This Blog is maintained by Mike Barron, the founder and Executive Director of the CIVPAC. The views expressed in the blog are those of the Director and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVPAC’s Board of Governors.
Why the name change and new website?
Some of you may be familiar with us under the old name the “New Independent Party.” The New Independent Party was founded a decade ago and it has become clear that that name was not helpful for a number of reasons.
First, the organization was never a political party but rather a political action committee, or PAC. A lot of people are put off by the idea of trying to create a new political party because it rarely works and is often counter-productive. That was never our intent, and we hope that the new name makes that clearer.
Second, the designation of independent voter covers a lot political positions that would not be embraced by CIVPAC, including those who are so far to the right that they feel uncomfortable in the Republican Party and those who are so far to the left that they are uncomfortable in the Democratic Party.
Third, there are relatively few true independents when it comes time to vote. Most people will lean Democratic or Republican, even if they characterize themselves as independents. The emphasis in the name and the organization is, therefore, on centrist rather than independent. We hope to include in the organization centrists who lean Democratic and centrists who lean Republican, as well as centrist independents.
We felt that the new name more accurately captured where we were in the political spectrum. We also felt that the new name was more consistent with our strategy of pushing the existing political parties toward the center, rather than creating a third party.
For those of you who liked the policy positions of the New Independent Party, you should find that, while we have added a few and a number of them have changed somewhat, the policy positions of CIVPAC are similar to those of the New Independent Party.
Any Other Changes we are making in the Transition?
We also thought it was a good time to streamline the format of the website and make it more interactive.
- Each policy position starts with a very brief statement of the position so that those in a hurry can quickly determine if we are on the same wavelength politically.
- We added a feature that allows you to be notified when new content is added to the website so that you don’t need to check back for changes.
- We have made it possible for members and interested visitors to add blog posts without having them approved. We will still monitor the website and enforce rules of civility. Remember it is: CIVPAC. The allusion to civility in the organization’s name is not accidental. Almost any viewpoint is welcome, as long is it is expressed in a respectful fashion.
- There are several new ways to share your point of view, in addition to the Contact Us page and this blog. Most importantly, all of the policy position pages have a feedback button. It is our hope that the policy positions of CIVPAC will evolve to incorporate the ideas of our members and interested readers.
