Tim asked, in a comment to a recent post, what I thought of Unity08. Frankly, I hadn’t really focused on it, because I’ve been so busy with state primaries.
But I should have. I think it’s an important movement.
Is it everything I would be looking for in an alternative to the pointless division and intellectual dishonesty that the two main parties represent? No. No mass movement (if this turns out to be a mass movement, which appears to be the intent) could be.
I question two things about it:
- Why would it concentrate its effort on the disaffected young, as David Broder noted? What about us disaffected old? We’ve been frustrated by all the partisan nonsense longer than they have. And of course, we’re wiser and all that.
- While I admire the determination not to get bogged down in the absurdities of the culture wars, and concentrate on the "crucial issues" of war and peace, education, health care, etc., I get a little whiff of avoidance here. What we need is for people’s positions on abortion, prayer in schools, etc. not to be dealkillers.
Think what you like about those things. I have my positions on some of those things (while, admittedly, ignoring others as being entirely false choices). What should be important in a candidate should be whether voters across the political spectra (as they are variously defined) can trust him or her to deal wisely, pragmatically and morally with the issues that matter most at a given time — issues that usually can’t be defined in advance. No one would have guessed in 2000, for instance, that George W. Bush might be judged on the basis of how well, or how poorly, he engages in war and nation-building.
Anyway, this may be a bogus caveat on my part, and not inconsistent with what the Unity08 folks want at all. I just know I’m going to be watching this with interest.
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Unity08 sounds like Mushy Materialism – they don’t want to think about issues like having to defend themselves from criminals, or a despotic government, or a government doctor getting ready to “euthanize” them.
Like many in “the middle”, they sound reactionary, waiting for the hard core socialists and individualists to stake out the issues, from which they want to pick and choose like a buffet line.
It doesn’t work that way. You can’t vote for socialized medicine without voting for euthanasia, unless you debate euthanasia.
O.K. Brad,
Let’s debate these issues. Let’s go. Let’s let the public hear a few new ideas for a change.
I like what I see from these people for two main reasons. They are making a concerted effort to speak on behalf of left out middle child – young and disinfected “old.” They have prioritized issues so we can start chipping away at our collective national “to do list.”
I have had enough of the divisive political approach of dismissing those with opposing points of view as “libs” or “right wing.” I appreciate the Libermans and Grahams in DC who at times will follow loyalty to country over loyalty to party.
Both sides of the aisle have good people working to better our country. Why not pick from the buffet of all resources at our disposal?
The other, very real issues don’t just go away because the majority hasn’t the fortitude or honesty to discuss them.
We can not address ALL real issues at one time. A Republican congressman from Oklahoma was asked after a debate of issues what was the next step. He replied that we need to address the issues we can agree on now, bring those to a conclusion, then work on the other issues.
While the issue of gay marriage is important, the timing is suspicious. It appears Unity08 is making this very point. Prioritize and work together to do the country’s business, not the party’s business. No party or side has a monopoly on honesty, fortitude, or the best answers.
Any time a statist tries to diminish our liberty or our wealth, we have to face that issue, or become less of a free citizen.
We become less of a free citizen when we don’t think for ourselves and rely on a political platform to be our stance on everything. Lindsey Graham has the cajones to to think freely and make decisions he THINKS are right regardless if they jibe with his party. This is what Jefferson had in mind when he characterized education and thoughtfulness as foundations for a democracy.
Yes, we must face the issues, but in a thoughtful way that allows us to be effective. Graham and the gang of 14 understood this when they went against their parties to hammer out a compromise on judicial nominations.
Our Founding Fathers crafted a tremendous structure of government which has worked brilliantly for over 200 years. I refuse to dismiss government as despotic or socialist and even find that insulting. As citizens, we owe more to our country than oversimplification and demagoguery. The issues are not simple. They require consideration, debate, and often times, compromise.
Lindsey Graham is a follower of the Democrats on immigration. A month ago, he promised to only vote for a Senate bill that had border enforcement, etc. Then he went out of the country on a junket.
When he came back, McCain and Kennedy had added tax amnesty for illegal aliens and their employers, entitlements to Social Security and more welfare, in-state tuition for illegals, the right to bring in everyone who claims to be family, even before the illegals are converted to citizens, less border enforcement, etc.
Lindsey Graham now supports all this garbage he previously said he would never support.
Lindsey Graham is not a leader. He is a follower, doing what big business and the liberals in his party tell him to do.
I’m not sure that Unity08 will turn into a mass movement or not, but I like to see someone trying to tap the Netroots for inclusive politics rather than simply trying to motivate the extreme base of either party. I’ve spent most of my adult life in politics, but like most “regular” people, I am sick to death of the system. My wife tells me that a third way is useless and doomed, that you can only try to work within your own party to reform it. Of course, she’s a Republican and I’m a Democrat, so we’d be working at cross purposes there!
Putting aside the nation for a moment, honestly, we’re our state’s standard of living lags the nation, when we need to put emphasis on improving – not abandoning – the public education system, when we have areas of our state – primarily rural – that our stuck in persistent poverty, does it matter one iota whether two men want to sleep together, whether any law-abiding citizen can buy a firearm or whether our children can pray in school?
