Filed under: Unity08
I recently have begun to learn about Unity ‘08. Unity ’08’s goal is to create a whole new political party and agenda from the bottom up utilizing the internet. Their goal is to elect a Unity ticket which consists of a person from both major parties running for President an VP.
Fortune recently had an interesting article on Unity’08. Some of the more interesting parts of the article include:
To be eligible for nomination, the only condition these and other contenders must agree to is this: If they win, they will name a running mate from the other political party. The last act of the virtual convention will be to ask each of its ten million online delegates to kick in $100 for the campaign; if one in four comes through, this Unity ticket will emerge with a $250 million bankroll that will make it competitive in the closing months of the race.
The idea behind Unity ‘08 isn’t just to democratize the selection of candidates; it’s about changing what they talk about too. One of the most frustrating things about campaigns today is that the candidates control the agenda – they only discuss what they feel will help them win. Unity ’08’s philosophy is that voters should set the agenda. Its citizen delegates, who have just started signing up online, will be polled on their priorities; candidates will then be required to speak to the resulting short list of big issues.
It will be interesting to see if Unity’08 gets the tractions it needs to be able to influence the 08 election. I sure how that it does. At a minimum , I sure hope that it enables the individual to be able to shape the key topics that are discuss by politicians.
