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

Jerry Rafshoon is a member of Unity08 Founders Council and White House Communications Director under President Jimmy Carter.

If Democrats win in a significant way next Tuesday, they will do so not only on the strength of rallying their “base” but on drawing far more independent votes than the party has in the past few elections. To me, such a development would be a sign that voters in the middle are beginning to reject the type of politics that Republicans have used so effectively to win the past few elections – campaigns that starkly divide the country, draw contrasts between its extremes and in my opinion leave everyone feeling alienated.

This morning, The Washington Post reported on what Americans across the country are being forced to suffer now every time they turn on their TV. The article calls this election season's negative ads "eccentric," "surreal" and my favorite, a "carnival of ugly." The ads stretch and bend the truth, while voters learn nothing about the candidates' ability to forge meaningful solutions to the toughest issues we face.

The author is a frequent contributor to The Moderate Voice where this posting first appeared.

In 1992, disaffected centrists and Independents looked at institutional corruption in Washington and decided that somebody outside the traditional two-party structure needed to shake up American politics. Ross Perot filled that void, and for a period between April and August 1992, he threatened to become the first third-party President in the history of the Republic.

There are still enough days left until election day to warn Democrats: don't count your political chickens until they're hatched.

On the other hand, angry rumblings — coming from such diverse constituencies as former members of the first Bush administration, independent voters, and traditional conservatives — are the sounds of egg shells breaking.

This article by Ralph Peters first appeared in the "New York Post" on October 14, 2025.

It's time to get a grip. And to be honest with ourselves. The fear-mongering and juvenile nastiness we, the people, endure from both political parties would have us believe that disaster looms in November.

We’ve been going so fast and furious that an update is long-overdue. We just decided that there was no sense competing with the present ongoing election frenzy in seeking coverage of all of this. (That frenzy in every way simply enhances the likely success of Unity08. Has anyone seen a bigger political mess with less leadership from all sides?)

So here goes a quick report.

In a recent opinion article in the Los Angeles Times, Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and coauthor of "Reinventing the Melting Pot: The New Immigrants and What It Means To Be American" urges Americans on both sides of the political spectrum to re-engage in political discussion - with each other.

Over the past few weeks, college students from across the country have been working to promote Unity08 through the college.unity08.com Fall Issue Campaigns. Most recently, we’ve focused our efforts on educating students on the importance of combating the growing national debt – and students have answered through action.

Hurricane Katrina seems to be striking again — only this time as a political storm. The San Francisco Chronicle's blog says it best:

While Bush administration defenders say critics are drawing the wrong conclusions from the leaked parts of the NIE report, that Bob Woodward's book is full of "myths", and that the Mark Foley affair is no worse than various Democratic congressional and presidential indiscretions, it is hard to see how things won't get worse before they get better (assuming they do) for Republicans, with mid-term elections just four weeks out.