Atlantic Monthly has published an intriguing article about a new "centrist" political party called "
Unity08" that is organizing online. The party plans to run a candidate for president who must choose a running mate from an opposition party. If a Democrat wins the party's nomination, he must choose a Republican running mate, and vice versa. Here's a quote:
Unity08's online convention will be the first party convention since 1952 to feature runoff balloting for a presidential candidate. The rules committee is still nailing down specifics, but the working plan calls for interested candidates -- including those who have been the subject of a draft -- to declare themselves at the outset of the convention. Once the balloting has winnowed the field to four, each of the remaining candidates will have to choose a running mate from the opposite party: Democrats must choose Republicans they can work with, and vice versa. Independents can choose someone from either party, but in the spirit of unity, they must also name a senior Cabinet officer from the remaining major party -- for instance, a Democratic running mate and a Republican secretary of state. Whoever is slated on the official Unity ticket will take on the Democratic and Republican tickets in November. "We're not in this to play around," Bailey vows. "We intend to elect the first truly bipartisan presidential ticket in American history."
The organizers of the party are former national political consultants that have grown alarmed at the polarization that has taken place in American politics over the last forty years. Here's a quote from Doug Baily, former political consultant for former President Gerald Ford:
"The two-party system has worked well for 200 years and can continue to do so," Bailey says, "but only when elections are fought over the middle. Our goal is to jolt the two parties into recognizing this, by drawing them into a fight over the middle rather than allowing them to keep maximizing the appeal to their bases at the extremes."
I will be keeping an eye on this. I hope their efforts succeed.
4 comments:
Actually the constitution as first drafted created this situation.
The person with the most electoral votes was President and the person with the second number of votes was vice-president. This resulted in John Adams being president and Thomas Jefferson his political opponent being vice-president. It was not good for the country then and there was an amendment passed to make presidents and vice-presidents of the same party to restore peace and harmony. It wasn't a good idea then and I don't think it's a very good idea now. After the bitter taste Nader and his Green Party have left on the electorate you'd think creating another fringe party would be the last thing we need.
This has absolutely zero chance of going anywhere. Think about it-- no one of any standing in EITHER party can afford to run at the top of that ticket, without essentially handing the presidency to the opposing party. As a Democrat I hope U-08 runs A McCain-Lieberman ticket. Just as long as McCain is at the top.
I agree with P.M. I thought of the Adams/Jefferson disaster as soon as I heard of this.
I do think 3rd parties are important, but not to create "unity governments," like in a parliamentary system. Rather, we need electoral reform allowing for instant run-off voting and (in presidential elections), proportionate votes to the electoral college (not winner take all). This allows 3rd parties to play a positive role instead of just the role of "spoiler."
As the Vice President has typically (present administration excepted) had few responsibilities and minimal policy influence, a split ticket is hardly a guarantee of bipartisanship between the administration and Congress, much less within the House or within the Senate. Still, that anyone is working to lessen polarity is encouraging.
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