Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

It's been a great past week spending roughly six hours a day watching the World Cup and the rest of the time conducting interviews for the thesis, playing ultimate, and seeing old friends.

I've also been reading a lot and today read about something very intriguing: Unity '08. This is a new movement for a third party in the United States that will select presidential candidates based on an open internet convention, kind of like American Idol. Basically, anyone can logon and cast a vote of who should run for president on the Unity '08 party ticket, and the candidates can be Republicans, Democrats, Independants, or any combination of the other parties. People do not need to change their party ticket to vote with the Unity ticket, and the party hopes to increase participation and have enough votes to get attention from the major parties. I think it's a great time for a third party. Environmental and fiscal responsibility are issues neither party are dealing with and maybe pressure from a new party will force one of the parties to begin to change to get some votes. (Freidman wrote a great editorial about this today called "Seeds For A Geo-Green Party") This could also be a big step towards increased democratization through the use of the internet. Who knows, maybe Ryan Seacrest could be the next President! (Please vote so he's not!)