National Centrist Party

The National Centrist Party is a moderate political party in the United States which offers a pragmatic approach to federal government resting equally on compassion, individual responsibility and controlled government. Its platform represents the views of informed centrists.
The National Centrist Party offers:
* Civil debate of the country's most important issues
* Representation of the informed, political center
* Accountability of candidates to their constituents
* Honorable service by holding elected officials accountable to an oath and code of conduct
* Courage to tell voters the truth about problems.
Origination and Organization
The National Centrist Party filed its Statement of Organization with the FEC in November 2010. Its founding members are Scott Ehredt, who also serves as treasurer, and Brad Schabel. It is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. As of early 2011 the party's membership is doubling each month.
Scott Ehredt, 45, and Brad Schabel, 43, have business experience in large corporations. Ehredt, a former Republican, and Schabel, a former Democrat, grew frustrated with the gridlock and inefficiency of the current system of federal government and have provided a practical philosophy and model through the National Centrist Party. Their belief is that most citizens (up to 70 percent) hold a moderate point of view on legislative issues (neither extremely conservative nor liberal) and the traditional two-party system no longer represents the majority.
Membership
Any U.S. Citizen over the age of 16 can become a voting member of the National Centrist Party by creating a user account at the NCP web site, https://www.nationalcentristparty.org/?q=user/register. Membership is free and does not change a person's voter registration information. People who become members are essentially saying they want the NCP to continue to develop as an organization.
Members are encouraged to submit issues for consideration and open discussion. The NCP relies on member input to determine which issues to address first in the next legislative session. A major task of the NCP is to ascertain the informed will of members so it can legislate accordingly.
Goals
The NCP strives to achieve two goals. The most important of these is to create politics from the ground up as it should exist (i.e. election reform). The second is to establish and maintain government by a broad majority including Independents, Moderates, Centrists and National Centrist Party members.
Principles
The Guiding Principle of the National Centrist Party is to:
<ol><li>Act pragmatically according to the will of the informed political center.
While the political right (which might comprise 15 percent of Americans) is well represented by the Republican Party and the left (another 15 percent) is well represented by the Democratic Party, the vast majority in the political center is not well represented. The Center is extremely dissatisfied with the position of candidates at both extremes and tired of the political stalemate that results in critical governing issues not being addressed in a timely fashion. The National Centrist Party puts its trust in the common sense of informed Americans.</li>
The Supporting Principles, detailed below, may change over time as the party comes to understand any shift in the position of the political center:
<li>The NCP believes in balancing compassion, individual responsibility and pragmatism to engineer long-term solutions for America’s biggest problems first.
By addressing America’s biggest problems first, attention and resources are focused where they will do the most good.</li>
<li>The NCP believes in being fiscally responsible at all times. The NCP vigorously supports a balanced budget amendment.
Fiscal responsibility is defined by: <ol type="a"><li>A balanced budget (or working responsibly toward one);</li><li>Balanced projected budgets and;</li><li>Most importantly, a balance between actual revenues and expenses.
Most opposition to a balanced budget amendment comes from those who understand there are times when deficit spending is the responsible thing to do. These concerns are easily addressed by allowing a period of budget deficits as long as they are automatically offset by a period of increased taxation. The period of increased taxes needs to be less than the period of expected benefits from associated budget deficits. Thus responsible deficit spending is treated like a bond where the spending happens up front, and the payments are made over the period of time in which benefits are expected. A vote for legislation involving deficit spending would be at the same time a vote for increased taxes. If agreement can’t be reached regarding who will be taxed, the group benefiting from the budget deficit is the one automatically taxed.</li></ol></li>
<li>Only candidates of the highest quality in terms of integrity, competence, honesty and practicality will be supported by the NCP.
A National Centrist Party Candidate Review Board (CRB) will test candidates and grade them according to their understanding of current law, the issues of the day and their understanding of the will of their constituency. (As of February 2011, procedures for selecting CRB members have not been determined but it is assumed that NCP members will ultimately be responsible for this.) Candidates who qualify are required to take an oath and are held accountable to this oath by the Candidate Review Board. NCP members can register a claim with the National Centrist Party if they believe any party candidate, elected official or representative has violated the oath. After investigation, if the CRB determines the official is in violation, they are not permitted to run for the same (or higher) level of office until they have served at a lower office. CRB will operate much like our justice system but decisions at a lower CRB may require super majorities to avoid automatic appeals to a higher CRB.</li>
<li>The role of government is:
<ol type="a"><li>To uphold the Constitution of the United States.
It is time to remake our democracy more in the likeness of what was intended by the signers. A democracy falls short of this likeness if it elects representatives who initially are supported by only five to ten percent of citizens. Instead, we need representation from the middle, which will result in laws that are embraced by the center 70 to 80 percent. Even those in the political fringes will typically find less to object to if legislation is developed by the center rather than their polar opposite.</li>
<li>To offer necessary services which can only be provided effectively by government.
Government is like a monopoly, providing the public service of governance. Some services can only be provided efficiently by a monopoly, which if not properly regulated, may unfairly raise prices and fail to reduce expenses or bring innovation to the industry; thus regulation is requried.
The trouble with government is that it must regulate itself, which monopolies don't do well. The National Centrist Party will self-regulate by requiring its officials to comply with its Principles, Oath and Code of Conduct. Legislators who fail to self-regulate are not offered an opportunity to be re-elected.</li>
<li>To provide a framework in which all Americans have the opportunity to achieve their personal goals, while realizing that doing so is primarily a matter of personal responsibility.
It is up to every individual to make the most out of the opportunities provided by a free American society. How much and what kind of opportunities are up for debate: access to a good education is part of this, but does that include a college education? The informed constituency of the National Centrist Party will need to decide these issues.</li>
<li>To provide a reasonable safety net for those unable to obtain basic necessities for themselves.
How much of a safety net to provide is a matter for debate. Citizens likely want to provide basic necessities to prevent unnecessary suffering. If too much is provided, then citizens will not be motivated to improve their situation through labor and responsible choices. Some citizens are not capable of performing the labor required to sustain themselves due to medical conditions, difficulty finding work, natural disaster or other difficult circumstances. </li></ol>
<li>The National Centrist Party believes that government should not legislate regarding private activities unless those activities infringe upon the rights of fellow citizens. These issues include (but may not be limited to): abortion, nontraditional unions and genetic engineering. Where it is compelled to make a stand, the National Centrist Party seeks to do so within the framework of its Guiding Principle.

