Americans for Responsibility in Washington

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Americans for Responsibility in Washington, known also as ResponsibilityPAC for its website ResponsibilityPAC.org, is a political action committee and bipartisan political movement based in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, a town located 15 minutes north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1]

1 Mission
2 Founders
- 2.1 History
3 Views
- 3.1 Bipartisanship
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Mission

The political action committee, or PAC, claims to seek a realignment of the American political elite and national elected leadership to resolve issues upon which most Americans across the political spectrum agree and to eliminate what it calls dishonesty and party politics, which it says are based on winning reelection and gaining political power.

[edit] Founders

The founders of the PAC are James Burkee, a history professor, and Jeff Walz, a political science professor, both of whom teach at Concordia University Wisconsin.

James Burkee, an outspoken political conservative and active public speaker in the state of Wisconsin, is a longtime friend of co-founder and counterpart Jeff Walz. Walz is a political liberal or political progressive and an expert on politics and religion, specializing in the complex relationship between clergy and politics.

[edit] History

Walz and Burkee founded the PAC after spending several previous election cycles on speaking tours in southeast Wisconsin.^[2] According to ResponsibilityPAC.org, the two teachers demonstrated in those tours that people can disagree while maintaining a respect for truth, an “ethic of responsibility” in their beliefs, and willingness to answer directly to the public.

The professors are co-directors of the PAC, often offering distinctly different perspectives on many issues while attempting to retain the core beliefs centered on their “responsibility” ethic.

[edit] Views

Unlike centrist organizations that seek to unite political segments in a coalition to bring power to a political “middle”, Americans for Responsibility in Washington claims to bring two political alliances to move beyond party politics on issues that unite large segments of the population.

The PAC and co-founders Burkee and Walz have openly decried actions they deem “irresponsible” by political leaders of both major political parties. While the PAC often moves beyond its core issues, it chiefly argues for immigration reform, entitlement reform, balancing the budget and eliminating the national debt, American energy independence, and a reduction of lobbyist influence in Washington, among other issues.^[3]

[edit] Bipartisanship

Perhaps a cornerstone of ResponsibilityPAC is their claim that bipartisanship is the key to solvency of “America’s biggest problems.”^[4] Only by putting the interests of the people before the interests of reelection and power gains, so the PAC claims, may the two major political parties move forward on issues where the public has little disagreement.

This foundational element of the PAC serves to distinguish it from similar political populist movements which alternatively argue for non-partisan unity, such as Unity08, a movement to create a unity ticket in the 2008 presidential race.^[5]