If you don’t understand that all your other rights only exist because enough men are armed, then you really need to study the history of Western elected governments.
The major reason for the poverty in this state is the dismissive attitude of white liberals towards the immoral behavior which created these masses of abused children. Huge sums of money are pouring into these rural schools with little results, because the children keep dropping out and having more illegitimate children.
Right, Lee – South Carolina is a poor state because, since 1670, white liberals have been pouring money into the immoral behavior of the lower classes. If you really believe that, you’re a moron, regardless of how many degrees and how many years of work experience you have. It’s more charitable for me to assume you were careless in stating your position.
Saiken, was that supposed to be your attempt at using slavery or some other ancient history as an excuse for the failure of modern socialism?
There have been lots of new generations born since all the programs of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, but just as many people were taking advantage of new opportunities, others were buying into the amoral, hands-off attitudes of white society as a green light to destroy themselves.
The vast majority of black children are born without a family, and that is the primary cause of poverty among all races in America. Throw in alcohol abuse, drug use, and the glorification of gangs in popular music and entertainment, and you have a population that can soak up limitless tax money with no improvement.
For liberals and moderates to fix the mess they made, they have to quit being liberals and moderates, and impose discipline on the people they created.
Unity08 will fail as ALL “third party” efforts fail. Having one DemoCANT and one RepubliCANT on a ticket won’t solve anything, because no matter who is elected we will still have PRCs in charge.
Only when a majority of voters in this country rise up and vote the Dem/Repub jerks out will there be a change. Third parties are a good thing but there are so many of them and they work at odds against each other that the incumbent PRCs just roll right on.
Last chance for a change is a statewide & nationwide write-in voting campaign which is totally against Democrats, Republicans & incuments. But, don’t hold your breath. If this blogsite is any indication, the status quo will be with us until this country “blows itself apart” government-wise (figuratively speaking).
Lee, I will disregard your latest name-calling. I am neither a “liberal” nor a “moderate” in the pejorative way you use those terms. I am a pragmatist. Any attempt to deal successfully with education’s problems must deal with the fact that, for most of its history, the leaders of South Carolina didn’t give a hoot about public education and only lately have started to pay serious attention to the fact that it is a problem. Your rigid, Sanford-is-right-everybody-else-is-wrong stance contributes little to serious efforts to solve the problem. This is not to say your ideas don’t have some merit. They need to be discussed dispassionately, not in the superheated atmosphere of an election campaign, along with others. Intelligent discussion threatens no one – do you think you are being threatened?
News flash, Saiken: I am not a Republican nor a “Sanford supporter”. Poof! There goes another mental dodge for you.
Thinking hint: stop playing minds games like reversing things 180 and calling those with ideas “rigid”, when your subconcious knows that describes your attempts to conserve and preserve the status quo.
Saiken: ignore the hate-monger. He won’t offer reasonable dialogue, only venom.
You are free to defend Lindsey Graham’s role as moderate follower of extremists any time you care to try.
OK, The gang of 14 in the judicial nominee controversy defied their parties to find a compromise. The end result was no nuclear option, no filibuster, and two confirmed judges who the conservatives support strongly.
How is making this happen an example of Graham following extremists? Who are the extremists, the entire democratic party?
I gave an example of Graham being led around by extremists on the illegal alien issue (not really “immigrants”).
On the judicial compromise, Graham got duped. As of this moment, the Democrats are holding other legislation hostage to judicial appointments they withdrawn without a vote.
Lee, the sky is not brown because you say it is.
The gang of 14 was designed to address the supreme court nominees and they were successful. “Graham led around” is maybe your most laughable statement yet. You are upset because he thinks for himself and doesn’t blindly follow Pat Roberston, Tom Delay, and Dick Cheney. He poked a finger in the collective eye of the conservative critics who want blind obedience and now he’ll win reelection easier than ever.
Go ahead and pull out your best Graham potshots, he brushes away such lame critisism like lint.
So why are the Democrats now holding up judicial appointments from floor votes?
What happened to Lindsey Graham’s deal?
It was like the deals the Indians made with General Sheridan.
The focus of the gang of 14 deal was to avoid filibusters/nuclear option during supreme court nominations. He established a goal, carried out a plan of action, achieved his goals – conservative judges the conservatives like. Graham 1, right wing fringe faction hate-mongers 0.
Filibusters have been replaced another “nuclear option”: Democrats are holding up funding for nuclear fuel reprocessing at Aiken as hostage to force Lindsey Graham to withdraw support for various judicial nominees.
Other projects in other states are being held hostage to block judges.
In Aiken, it is endangering 1,000 current jobs and freezing 1,000 new hires.
Those libs ruin everything. They use stealth tactics to make it look like the GOP is in control of all three branches and the lobbyists then they secretly change laws and brainwash officials. All these problems that are happening now are not the fault of the republicans. It’s Al Gore, the illegal aliens, government schools (which we don’t control even though it looks like we control the government) and tree-huggers who keep griping about making the environment safe for our kids.
Ted, why don’t you have the guts to post under your own name, instead of faking posts from others?