Skylar Covich
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Skylar Covich 2020 Delegate Candidate for the California Region American Solidarity Party Hello! My name is Skylar Covich... I have a PHD. in political science from UC Santa Barbara. I was teaching college courses until recently but am now pursuing a career change. I have been a member of the ASP National Committee since 2016, where I currently serve as director of outreach and informally co-lead ballot access efforts. I was national chair from 2018 to 2019. I live in Ventura, CA, and have been active in the state chapter by helping to set up in-person meetings and recruit candidates. I was a delegate to the 2019 convention where I took an active part in writing the party’s current platform. I would prefer to avoid contentious bylaws and platform discussions at this convention. We will be taking the unprecedented step of having the delegates choose National Committee members this year, and I would like to focus on making that process successful. That said, I think we should give serious consideration to passing a party statement on the pandemic, which would largely be drafted collaboratively before the convention. I would prefer that it should avoid simply endorsing or opposing the shutdowns. It should be honest about the difficulty we face in living out all of the party’s values at the same time, which require a consistent life ethic at the same time as individual liberties, subsidiarity, and economic distributism. It should then deal with necessary cultural changes in elder care, telecommuting and agricultural policy among other areas. 1 Skylar Covich Q&A Re: My vision for the next Stage of Party development: A broad coalition for pro-lifers outside the two-party system, but one where radical ideas with which not all party members agree can be promoted for discussion. After this year's presidential campaign, focus on setting up local groups for discussion, community action, and eventual candidate recruitment. National party should recruit some candidates to run symbolically for higher office. Party should maintain a blog which grows into a think tank with the help of sympathetic public intellectuals Re: Whom I would support for National Committee: All incumbents who want to run again should be seriously considered. I endorse Carter McNeece, who has declared interest. Ideally elect at least one person who has past political or fund raising experience, but also consider electing average members who have shown a good record of activism in the party Re: What, if any, tasks should the delegate convention set for the National Committee: Specific plan for state/local chapter development and for the blog. Re: My position on whether to retain a Statement of Principles: No; not a good use of time and energy; will not solve the problems that proponents expect it to. Re: What should be on any Statement of Principles: Protect life from conception to natural death. Create a just economy that prioritizes family life, the environment, labor and small business. Uphold respect for civil liberties and religious liberty. Acknowledge racial injustice and mistreatment of immigrants as significant problems. Promote international peace. Uphold subsidiarity by allowing counties to make as many decisions as possible rather than state and federal government. Re: What is my stance on pro-life advocacy: We should work within both the mainstream pro-life movement and with Consistent Life organizations critical of it 2 Skylar Covich Re: What is your stance on distributism: I am a distributist, and think it is more important now than ever, with small businesses threatened by the pandemic and the politics around it. 3 .