The Roots of the Iowa Center for Fiscal Equity
Please indulge me in an autobiographical moment. It says as much about the development of analytical technology tools as it does my intellectual journey to this point.
In 1973, when I was in fifth grade, our next door neighbors, the Culps, invited us to go with them to a costume party at the Enon Town Library. While we were there, we got library cards. I picked up a book about the structure of the American government. The next week, I was leafing through the book and saw a chart with the organization of the United States Government. I was shocked at the number of independent agencies, many of which duplicated the general functions of the various Executive Departments. At the time, I listed the departments and agencies, numbered the departments and assigned each agency the number of the department which most closely fit. That was my first reorganization plan and my first foray into government reform.
Over the years, I built on this plan, further consolidating the government into a smaller number of departments. In 1978, after we moved to Iowa, I ordered an OPM booklet about government jobs (which was free) and later sent away for the U.S. Government Organization Manuel. I then put each agency on an index card to sort them into larger departments and put the final result on cards, which I turned into a poster by taping them to a large sheet of paper.
In 1980, during summer break, I came up with the Interindependence, which was a fusion between capitalism and socialism (which I studied in World History junior year). I later developed the concept as a student at Loras College in my All College Honors class junior year, using Crevecour's Letters from an American Farmer and More's Utopia to further illustrate the concepts. This is the genesis of my papers on corporate governance, pay equity, 21st century homes and the 21st century career.
In 1983, when I was taking a computer class, I used my computer account to create a document outlining how the Executive Branch should be reorganized. I then printed this out and sent it to members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee and the House Government Operations Committee, as well as the White House and my local Congressman (Tom Tauke) and Senators Charles Grassley and Roger Jepsen. It looked official enough that people responded to it. Senator Grassley hand wrote a personal note in addition to the usual canned response. Vice President Bush sent me a brochure on Reform'88, which I later used the following fall term to write a paper for a class on the Presidency. During that class, In Re Chada came out, and I began to study the legislative veto and regulatory reform. During winter break, I wrote tracts on abortion, the national debt and the targeting of nuclear weapons that I sent these off to the usual suspects. The next term, I served an internship with Senator Jepsen in his Washington office. During my tenure there, I further studied reorganization, Reform'88, legislative veto and the Deficit Reduction Act, about which I constructed a table which made it into a decision memo for the Senator. It was during this period that I met Bruce Bartlett, who was the staff director of the Joint Economic Committee, which the Senator chaired.
The next fall, I started a Master of Public Administration degree at The American University. During this time, I studied the management of federal agencies, the budget process, regulatory reform, the possibility of a bottom line in government (answering V.O. Key's famous question) and the relationship between fiscal policy and growth. I began turning this into a manuscript called Systems of Accountability for Political Appointees and Government Officials. I applied for a Presidential Management Internship and stated in the first draft of my application that I wanted to reform government. I was told by the school to rewrite it with a better essay, which I did, adapting a paper I wrote on Artificial Intelligence for my fellowship. They nominated me and I survived the process to selection.
I served my internship at the Department of the Air Force as a Cost Analyst. My prior work on nuclear targeting came in handy when I was assigned to the Strategic Team of the Weapons Systems Cost Branch. In the Operations and Support Branch of the Air Force Cost Center and as a program control officer in the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, I learned about the Air Force budget codes, which helped me further developed my proposals on finding a bottom line in government. I also further researched the relationship between fiscal policy and growth. During this time, I also developed the concepts on allied government and international trade.
After my internship in 1989, I went back to American to pursue a Ph.D. , with a focus on the budget process and relations between the executive and Congress. I did not finish my degree, but I did use the PCs in the computer lab to create documents on regulatory reform, the budget process, government efficiency and the creation of a Senior Political Service and how it should interface with the career civil service. These I provided to DC's Shadow Sentaor, Jesse Jackson. On a vacation to Austin, Texas, I put pen to paper in a bohemian restaurant downtown on the religious concepts which became my Christian Humanism essays which evolved into my Christian Left blog, as well as additional narrative on world government and Interindependence. During this period, I also got involved in D.C. politics, working on John Ray's 1990 mayoral campaign.
