Why is the Centrist Independent Voter Political Action Committee (CIVPAC) necessary?
Since the Democratic Party appears to be controlled by the left and the Republican Party by right wing populists, we believe a new force is necessary in American politics to draw the candidates toward the political center. To accomplish that end, we have formed the Centrist Independent Voter Political Action Committee, Inc (CIVPAC).
We recognize that the concept of the political center in American politics can be hard to pin down. For that reason we have tried, in the policy positions presented on this web site, to be as specific as possible about where we stand on the major issues facing America. We believe that these positions reflect the opinion of a very large number of Americans, who feel increasingly alienated by both of the major political parties. Our hope is that CIVPAC will become a focal point for this group and provide them with a vehicle for moving America’s public policy debates away from pointless shouting matches between the left and the right and toward the discussion of sensible solutions to our all too real public policy problems.
What will CIVPAC do?
Initially, we simply hope to demonstrate that centrist views, like those reflected in our Policy Positions, represent the opinions of a significant number of voters. We hope to accomplish this by signing up as many members as possible. We are currently in the phase of establishing that a critical mass of support for a centrist approach exists. While we are building that base of support, we will be using this website to promote the candidacy of centrist candidates wherever we find them: Democrats, Republicans, or independents.
Because we are organized as an Independent Expenditure Only Political Action Committee we will not coordinate our actions with the candidates or their campaigns or make contributions, whether direct, in kind, or via coordinated communications to federal candidates or their committees.
We will also use this website to promote centrist solutions for public policy problems. We hope that this website can become a central clearing house for centrist solutions. As such, we encourage everyone to engage with us in perfecting these solutions through debate and revision on this website.
Why does CIVPAC take positions on public policy issues?
The independent voter block includes a lot of points of view. It also includes a very large number of voters who are nominally Republicans or Democrats, because they want to participate in the primaries. Even the terms moderate and centrist are vague to a certain extent.
The bulk of this website is devoted to laying out CIVPAC’s positions on a variety of public policy positions in detail. The website addresses around forty public policy problems. Check the Table of Contents or the Menu above if you are looking for our position on a particular issue. CIVPAC’s underlying philosophy is laid out in the Philosophy section.
Summary of Four Key Public Policy Positions
Although we cover a wide range of issues, four areas get special focus: 1) dealing with climate change in a manner that is efficient and recognizes that the problem is inherently global; 2) dealing with the increasing cost of medical care and health care entitlements in particular; 3) dealing with the challenge of providing a quality education at a reasonable cost to keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy and reduce the pressure for protectionist and anti-immigrant legislation; and 4) dealing with the looming U.S. debt crisis. Our approach to these issues is illustrative of our general approach to all public policy problems.
Climate Change
We propose the imposition of a substantial carbon tax in the U.S., and other countries that are willing to do the same, combined with a tariff on the estimated carbon emissions associated with imports from countries that do not impose the tax and tariff solution. Since any sensible country would choose to collect the proceeds of the tax themselves rather than have it imposed on their exports, this policy would force the existence of global carbon tax in short order. (See Climate Change.)
Health Care Entitlement Costs
We propose economically efficient improvements to Obamacare, Medicare, and Medicaid that increase market based incentives to curb costs and make health care more affordable, and convert these open ended entitlement programs into defined per capita contribution subsidies for health care insurance. (See Health Care)
Education
We propose reforms at all levels of the public education process. These reforms include increased compensation for effective teaching (pay for performance), leveraging good teaching with technology, and separating the educational from the certification function in higher education in order to introduce competition into this market. (See Education.)
Spending, Taxation, and Debt
We propose attacking the coming debt crisis by raising revenues in new ways that actually improve the market signals in our economy rather than distort them and use those new revenues to reduce the deficit and subsidize education and social welfare programs that increase social and economic mobility. (See Spending, Taxation and Debt)
The underlying theme of these policy proposals is to accept that government has a significant role in a number of areas of our lives. We attempt to deal with public policy problems in ways that marshal the power of markets and competition. We also attempt to formulate solutions to these problems in ways that respect personal freedom and avoid, as much as possible, using the inherently coercive power of the state.