Former Governor of Maine and Bowdoin College Distinguished Lecturer Angus King says there is a plague of partisan politics in America, and he says he has a solution for it: Unity '08.
In his Monday lecture titled "Polarization, Partisanship, and the Politics of Division?Isn't it Time for a Third Way?" King described the Unity '08 organization and its goals.
Unity '08 seeks to nominate a presidential ticket with a Republican and a Democratic candidate for president and vice president running together.
King, who is on the organization's founder's council, said he hopes that a Unity '08 ticket will push American politics back toward the middle. He hopes the ticket will realign it with the majority of American voters, and allow voters more of a say in presidential nominations.
"I want to see the country solve some of these problems," he said.
Unity '08's specific ticket would be chosen by an online national convention. Any U.S. citizen eligible to vote in his or her home state will be able to participate.
King described this approach as an "insurance policy for democracy."
The urgent need for political change prompted King to become involved in Unity '08.
"I'm fearful about the future of the country," he said, citing the supposed stagnation of the current political system and culture of corruption in Washington.
"It's been in my lifetime that parties have gone from being non-ideological to ideological. It makes every election Armageddon," he said.
Despite the organization's place outside the mainstream, King was optimistic about Unity '08's impact.
"If nothing else, [Unity '08 could] get ordinary people to contribute to our political system," he said.
King said he also wants to provide an avenue for nomination for candidates who do not have a party backing them.
"I think there are other great presidents out there who couldn't make it through the present process," he said.
King said that the success or failure of Unity '08 depends largely upon the organization's ability to use the Internet to mobilize centrists, who comprise approximately 80 percent of Americans.
The challenge, he said, will be to "create excitement among people who are by definition not political activists."