By Owen Paine on Tuesday June 6, 2006 04:13 PM
Two party politics is like that now-famous fictive mountain:
it's brokebacked.
It's got a slump, not a hump, in the middle.
But according to Unity08, folks want a hump party even if they don't know it:
In a poll conducted for the group, Princeton Survey Research Associates found that more than four-fifths of Americans agreed with the statement that the nation "has become so polarized that Washington can't seem to make progress.So unlike most third-party fantasy camps, this one wants to go build a middle hump, not a "bold alternative" -- a party that makes muddlethrough into a golden mean.
Their guess is the middle isn't something best approached party-wise, from the left or right, but best sat right down on.
There's more:
The Unity08 effort is challenging the widespread belief among political experts that the most effective third parties need a vivid and compelling leader to coalesce around, such as Roosevelt or Perot. The organizers of the new effort are trying to build the party and then find a candidate to lead it.My guess -- this is a coagulation of castoffs from either side of the partisan divide. "Will no one rid me of these troublesome geeks?"
Comments (3)
If their "positions" are anything to go by - it looks more like The Island of Misfit Policy Wonks. More Rankin-Bass than Jean Anouilh.
Posted by AlanSmithee | June 6, 2006 10:00 PM
Posted on June 6, 2006 22:00
Ummm... didn't we already have the New Party ? Not that anyone remembers it anymore.
Ah, well, while the big blogs prattle about this, they have one more excuse for ignoring campaigns like Chretien's. This helps them avoid the on-target acusation that their keening in previous years for 3rd party candidates to win their love and respect by keeping things local is, as with so much else they write in defense of the duopoly, a steaming truckload of cowflop.
Posted by ms_xeno (fka alsis39.9) | June 6, 2006 11:17 PM
Posted on June 6, 2006 23:17
I am always tremendously amused by the people who claim that partisan bickering is destroying politics, and that the people are annoyed with the two main parties, so the solution is....centrism.
I still fail to see the difference between the Unity08 concept and the Democratic party as it is, myself. That could be the point.
Posted by Rowan | June 7, 2006 2:46 AM
Posted on June 7, 2006 02:46