Unity 08---have you heard about it?

Until the other night I had never heard of Unity 08, not surprising considering the media rarely gives news coverage to anything they deem not worthwhile. I happened to have the t.v on the channel that the Colbert Report comes on and I saw that Sam Waterston (from Law and Order) was on. So I didn't change the channel. During the jokes by Colbert, Sam Waterston brought up what he hoped would be the changing force of this next election--Unity 08.

And though the media seems to be ignoring it--- this IS worthwhile (more so that why some movie star landed in jail). Unity 08 is an organization that is trying to get enough people together by June 08 to get an "independent" on the Presidential ticket.
Which independent you ask? No one knows yet. That's the whole point---we get to choose. In June 08 they are supposedly hosting an on line forum where members can vote on who will run. You can also submit what YOU think the most talked about issues should be. Don't give a crap about some of these idiotic issues that seem to come up during every debate? Tired of hearing the candidates spend the majority of the time slinging mud at each other while making vague references to some grand new scheme to solve some non defined issue because they don't want to be "pinned" down to having really said anything?
DO care about energy independence or health care or lobby reform or poverty or many many other things? Then go to the web site and take a look. That's it---just a look. They don't require that you donate----but of course you can. They don't require that you commit to any one specific issue or candidate---but you can.

Then---if you like what you see and read---pass it along so more and more people can find out about this. Maybe we can make a difference yet. That's what I hope since I have to admit there isn't one candidate yet that I can say I am joyous about. A couple are interesting---but the media decided a long time ago that they weren't worth while so there for no one hears much about them. The media has made the decision for us. If left to them it will be Hillary or Obama for the dems and for the republicans: Guilliani or Romney.

BUT I don't want any of them really---so I will go with another team at least for now. Even if Unity 08 fails to achieve it's goal I will be no worse off than I was before trying since the choices were picked long ago. Even if you vote in the primaries---you aren't really choosing. Someone else chose long ago. You're just deciding on which one of someone else's choices.
Are we a democratic country where anyone can run? Well, let's see. Here's what wikpedia says about the emergence of the two party system:

America's first President George Washington, did not belong to a political party. This made him America's only independent (no party) president. Most of America's founding fathers were opposed to political parties, and wanted none of them in the U.S.

America's first political party was the Federalist Party founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1792. The Federalists favored a strong central government ruled by a wealthy educated elite, a national bank, strong military, treaty with Britain, and fewer rights for states and most citizens. Federalists controlled the government until 1801. George Washington supported many Federalist policies. America's second President John Adams was a member of the Federalist Party.

America's second political party was the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1792 in order to oppose the policies of the Federalists. This is when the two party system began in the U.S. Jefferson was reluctant to create a party because he was opposed to political parties in general, and their power struggles over the government, but he felt that he had to protect the rights of citizens. The Democratic-Republican Party's policies were often opposite to Federalist policies. The party opposed the treaty with Britain, defended the Constitution, denounced the national bank, and promoted citizen's and states' rights. It became the dominant political party in the United States from 1800 until the 1820s, when it split into competing factions, one of which became the modern-day Democratic Party.

Therefore, the two party system in the U.S. occurred to prevent one party from gaining too much power, by creating a second party with opposite policies.

You can read more about the advantage and disadvantage at wikpedia.

But why always stay with a two party system? Why is it so hard for other parties to rise or fall ? Well, there is a "law" (as in Murphy's law) about that too and here it is: Duverger's law -- also taken from wikpedia.
Happy reading---remember the best citizen is an informed citizen (and a voting citizen!)