After resigning my fellowship in 1991, while temping at IBM, I developed an economic transition plan for the former Soviet Union, which I sent to one of Boris Yeltsen's Washington advisers. I don't know whether it was used in the privatization effort, however if it was, it was used badly, allowing the oligarchs to buy out workers rather than putting shares in trust for retirement. During this period, I did contract work for the D.C. Community Prevention Partnership to do a needs assessment survey. I then joined the Partnership strategic planning process, where I developed my education proposals. I also penned the essay on progressive income taxation, which I later submitted (unsuccessfully) to the Post in 1997. I posted this on this blog earlier today. In 1992, I submitted some of my collected essays to the Clinton Transition Team.
In 1993, I got a job with a beltway bandit. In my spare time, I developed proposals to privatize the space transportation system, which I submitted with the budget essays, to the Vice President's Task Force on Reinventing Government. I also got involved in the Statehood movement that year. In 1994, I developed health care reform proposals, which I shared with members of Congress and with John Ray.
In 1994, I also petitioned the State of Maryland for senatorial representation for the District as an enclave within the state. A friend of mine, who had been Mayor Kelly's Ward 3 Constituent Services Representative, introduced me to George LaRoche in 1996, who agreed to turn this into a lawsuit, which was eventually turned into an Amicus brief to Howard v. Maryland (although this was done without me, since I had taken a job with Mayor Barry in 1997 and could not do such things independently. At this time, I developed the essay on local government finance. When the D.C. Control Board seized power from the Mayor later that year, I joined the Stand Up for Democracy in Washington, DC Coalition as the Mayor's representative. This resulted in my involvement with the DC Statehood Party, which I joined after Kevin Chavous lost the Democratic Primary to Tony Williams. The party was later merged with the DC Green Party to form the DC Statehood Green Party. The party was asked to write an Amicus Brief for the Adams v. Bush lawsuit, I co-wrote with John Gloster. This later evolved into my essay on getting Congress out of District affairs. I also developed a reorganization plan for the DC Government, which I submitted to the new Mayor and published in the Northwest Current.
After the election, I created the Generation X Committee on Social Security, Tax Reform and Economic Justice and submitted comments to the House Ways and Means Committee and the participants of President Clinton's Social Security Summit. I posted these submission today on this blog in entries corresponding to the dates that they were submitted. This organization evolved into the Iowa Center for Fiscal Equity, which was designed to submit proposals on Social Security and Tax Reform to Senator Grassley. It also submitted proposals to President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security and the Task Force on Tax Reform, which are also on this blog.
In 1995, I assembled my collected essays into the first complete draft of my book, with the working title Essays on Justice. The book was later retitled Musings from the Christian Left as a companion book to a talk radio show I began developing after visiting a friend's show in 1998. Sadly, the station I was developing it for failed. After getting married and moving to Virginia, I worked on the show for Radio Del Ray, an Internet radio station, which also folded. Years later, after submitting an entry to the Air America next radio star competition, I found Blog Talk Radio, where I did a season of shows which are still available online. I finished the first edition of the book just before my daughter was born in 2003. I also posted the essays from the book on Geocities. In 2004, I did a rewrite of the book, sold and gave a way about 20 copies. I also found Blogger that spring and founded the Christian Left blog. In 2005, I started the Christian Libertarian Party Geocities and Blogger pages, which were targeted to red state readers. I also formed sites on Geocities and Blogger for the International Space Consortium and for my DC reform essays. You can read these entries here and on the blogs that link here. Geocities closed earlier this week, so I migrated all of that content to Blogger. Some of these entries are now located on the June 2004 page.
In 2007 I was recruited by the Center for Liberty and Community, who had seen my Christian Libertarian Party page. I now also blog on the http://www.freeliberal.com/. Last year I posted an analysis of the Fair Tax on both sites, as well as an endorsement of Mike Huckabee - not because I believe in the Fair Tax, but because it would have likely evolved in negotiations with the House Democrats into a Value Added Tax and Business Income Tax. I also developed grant proposals on tax reform, which fell through when the Center for Liberty and Community voted to fold. In searching for partners for this proposal, I found the TaxVox blog on the Brookings/Urban Tax Policy Center web page and the tax reform proposals of Professor Michael Graetz. I have recently reconnected with Bruce Bartlett and often comment on his online postings. There is now a group of us who actively work for the establishment of a VAT as part of comprehensive tax reform, which is now being considered by the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. My submission to the PERAB can be found below.
