvements to make the blog easier to use. For starters, we’ll begin to use categories and tagging to help you find blogs and comments that are relevant to your interests. We’re also working on improving the blog display and giving you the option of selecting how you wish to view blog comments.
• Issue Blog: Next week we will introduce a new blog that will tackle head-on the issues that you, the Unity08 community, have identified as being crucial to our country’s future. This will be in addition to the more general Unity08 blog we have now.
• Moderators: No one will put the kibosh on your comments (unless they violate our blog guidelines), but we’re recruiting moderators to help keep forum discussions on topic and respectful. Let us know if you’d like to help.

If you haven’t done so already, we urge you to sign up for our e-mail updates (in header or click here) so we can let you know when we roll out these improvements.

Keep telling us how we can improve and we’ll keep listening.

The response has been big and astounding. Keep it coming. We have just begun to fight to change American politics.

One concern raised by some needs to be addressed head on: Some experienced bloggers expect/want Unity08 to arrive with a specific platform position on every issue.

We repeat what we said in our statement of purpose: We will have an agenda, not a platform. Our agenda is the list of issues that the public feels are crucial that Washington is not addressing – energy independence, quality education, affordable health care, rising national debt and many more.

But we don’t come to this with a platform. We invite you to debate and offer solutions – and ultimately we invite candidates to run for President on the Unity08 banner with their own platform on the crucial issues.

We would stifle the debate if the web site has pre-determined answers. And most American voters know that the crucial issues are very complex, don’t have simple answers, and progress will require debate, discussion and maybe even consensus or compromise.

What’s sad and interesting is that in Washington none of those things are happening on any of the crucial issues. No debate, no discussion, no consensus and no compromise. Washington is polarized and paralyzed.

So to all who expect Unity08 to have all the answers and to be certain of everything, we may disappoint you. To those who relish debate, serious discussion, and finding candidates for leadership ready to discuss crucial issues seriously, we hope to excite you.

Spending a lot of time in Washington is dangerous for your mental health, apparently. But spending a lot of time watching Washington causes you to be very wary of two types: Those who need to read the polls before they know what they think – and those who seem certain of every answer even before the questions are asked.

At Unity08 our forum and our minds are open. Blog on!

America is in some big trouble. While crucial issues cry out for leadership, Washington’s parties and politicians are polarized and paralyzed.

But help is on the way if we the people do our thing again.

The founding fathers were great, but their descendents haven’t been too shabby either. In fact, the genius of America is that each generation has redefined freedom in its own terms for its own times.

Slavery was ended when the people acted. Women’s suffrage came when the people rose up. Civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s when the people demanded them.

Still another rebirth of freedom is needed now. It can happen right here at Unity08.com – where millions of Americans fed up with Washington’s pointless bickering will hold an online convention in the first half of 2024 to nominate a Unity Ticket for President and Vice President, then put it on the ballot in all 50 states, and elect it in November.

We’re not out to spoil anybody else’s campaign. We’re not trying to put either major party out of business. We’re not out to create a permanent third party. We are out to give Washington and both major parties a jolt of reality – so that they realize that most voters aren’t on the fringe, but in the middle – and that they want the problems solved.

Three things have made Unity08 needed and possible. First, elections which used to be about who could win the most votes in the middle are now about who does the best in turning out their base. But the issues that turn out the base turn off the middle. That polarization has slopped over to Congress where the parties are barely civil to each other. And the presidential nominees of both parties will be picked by the base voters at either end of the political spectrum. The rational middle (that’s most of us) will be left out again.

Second, America may never have faced so many issues crucial to its security and welfare at the same time: Worldwide terrorism, dependence on foreign oil, global climate change, the economic rise of India and China, a soaring national debt, the need for affordable health care, a crisis in education, and more. We can’t go much longer without Washington having the leadership and unity to act.

The third thing making Unity08 possible is the good news: The online technology now enables the people to use our democracy to take our country back. .

So Unity08.com, right here, will hold the first-ever virtual national convention in history, with you and millions of delegates just like you picking a Unity Ticket to run for President and Vice President.

We expect the Unity Ticket will be headed by a woman and/or man from each major party or by an Independent who presents a Unity Team from both parties.

Anybody qualified to vote in this country is qualified to be a delegate. And anybody constitutionally eligible to serve as President may run for the job. As millions of delegates sign up, major political figures in both parties may decide this is the way to get to the White House.

So may leaders from the business and non-profit worlds who can’t get there through the traditional parties. And some of you will want to try to draft still other leaders to run and bring Washington some leadership for a change.

Some things will be familiar: The nominees will have to win at least 50% of the delegate votes to win the nomination (so a number of ballots may be needed). And some things will be new: Nominees for President and Vice President will run and be voted on as a team, just as they are on the November ballot. Candidates meeting a minimum threshold of support will be able to use Unity08.com to campaign for the nomination. The recommendations of our Rules Committee will be debated right here at Unity08.com.

So come join us – and blog the issues, or take our polls, or recruit more delegates, or debate the rules, or contribute if you wish. Come pick the next President and Vice President, get that Unity Ticket on the ballot in your state, elect it to the White House in November 2024, and take your country back.

Come make history. Every generation provides its own rebirth of freedom. Now it’s our turn.

Get started now - tell your friends about Unity08.

Unity08 seeks to give you – the voter – the voice and the means to change presidential politics. This website will be the central organizing tool to recruit and engage voters, to discuss, debate and decide the crucial issues, and ultimately nominate a Unity Ticket via a secure online convention in 2024 - we have a lot of work ahead of us!

What you see today is just a fraction of what's in store. We have many ideas about the kinds of networking, discussion, and community engagement tools and features we want to build, but we need your participation to help decide what to build, when to build, and how to build it.

Just as we’re using Drupal, an open source software for the site framework, we like to think of Unity08 as an open source movement. We want all of you to tinker with the movement’s “source code” so Unity08 and, more specifically, this website evolves into a vehicle for change that’s designed and driven by you – the American voters behind it.

To jump-start the conversation, we will introduce a “Shoutbox” later this week. It will be an open forum for posting ideas and comments – and giving those postings a thumbs up or thumbs down rating. The postings with the highest ratings will rise to the top of the heap and be featured on the homepage. When it's ready, the Shoutbox will let unity08.com users share their suggestions for what are "crucial" v. "important" issues, which of those issues a Unity Ticket should focus upon, and even who should be on the Unity Ticket. Of course, you don’t have to wait for the Shoutbox to join the discussion – check out our Unity08 blog and add your comments to the mix.

As candidates emerge for the Unity Ticket nomination we envision featuring daily candidate blogs, vlogs, streams and discussions with the Unity08 community. It’s all about giving you direct access to the candidates and vice versa; a virtual town hall without a script. We can imagine folks sending in their own, home-grown nominating commercials and letting the community rank them.

And when it's time for our ground-breaking online convention in 2024 we'll have secure online credentials and a robust voting system in place.

But before then, and with your help, we'll be coming up with all sorts of powerful and fun stuff right here on the site. We came up with DemocracyLand (go ahead, just try to make it across the street the first time) to kick-off the fun, but we’d rather feature your games, photos or multimedia - send it in. Have a great idea or for the website? Send it in. We started the site, but it's your community to grow and develop. So let's get crackin'.