[hider=The Civitas Renaissance Party]

[img]http://puu.sh/hJVD8/9b8b10e414.png[/img]

[b]Party Name:[/b] The Civitas Renaissance Party
[b]Party Acronym:[/b] CRP
[b]Party Motto:[/b] 'To think again, to build anew, to live again.'
[b]Party Ideology:[/b]
-Government Involvement: 'The system as we know it, the various allowances and safety nets, all breed a creeping dependence in the people of Civitas that works counter to our basic national principles. We fundamentally disagree with the principles of the traditional welfare state. We, as a party, see potential in meeting the needs of our nation's understaffed public services whilst simultaneously providing gainful employment and valuable experience to those who are struggling. Our administratrion would seek to bolster the military, the healthcare profession, and emergency services, among others and give meaningful jobs to those who seek them.'

-Economy: 'The nationalisation of some of our nation's strongest industries was nothing short of a catastrophe, and only compounded the damage done by the global economic slump. Jobs were lost, exports fell, businesses died. We need to return business to Civitas and return gainful employment to its citizens. To this end further government intervention may very well be necessary, only this time in order to nurture sustainable, prosperous Civitas businesses that can hire and grow. We need to repair what our predecessors broke. Going ahead, with a stable foundation, we need to look to build Civitas into a global business and technology leader. We have the potential to do so much more, we only need to work at it.

-Taxes: 'The current tax system is doing no one any favors. The lower and middle classes are suffering under the yoke of a truly disproportionate tax burden while the rich are obligated to pay even less than their fair share. We need to all understand, however, that a simplistic solution like 'taxing the rich' won't solve anything. We need to dig deeper and build an efficient system that simultaneously meets our needs and doesn't strain us too severely. We need to pursue fiscal responsibility even in the face of an ambitious, busy future. Much of our system absolutely needs retooling, and our tax system underpins all of it. We need a a framework that doesn't scare business, that doesn't hurt the poor or middle earners, and that doesn't punish the rich. What that may truly be is hard to say, but at least we can reconsider the proportions paid for the time being.'

-Military: 'Our military, as it stands currently, is an embarassment and, more importantly, a safety hazard. The brave men and women who have enlisted to defend our country are completely and utterly unprepared to do their jobs, although through no fault of their own. Our defense has been neglected, and in the event of a crisis, whether it be a natural disaster or armed conflict, we would by all accounts be unable to muster an effective response. The generosity of our more security-minded allies in the international community is appreciated, but ultimately we must be able to stand on our own two feet no matter what comes our way. We need to be done with the days where we're subsidized by our neighbors. We need a strong military that's independent of domestic and foreign politics and we need soldiers who are shown respect rather than swept away under the metaphorical rug. Our safety, as a people, as a community, is not something we should gamble with.'

-Environment: 'Our environmental policy is currently lacking, to put it quite simply. We lack the necessary oversight and policy framework to ensure that our beautiful country is being maintained for future generations. This is not just an issue of big business or small business, rural community or urban, this is an issue that involves every single one of us. We believe the best first course of action is to re-evaluate our nation's current environmental policy in order to reach a compromise that will neither stifle business nor allow further unchecked damage to be inflicted on the environment. To this end we believe the fat needs to be trimmed from environmental law, loopholes need to be closed, statutes need to be simplified, and a system of working incentives needs to put in place to reward positive interaction with the environment.'

-Citizen Rights: 'To be a citizen of Civitas is to be free, to enjoy the right to peaceful dissent and constructive political participation. The rights of every man, woman, and child of Civitas must be safeguarded with the utmost vigilance. The previous administration's stifling of the voice of the youth is a trangression upon their rights, and we believe the restoration of the right to vote to eighteen years of age should be one of our foremost policy issues.'

-Education: 'We absolutely can not afford to sabotage the future leaders of this country in the manner that our predecessors have. Our education system is in shambles, from the bottom to the top, and the sabotage is so utterly severe that to say it 'favors the rich', by virtue of the increasing number of private institutions, would be incorrect. The rise of private education could, in fact, be attributed to the unworkable conditions in public institutions. The importance of our nation's educators can not be understated, and while we fundamentally disagree with the shift to zero hour contract, we can not abide by their holding of the minds of our youth hostage. The strikes need to stop, the teachers need to be back in the classroom and they need to be teaching with a respect for their pupils. Our univerities need to be both affordable and effective, which, while a hard balance to strike, is non-negotiable. Money needs to return to the universities of Civitas, and our students need to be able to access higher education.'

-Health-Care: 'Healthcare is expensive, there's no way around that, but to shift the burden directly to the citizens of Civitas would be both dangerous and morally wrong. We need to ruthlessly pursue the means to cut costs, or at least cover costs, while expanding coverage and efficiency so that no one has to wait an hour for an ambulance or a day for a doctor. In the immediate future we'd like to encourage the growth of the healthcare profession to meet our nation's demands, the dialogue on the finer points of healthcare reform can wait until we know precisely what scale we're working on.'

-Emergency Services: 'It's important for our law enforcement agencies to remain centered on the communities that they safeguard. These are their homes, their neighbors, that's their community and they know it better than any gendarmerie or militia from across the country would. Each town or city should be capable of maintaining its own force, but we need to collectively help these communities - your communities - maintain the level of excellence in stewardship and safety that Civitas police ought to be known for. The ability for individual departments to collaborate and assist each other should be enhanced in order to better prepare them for cross-jurisdiction issues and crises on a larger scale. Now, in regards to our firefighters, we have no immediate plans to scale back their budget considering the performance they've put out with it. After all, proportionally speaking, the amount of money invested more than pays for itself in prevented damage and saved lives.'

-Immigration: 'Civitas is a state that was founded on the principles of egalitarianism, opportunity, and social mobility, and we should never forget that. We must also never forget that, as a community, we must keep vigilant for potential abuses of our hospitality. An unsecured border provides a struggling family an opportunity, we're fortunate that we can say there are many who would rather live here than elsewhere. An unsecured border also provides the worst elements of the societies of our neighbors an avenue by which to do business or to take refuge. This lack of security is only compounded by our thinly stretched police forces. We need to find a balanced and morally upright approach to the problem of illegal immigration, one that doesn't hurt those who wish to live the way we do and one that doesn't endanger Civitas.'

-Other: 'While ultimately we want to bring about change for the better for Civitas we want to do so in a safe, structured fashion. Our initial goals will be to turn back the more egregious legislation of our predecessor and create a stable economic environment. A down-to-earth vision for the future, that's what you can count on. No stagnation. No radical pipe dreams.'
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MPs to come.