DESTINATION // Unity2020: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Democracy

by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

EXCERPT //

“America’s 2020 presidential election would lend itself to the satire of a Broadway musical or the hijinks of an action flick if things weren’t so deadly serious for our increasingly fragile democracy. ...

Once the belle of the international ball, we’ve come to understand that the picture we’re starring in is a little less Top Gun and a bit more Masque of the Red Death. (All right, Mr. DeMille, we’re ready for our close-up!) Having been raised to believe that America was a superpower, we now find ourselves in the embarrassing position of not even being able to credibly say we’ll flee the country if we don’t like the results of the election: No one will have us. Without the option to leave, perhaps more people will take a ‘tend and befriend’ approach to break the hegemony of our two-party system. 

Enter a surprise player upon the stage: a radically new plan called Unity2020 (not to be confused with the Unity Party). It describes itself as ‘a grassroots presidential campaign to restore patriotic, courageous, and capable leadership to the United States.’ Their approach has been to draft a ticket of one conservative and one progressive/liberal—through ranked-choice voting no less! Mon dieu!”

For full text and images, consider reading RQ in print, on a Sunday afternoon, sun streaming through your window, coffee in hand, and nary a phone alert within sight or in earshot… just fine words, fine design, and the opportunity to make a stitch in time. // Subscribe or buy a single issue today. // Print is dead. Long live print. //