In 1973, when I was in fifth grade, our next door neighbors, the Culps, invited us to go with them to a costume party at the Enon Town Library. While we were there, we got library cards. I picked up a book about the structure of the American government. The next week, I was leafing through the book and saw a chart with the organization of the United States Government. I was shocked at the number of independent agencies, many of which duplicated the general functions of the various Executive Departments. At the time, I listed the departments and agencies, numbered the departments and assigned each agency the number of the department which most closely fit. That was my first reorganization plan and my first foray into government reform.
Over the years, I built on this plan, further consolidating the government into a smaller number of departments. In 1978, after we moved to Iowa, I ordered an OPM booklet about government jobs (which was free) and later sent away for the U.S. Government Organization Manuel. I then put each agency on an index card to sort them into larger departments and put the final result on cards, which I turned into a poster by taping them to a large sheet of paper.
In 1980, during summer break, I came up with the Interindependence, which was a fusion between capitalism and socialism (which I studied in World History junior year). I later developed the concept as a student at Loras College in my All College Honors class junior year, using Crevecour's Letters from an American Farmer and More's Utopia to further illustrate the concepts. This is the genesis of my papers on corporate governance, pay equity, 21st century homes and the 21st century career.
In 1983, when I was taking a computer class, I used my computer account to create a document outlining how the Executive Branch should be reorganized. I then printed this out and sent it to members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee and the House Government Operations Committee, as well as the White House and my local Congressman (Tom Tauke) and Senators Charles Grassley and Roger Jepsen. It looked official enough that people responded to it. Senator Grassley hand wrote a personal note in addition to the usual canned response. Vice President Bush sent me a brochure on Reform'88, which I later used the following fall term to write a paper for a class on the Presidency. During that class, In Re Chada came out, and I began to study the legislative veto and regulatory reform. During winter break, I wrote tracts on abortion, the national debt and the targeting of nuclear weapons that I sent these off to the usual suspects. The next term, I served an internship with Senator Jepsen in his Washington office. During my tenure there, I further studied reorganization, Reform'88, legislative veto and the Deficit Reduction Act, about which I constructed a table which made it into a decision memo for the Senator. It was during this period that I met Bruce Bartlett, who was the staff director of the Joint Economic Committee, which the Senator chaired.
The next fall, I started a Master of Public Administration degree at The American University. During this time, I studied the management of federal agencies, the budget process, regulatory reform, the possibility of a bottom line in government (answering V.O. Key's famous question) and the relationship between fiscal policy and growth. I began turning this into a manuscript called Systems of Accountability for Political Appointees and Government Officials. I applied for a Presidential Management Internship and stated in the first draft of my application that I wanted to reform government. I was told by the school to rewrite it with a better essay, which I did, adapting a paper I wrote on Artificial Intelligence for my fellowship. They nominated me and I survived the process to selection.
I served my internship at the Department of the Air Force as a Cost Analyst. My prior work on nuclear targeting came in handy when I was assigned to the Strategic Team of the Weapons Systems Cost Branch. In the Operations and Support Branch of the Air Force Cost Center and as a program control officer in the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, I learned about the Air Force budget codes, which helped me further developed my proposals on finding a bottom line in government. I also further researched the relationship between fiscal policy and growth. During this time, I also developed the concepts on allied government and international trade.
After my internship in 1989, I went back to American to pursue a Ph.D. , with a focus on the budget process and relations between the executive and Congress. I did not finish my degree, but I did use the PCs in the computer lab to create documents on regulatory reform, the budget process, government efficiency and the creation of a Senior Political Service and how it should interface with the career civil service. These I provided to DC's Shadow Sentaor, Jesse Jackson. On a vacation to Austin, Texas, I put pen to paper in a bohemian restaurant downtown on the religious concepts which became my Christian Humanism essays which evolved into my Christian Left blog, as well as additional narrative on world government and Interindependence. During this period, I also got involved in D.C. politics, working on John Ray's 1990 mayoral campaign.