Because the position of the political center may vary district by district, the position of its elected officials are expected to vary as well. All NCP elected officials are expected to vote according to the will of their constituents.</li>
<li>Elected representatives must answer directly to their constituents regarding campaign promises as well as for every vote they make.

Every vote must be explained. If a vote is contrary to the will of constituents, the reasons must be made clear. Failure to be accountable will typically result in a decision to disallow the representative from running for office in the future as an NCP candidate.</li>
<li>Dirty politics will not be tolerated. Candidates must always present their views and the views of opponents in context and in a forthright and civil manner.
Antagonism between the outer parties is believed to be a main reason legislators are unable to cooperate to address America’s problems. The NCP code of conduct requires NCP officials to act in a professional manner. </li>
<li>All legislation should be self-adjusting to accommodate future environmental changes such as inflation and demographics.
For example, if a minimum wage is to be set, it should be automatically adjusted annually based on the most appropriate economic gauge. In this case the appropriate gauge might be the rate of inflation or the rate of increase in wages. Another example is the Alternative Minimum Tax which should have been indexed to prevent taxing those not originally targeted by the tax. The poor construction of the tax has also lead to confusion over projected budget deficits, causing these deficits to appear smaller than they actually will be. Failing to create self-adjusting legislation only leads to imbalances and future debate about issues already settled, thus distracting government from making further progress on issues not yet addressed.</li></ol>

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