The Unity Movement is a netroots effort to move political dynamics away from "motivating the base" of voter blocks by focusing national attention on polarizing issues that are important to many people but in some sense are "non crucial" (examples include Flag Burning, Abortion, and Gay Marriage). The Unity Movement wants to move towards a dynamic that focuses on issues crucial to the long term pragmatic welfare of the United States of America.

A Brief History Of The Unity Movement

• Announced on May 31, 2006 by the Unity08 folks.

• The Unity Supporters site went up on June 5th, 2006 along with a Unity Supporters Web Forum and a Unity Wiki.

• The Unity08 Shoutbox goes up. This is the second web forum of the movement.

• The Declaration of Independence petition was completed on July 4th, 2006.

• JenniferForUnity joins Campaigns Wikia on July 15th, 2006 (after finding out about Campaigns on Digg) to let them know about the Unity Movement (her handle there is also JenniferForUnity).

• Silona Bonewald announces the Lock-In in Austin on July 19th, 2006 and JenniferForUnity sees it another part of a growing netroots movement to transform politics in 2008 and joins to cross promote Unity08, Campaigns Wikia, and the League of Technical Voters.

The Goals Of Unity08

Unity08 started with a splash of media and announced the following core goals (quoted from their site):

"We have set three specific goals, and are exploring how best to achieve them.

* Goal One is the election of a Unity Ticket for President and Vice-President of the United States in 2008 – headed by a woman and/or man from each major party or by an independent who presents a Unity Team from both parties.

* Goal Two is for the people themselves to pick that Unity Ticket in the first half of 2008 – via a virtual and secure online convention in which all American voters will be qualified to vote.

* Goal Three, our minimum goal, is to effect major change and reform in the 2008 national elections by influencing the major parties to adopt the core features of our national agenda. With a group of voters who comprise at least 20% of the national electorate, we feel confident that our voters will decide the 2008 election."

The Mission Statement of Unity Supporters

The Unity Wiki contains an evolving "Minimalist Mission Statement" that tries to articulate the basic goals of Unity Supporters. It is replicated here (and edits in either place will likely be progated to the other for the rest of July and June at least).

1. Our Ultimate Goal: Effective governance.
2. Our Values: Pragmatism, Civility, Inclusion, Compromise, Transparency.
3. Our Complaint: Current political dynamics are polarizing around issues of pride, culture, and ideology while issues vital to the long term welfare of the nation are ignored and left to fester.
4. Our Issues: Will be as unifyingly vague as possible for as long as possible.
1. As we go, we'll work on an *agenda* of issues vital to the welfare of the nation.
2. Candidates will propose *platforms* to answer the agenda.
3. We'll talk for a while.
4. Then we'll vote in the Unity Convention.
5. Concrete Goals for 2006: Plant the seeds to ensure success in 2008.
1. Start getting parties set up in every state.
2. Begin construction of an open, fair, and transparent online caucasing system.
3. Push for election reform... at least up to *international fair voting standards*.
6. Concrete Goals for 2008: End polarization, get a unifying presidential ticket elected.
1. Hold an online convention for 20 million people (using the system we'll have built).
2. Vote with the system's secure and mathematically fair voting algorithm.
3. Every unity voter should give a $N donation to the winner of our ticket (making special interests obsolete).

External links

• The Unity Wiki.
• The Unity08 Main Page and Shoutbox.
• The Main Page and Forum of Unity Supporters.
• A Who's Who of the Unity Movement.