After resigning my fellowship in 1991, while temping at IBM, I developed an economic transition plan for the former Soviet Union, which I sent to one of Boris Yeltsen's Washington advisers. I don't know whether it was used in the privatization effort, however if it was, it was used badly, allowing the oligarchs to buy out workers rather than putting shares in trust for retirement. During this period, I did contract work for the D.C. Community Prevention Partnership to do a needs assessment survey. I then joined the Partnership strategic planning process, where I developed my education proposals. I also penned the essay on progressive income taxation, which I later submitted (unsuccessfully) to the Post in 1997. I posted this on this blog earlier today. In 1992, I submitted some of my collected essays to the Clinton Transition Team.
In 1993, I got a job with a beltway bandit. In my spare time, I developed proposals to privatize the space transportation system, which I submitted with the budget essays, to the Vice President's Task Force on Reinventing Government. I also got involved in the Statehood movement that year. In 1994, I developed health care reform proposals, which I shared with members of Congress and with John Ray.
In 1994, I also petitioned the State of Maryland for senatorial representation for the District as an enclave within the state. A friend of mine, who had been Mayor Kelly's Ward 3 Constituent Services Representative, introduced me to George LaRoche in 1996, who agreed to turn this into a lawsuit, which was eventually turned into an Amicus brief to Howard v. Maryland (although this was done without me, since I had taken a job with Mayor Barry in 1997 and could not do such things independently. At this time, I developed the essay on local government finance. When the D.C. Control Board seized power from the Mayor later that year, I joined the Stand Up for Democracy in Washington, DC Coalition as the Mayor's representative. This resulted in my involvement with the DC Statehood Party, which I joined after Kevin Chavous lost the Democratic Primary to Tony Williams. The party was later merged with the DC Green Party to form the DC Statehood Green Party. The party was asked to write an Amicus Brief for the Adams v. Bush lawsuit, I co-wrote with John Gloster. This later evolved into my essay on getting Congress out of District affairs. I also developed a reorganization plan for the DC Government, which I submitted to the new Mayor and published in the Northwest Current.
After the election, I created the Generation X Committee on Social Security, Tax Reform and Economic Justice and submitted comments to the House Ways and Means Committee and the participants of President Clinton's Social Security Summit. I posted these submission today on this blog in entries corresponding to the dates that they were submitted. This organization evolved into the Iowa Center for Fiscal Equity, which was designed to submit proposals on Social Security and Tax Reform to Senator Grassley. It also submitted proposals to President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security and the Task Force on Tax Reform, which are also on this blog.
In 1995, I assembled my collected essays into the first complete draft of my book, with the working title Essays on Justice. The book was later retitled Musings from the Christian Left as a companion book to a talk radio show I began developing after visiting a friend's show in 1998. Sadly, the station I was developing it for failed. After getting married and moving to Virginia, I worked on the show for Radio Del Ray, an Internet radio station, which also folded. Years later, after submitting an entry to the Air America next radio star competition, I found Blog Talk Radio, where I did a season of shows which are still available online. I finished the first edition of the book just before my daughter was born in 2003. I also posted the essays from the book on Geocities. In 2004, I did a rewrite of the book, sold and gave a way about 20 copies. I also found Blogger that spring and founded the Christian Left blog. In 2005, I started the Christian Libertarian Party Geocities and Blogger pages, which were targeted to red state readers. I also formed sites on Geocities and Blogger for the International Space Consortium and for my DC reform essays. You can read these entries here and on the blogs that link here. Geocities closed earlier this week, so I migrated all of that content to Blogger. Some of these entries are now located on the June 2004 page.
In 2007 I was recruited by the Center for Liberty and Community, who had seen my Christian Libertarian Party page. I now also blog on the http://www.freeliberal.com/. Last year I posted an analysis of the Fair Tax on both sites, as well as an endorsement of Mike Huckabee - not because I believe in the Fair Tax, but because it would have likely evolved in negotiations with the House Democrats into a Value Added Tax and Business Income Tax. I also developed grant proposals on tax reform, which fell through when the Center for Liberty and Community voted to fold. In searching for partners for this proposal, I found the TaxVox blog on the Brookings/Urban Tax Policy Center web page and the tax reform proposals of Professor Michael Graetz. I have recently reconnected with Bruce Bartlett and often comment on his online postings. There is now a group of us who actively work for the establishment of a VAT as part of comprehensive tax reform, which is now being considered by the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. My submission to the PERAB can be found below.
posted by Michael Bindner at 5:44 PM
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