A new online political magazine called Blue and Red just launched a few days ago and I think it's well worth your time. The site is the brainchild of Larime Taylor, who used to run a great blog called Iron Blog. The point of Iron Blog was to have, each week, two people of different ideologies battle it out on a specific political issue. The battles were judged and the intent was to create in-depth and respectful debate that could help bring together people of differing political views. The site did not last, unfortunately, but it provided some great debate during its time and did indeed serve to bring together people of different ideological stripes.

Iron Blog has actually been reborn as part of Blue and Red. However, it is just one part of what is now a much larger picture. The goal of the site continues to be inclusive political debate that shows both sides of the issues. The intent is to bring people together--from the right, the left and the middle--to help them cooperate and gain an appreciation for differing opinions. I think it's a fine goal during a time when partisanship is quite high.

Blue and Red's mission in its own words are as follows:

Greetings. As we begin our grand experiment that is Blue and Red, we want to take a moment to let you know just what it is you've stumbled upon from whatever place led you here. Blue and Red is an online weekly magazine dedicated to creating real dialogue between the different factions of our divided America. The magazine itself is what you're reading right now, and it will provide eight weekly columns to start (growing to as many as 20 in the future) that look at various aspects of politics and the online political world. These columns will be published once a week on a set day, providing fresh content Monday through Friday. Along with the featured, weekly columns, there will be guest columns, interviews and more.

We have a phpBB system set up for readers to discuss everything from current events to internal party politics, religion and culture in America, as well as topics linked from our columns and interviews to allow you to discuss what you read. Debate the writer's arguments with fellow readers and often the writers themselves. We will also be bringing back Iron Blog, the online battlefield of idealogical warfare. From time to time a Challenger will battle one of the Iron Bloggers in a week-long, structured and judged debate with readers discussing the battle as it progresses in the comments. It's like Iron Chef, but about politics and (unfortunately) without the nifty voice-overs. Whose spleen will vent supreme?

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