About this user
Once upon a time, an elementary school teacher, perhaps even your elementary school teacher, began to teach every Ritalin-laced child in the room about a country called "America." This country, said the teacher, was the best in the world. It promised freedom, and happiness, and fast food to anyone who came. It defended helpless foreigners with funny accents from bigger, meaner foreigners with mustaches. It would even allow you - yes, you - to be part of the sacred American tradition of choosing a leader, in which millions of citizens come together every four years, carefully weigh the positives and negatives of each candidate, then vote for the one with more money. And, unlike most other countries, America was not built upon a single culture or ethnicity, but rather a mix of many cultures and ethnicities that have always gotten along. This mix was called the "melting pot." Sufficiently awed by their teacher's description of America's magical properties, the children were then dismissed to throw red balls at their fat classmates.
If those students had been whisked away to Never-Never Land and remained young forever, they may have held onto that aforementioned awe. Sadly, puberty hit, cooties were traded for condoms, and youthful naïveté evaporated as promises that seemed so simple in third grade became impossible to keep. Apparently, America was just as vulnerable to conflicts and mistakes as the rest of the world. One problem in particular perplexed many of the former children - if their country was supposed to be such a grand "melting pot," if it was supposed to celebrate different ideas, philosophies, and ways of life, then why were only two groups of people in charge? Why was a nation that claimed to derive its strength from appreciating many points of view guided by so few?
The Melting Pot Project is an attempt to eliminate those questions. We believe that there are many, many Americans out there who long ago realized that they cannot be defined by a simple "Democrat" or "Republican" label. We believe that there are many problems with both parties, and that the biggest problem of all is the blind loyalty that millions swear to each. We believe that there are better ways to run the most globally dominant nation in the history of the world, and that we are more than smart enough to understand what they are. And most importantly, we believe that the proverbial melting pot does not have to be limited to skin color, language, and religion, but can and should be extended to the process by which we make decisions that often affect every single person on the planet. There are countless ideas that deserve to stand on their own instead of being pigeonholed into one of two schools of groupthink. We invite you to share yours.
In short, not only are we fed up with both the Democrats and the Republicans, but were pretty damn sure that America can do better than our current system. We dont expect to overturn the American electoral process overnight but we do think that its time for those who dont march in lockstep with donkeys or elephants to gather and have a voice of their own. It might just be enough to get the ball rolling. We promise to sneak in a few intern jokes along the way.
