Skip to content
Subscribe

The Independent Voter Network (IVN) - Who "We" Are

Published:

We’ve been called liberals. Undercover Republicans. Progressives. Socialists. Communists. Libertarians. And even Anarchists.

And they’re all true.

It all depends on whose article you read and from what perspective you view us.

This is the Independent Voter Network. We are, to the best of our knowledge, the only “open platform” for journalists who are bound not by an ideology, but a simple etiquette.

About every few days, someone will send us a message that goes something like this: “I’ve been following your page and I’ve had it. You’re not independent at all! You're just a bunch of .”

The problem is, from the talking heads to the political consultants to our party-based elections, we try to define independents by an ideology: Centrist? Moderate? Libertarian?

Being independent is a mindset, not an ideology. It does not mean that you lack an ideology. It does not mean that you don’t have libertarian, socialistic, conservative, or liberal tendencies. Being independent means that you don’t believe so stridently in a perfect philosophy that everyone who doesn’t agree with you must be an idiot … or evil … or brainwashed.Being an independent means you are grown up enough to think for yourself. You are confident enough to allow others to speak. And you are humble enough to think you might learn from someone.

We call ourselves the Independent Voter Network because the platform is open to anyone who wants to participate in a civil dialogue, including you -- whatever ideological tendencies you hold. We will publish anything that follows our etiquette rules.

We have been told this approach to journalism is itself progressive and therefore we are progressives. OK.

Post by Independent Voter.

Adhere to the IVN etiquette

By posting a comment, you agree to adhere to our etiquette rules: No partisan attacks, no personal attacks, substantiate your sources, no self-promotion.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Republish this article

Republishing guidelines

Republish IVN articles for free. Independent Voter News articles may be republished online or in print under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, on these terms:

  1. Credit the author and IVN. Keep the byline ("By Author Name, Independent Voter News") and the attribution note at the end, which links to the original.
  2. Keep the meaning. You may update time and place references and apply your house style. You may trim for length, as long as the cuts don't change the meaning or misrepresent the author. Keep the headline. Mark any additions as your own (for example "Additional reporting by ...").
  3. Translations are welcome. Translate faithfully, add "Translated from English by [your outlet]", and tell us at editor@ivn.us.
  4. Keep the links, including the link to the original article.
  5. Keep the tracking image. The HTML includes a 1-pixel image that counts readers on your page. It collects no personal information.
  6. Photos and illustrations. Images credited to IVN may be used with this article only. Images credited to others (AP, Getty, Unsplash, Wikimedia and so on) stay under their owners' terms. Secure the rights or switch "Include images" off.
  7. Don't sell it. You can't sell our articles or sell ads specifically against them. Your normal site advertising is fine.
  8. No implied endorsement. Don't suggest that IVN or the author endorses you, your candidates or your causes, or that donations to you support IVN.
  9. Keep labels. Opinion or analysis pieces keep that label.
  10. Point search engines to the original. Where your CMS allows, set the canonical URL to the original IVN article.
  11. No bulk or automated republishing, and don't submit our articles to aggregators (Apple News, Google News, MSN) as your own.
  12. Corrections and removals. Update your copy when we correct it, and remove it promptly if we ask. We'll contact you at the email you give us.
  13. Questions or print republication: editor@ivn.us.

IVN staff: fill in who you're inviting above, then create the invite.

Preparing the article

The Independent Voter Network (IVN) - Who "We" Are

Choose a format
  • HTML
  • Email HTML
  • Markdown
  • Formatted (.docx)
  • Plain text
  • WordPress blocks
  • PDF
Choose a platform

Photos credited to others need their owners' permission.

To for

Republishing somewhere else? Questions? editor@ivn.us