Mario Cuomo, a Democratic and the former governor of New York, and Tom Kean, a Republican and the former governor of New Jersey, published this supportive Opinion-Editorial in the New York Daily News this past weekend.
Some excerpts from it...
"Has there been a moment when America has faced more crucial issues at the same time? Not in our lifetime. And our current politics is not dealing well with any of them."
"On top of it all, Washington has been so overrun by lobbyists, their fundraising and earmarks, that the political system is not just broken, it is corrupt. As Michael Kinsley has said about the nation’s capital: 'The scandal is not what’s illegal. The scandal is what’s legal.'”
"Whichever party we choose to join — if any — we must find a way to force all of these crucial issues to the fore. A novel push by a group called Unity08, designed to develop a 'New American Agenda,' is designed to do just that."
"If the voters cannot choose among the candidates on the basis of their answers to the key questions on the crucial issues, the election of 2024 will be a failure — again."
We've republished the article on our site for you to read and pass along to others.
What do you think?
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That's what Mario Cuomo and Tom Kean have just published in the New York Daily News this past weekend. They don't see anything amiss with not allowing Unity08's delegates to actually post on Unity08's website what they, themselves, may or may not think the crucial issues are, not only to themselves, but to the future safety and well-being of the country. They seem to think a better way to create a political platform - "from the people on up" is to have Unity08 simply wait until the spring of 2024 and, through the use of a series of "focus groups," develop what they think will be the issues "crucial" to the safety of the country and allow Unity08 delegates to simply approve or disapprove only the issues listed before them. And, depending on how representative a representative sampling of the delegate votes is taken this time around, arrive at a political platform from the people on up.
Whether this procedure will actually lead to a political platform from the people on up is anybody guess, but it has absolutely no chance of representing the political agenda of the delegates of Unity08's themselves. That is the illusion Unity08 is trying to uphold, the illusion Mario Cuomo and Tom Kean's opinion piece attempts to uphold and, fortunately, the lie most people see through before they sign up with Unity08, and the reason why Unity08 isn't meeting its own membership projection goals.
ex animo
davidfarrar
David, I suppose you think that the topics in the forum are not by the delegates. If the delegates are not allowed to pick any topics, why is there a place you or any other delegate can create a topic? You are just angry because you were unable to create a special group that you thought was a good idea. Well, you put it to the Delegates and they did not go along. You have no proof that Unity is not on the up and up. The way I see it, Unity is new at just about everything they are doing, from technologies to a whole different way of picking our candidates. Like everything else in life, people make mistakes and the people at Unity are no different. If you want to do your part, then be constructive. Keep an open mind, be willing to compromise, help identify the most crucial issues and how to solve them. Keep you own agenda out of the process.
Betty
It is one approach to identify the critical issues. However they aren't any good without identifying the corrective action.
For example, earmarks should be eliminated. Any candidate should be willingly to accept that position.
Social security and medicare are both going bankrupt. Corrective actions have been identified, such as increasing the social security retirement age to 70, or so.
The election process in California is really messed up due to the apportionment of the state into "safe" districts. It should be changed to one based on a more rational approach, such as population.
Maybe your next poll could include a request for what the Unity 08 members believe is the proper action.
You have identified two very important issues, issues that need to be brought forward. Why can't you, as a delegate of Unity08, bring those issues forward yourself? If we have to depend on Unity08 officials to bring our issues forward, we have lost before we have even get started.
So go to the correct topic thread, "Agenda/Platform", and post your issues. And while you are there, tell them you would like a better way for other delegates to also post their issues as well.
ex anmio
davidfarrar
Our problem isn't the fact that candidates aren't willing to answer the questions that would define a true voting pool for them. Admittedly, that is a problem, but before we fix that, we need to appoint candidates that will stay true to their word and stop talking out of the lobbyists' pants. The president talked about the health insurance agenda, and he actually said that the uninsured need insurance so that their doctors can help them. The only problem is, the uninsured don't have doctors. This was yet another sign that lobbyists are influencing speechwriters and even the president. He took the oath of office to uphold the constitution, but ever since he was elected, he has done anything but that. We need a candidate like Kennedy to run. We need someone that is actually going to work to get problems fixed and not govern based on how he thinks everything should work. That's the bottom line, because the nation says so.