Unity 08

If its backers have their way, you're going to be hearing a lot more about this organization over the next year and a half. It's a new political party, one supported entirely by online participation and donations, and one which aims to split the difference between the radical polarization and bitterness effected by both parties. The net will elect its presidential candidate, and he or she must only agree to name a running mate from the other party. Harmony, unity and common sense from the middle.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
It's not. And here's why.
While net power is here to stay, the idea of currently 'splitting the difference' between radical wings of both parties is a false remedy. Look at it this way.
Think about two teams pulling on a rope in a tug of war. Consider them on a football field, with the center of the rope right on the 50 yard line, and extending to the 25 yard line on either side. Each party has its moderate members more toward the middle, and its 'radical fringe' on either end.
When George W. Bush and his band of incompetent crooks were wrongfully granted power, they started tugging with all their might. 'Bipartisanship?', some asked. They just laughed and pulled harder. Before long, the 'radical left' found itself still at the end of its rope (pun intended), but now standing almost at midfield. The midterm elections stopped the pulling for the time being, but the left hasn't retaken any ground. So while Unity 08 is sweet talking Americans into splitting the difference, the middle of the country can read the hash marks.
They see that the center now stands at about the conservative 25 yard line--that's how much ground they've gained at the expense of the middle class, the military and the U.S. Constitution.
The moderates of America don' t like where they're at. They overwhelmingly oppose Bush, his policies and his folly in Iraq. They realize there are seven years of surrendered turf to be reclaimed. And if Unity 08 wants to lure and satisfy them, they're going to have to help move the middle back to the true center of our nation--legally, economically and morally.
To paraphrase Yeats, the center will not hold.

diderot