Can anyone still be president?
Isn’t it time you ran for President? In the 1990s everyone had a talk show. In the 2008 presidential election it seems as if everyone is running for president. But when we get to the primaries we find that the same names keep coming up winners every election cycle. John Kerry, Hillary or Bill Clinton, George Bush (1 or 2), John Edwards, and the list goes on. Whatever happened to the American dream of anyone becoming president? Further, in today’s climate of the professional politician, how is a grass roots candidate ever going to get a real chance at our nation’s highest office?
The answer lies within the World Wide Web. For the first time any American born citizen over the age of 35 has a real chance to build a following, generate contributions and run for president. And I believe over the next two or three election cycles, enough people will have access to the web, and the trust factor will build to the point to make it a viable medium for a real campaign. What is needed is a single website to bring all these candidates together, and allow the general public to evaluate them, and score them. This will separate the wheat from the chaff, and allow the engaged citizen to direct his support resources to a handful of candidates with the best chance for jump starting a political career.
There is such a website. U4prez.com has attracted over 2100 presidential candidates in just four months. These citizen candidates come from all walks of life, and represent a diversity of opinion not available anywhere else on television, newsprint, radio, or the web. All of this took place a year and a half before the election of 2008, which bodes quite well for the future.
Is it working? Are the candidates being seen and heard? More than you can imagine. In this same period of time the candidates platforms have been viewed over four million times. And nearly one half million votes have been cast. Voting is done simply by rating the candidate on a scale of 1 to 10. While the average candidate has been voted on 250 times, several candidates have received over 5000 votes. It is only a matter of time (perhaps just months) before one of these candidates breaks out and generates a critical mass of supporters. When this happens, the candidate will have the ability to raise money, raise awareness to a level compatible with “real” candidates, and begin a run in earnest for president.
At this point it is highly unlikely that a candidate could emerge and win the presidency in 2008. Several candidates have however launched campaigns for governor, mayor, and city council using the site has a test bed for floating ideas and generating support. The 2012 election offers a much better chance for a real grass roots candidate to mount a successful campaign, and by 2020 it all but inevitable that a dark horse candidate will not only challenge, but win the presidency.
So is this good for the country? Absolutely. The professional politician today, despite all of the media channels available, has become more detached from the center of America than ever before. The chicken dinners, and other meet the people events have become highly scripted both in speech, and in the operation of the event. Candidates no longer interact with the populous in any meaningful way. U4prez.com changes that. The candidates are questioned in real time, and must respond to pointed questions. The debate on the site goes back to the roots of Lincoln Douglas and other famous debates that can go on for hours. A sixty second sound bite simply will not suffice. This allows the dialogue to incorporate tangential issues, and gives the potential voter a much better understanding of the candidates position, and character.
So who is winning the race? As of mid-July the national candidates are dominated by Fred Thompson on the Republican side, and Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are close leaders on the Democratic side. But Ron Paul, a relatively unknown Republican also generates solid support, and draws from Democrats, Republicans and independents. The really interesting thing is the number of average Joe (and Mary) candidates that generate just as much, or even more support than the top tier candidates.
What issues are hot? If you watch the news on television or read newspapers you would assume global warming is the biggest issue of the day. You would be wrong. With over 300,000 comments posted on issues, Global warming is one of the least discussed issues. The top issues are the Mexican border wall, the war in Iraq, abortion, and education.
So if you think you’ve got what it takes to lead this great nation you might want to head over to U4prez.com and begin your campaign. Or you can register as a voter and jump in to the debates. Registration is fairly simple, you just need a user name and a sound bite. For those more serious candidates you can customize your platform, and add as much detail as you’d like about your positions, and political preferences.
U4prez.com has certainly accomplished a few things so far. It has proven that while there might be some apathy out when it comes to politics, there is still quite a few people who are passionate about it and the issues gacing our nation.
U4prez has also proven that what is wrong with politics is not the system but the people involved in the system. For even on u4prez we can see how human nature often bests the issues as egos and the need to be top dog sometimes overshadow interests of the nation.
All in all u4prez is a great forum for ideas, the ingenuity of the American citizen and for trying your patience!
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It appears you answered your own question about the viability of internet campaigning and whether or not it is working. You mentioned that the mid July winner for the Republican side (national candidates)is Fred Thompson (who by the way has not even declared) when a look at your own FEC site shows another republican candidate in the lead (who IS a registered FEC candidate).
I believe that sites like this WILL be a major influence on future elections. The question is, what kind of influence. As long as sites like yours, Myspace, Wikipedia, refuse to recognize "average" people as "real" candidates then you are no different from the regular media.
I would like to add my thanks for finally adding Ray McKinney to the official FEC site. You are one of the first major websites to treat him as an equal.
I think U4PREZ is an excellent idea and should become a integral part of the election process.
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Well, you can always gamble and see who will win.
http://mariogiordani.com/slots/
The 2008 Gambling Machine.
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U4Prez.com is a fun site to debate the issues on. You can help shape your own campaign by debating and voting for other candidates and you can know how attractive your campaign is to voters by trying your hand at it. Visit Lucky">http://www.u4prez.com/index.php?do=rate&act=profile&id=2155&view=&prevphoto=2155&rating=10&gender=6">Lucky on U4Prez.com to see a real candidate that has the real potential to take the U4Prez site by storm.
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I'm not a citizen of the US but things that happen in the US has a major impact around the world. It's good that a site like this can add a voice of concern by people that want a say in politics.
I just want to say that the US should look at it's internal problems, solve them first before telling others what needs to be one. Also, they need to learn to be humble and not think that their the "king of the world" as many younger people claim.
The world doesn't revolve around the US and the US doesn't own it. If there is to be a president that can tackle world affairs with grace, respect, humility and impartiality, then the US may not be so hated by others.
The education of it's people about what goes on in other parts of the world is lacking in most US citizens. They are clueless yet critical, disrespectful, arrogant and ignorant.
Someone like Oprah Winfrey would make a good president but we only find people that want to make a name for themselves that want the job. An exception may have been Ronald Reagan. Most that want the job think of it as becoming "king". They don't have any thoughts about the people they lead.
A few examples would be a fact that the education system in the US is substandard and was drafted in the 50's that is being used to teach in schools in this millennium. Victims of hurricane Katrina is not being helped properly till this day. There is too much defense spending. There isn't enough health insurance help for those in need. The homeless are not helped enough. Many place still practice racial discrimination. There is too much taxes on people that there isn't enough for lower income earners to feed, clothe and house their families. This list can go on and on.
In the end, whoever wants to be president should take a real hard look at what is going wrong in their own back yard first. Straighten that out and things will start to change.
Lastly, the president needs to be honest. Period.
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your recent blog on can anyone still be president? was very encouraging indeed.
I believe that a fair chance is all that the candidates are asking for. underdogs and potentates included
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u mark my word u can be certain that the first will be last and the last will be first
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It takes a lot of work to become president. Presenting my views on this site is the easy part. Campaigning is the hard part. I am campaigning at cemeteries to take the dead votes away from the Democrats. I often buy rounds at bars on "Penny 'Till You Pee" nights. If I can find people who believe in your mission and find 55 million people gullible enough to vote for me, I will be in the White House on January 20, 2009.
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Well, not until we have true public financing that includes spending limitation, equal time given to all candidates in interviews to the media and in debates, will we finally be able to break the "professional politician" mode of being the only one's able to run for president and win.
The internet has and will continue to change the political landscape, but it is only a small part of a much larger needed overhaul of our campaign system.
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