Time for Missouri to Truly Go Purple

In a story on IVN.us, Erik Fogg says it's high time for Missouri to send an independent to Congress.

Fogg writres:

"Missouri is a classic American Purple state. It is coveted by presidential candidates much as Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Florida: It voted twice for Clinton, but also voted for Bush, McCain, Romney, and Trump — all by narrow margins.

"Missouri has gone ten years without two senators of the same party, and 133 years since it sent representatives from only one party to DC. Most importantly, over a third of Missourians consider themselves moderates. Fifteen percent of Missourians don’t even lean toward one party or another."

After leaving the Democratic Party in 2015, Missouri State Representative Keith English lamented, “If you don’t belong to the two-party system, you won’t get elected.”

Why is there such a gap? Why do independent and moderate Missourians have no representatives at all?

It’s because the game is rigged.

Read the full article here.

Gary Johnson Wants Solutions, Not Finger Pointing

It's been a week of harsh rhetoric following the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.

Former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson says it's time to end the hate speech and look to solutions to solve the chasms in our political differences.

In an op-ed syndicated on IVN. us, Johnson writes:

"In the aftermath of the weekend events in Charlottesville, we have seen the media and too many politicians get sidetracked into debates over whether we are sufficiently outraged.

"Personally, I’m not sure there actually are words to adequately capture the lowliness of a bunch of white supremacists who carry baseball bats and homemade shields into a so-called 'rally.'

"Yes, words are important. But actions are more important. Likewise, if we are to get into the finger-pointing business, I’m not sure any of us has enough fingers. At whom, exactly, do we point?"

Johnson argues a good place to start is reforming the criminal justice system and have politicians stop demonizing immigrants.

He closes with, "Let’s at least turn our outrage into a productive and overdue look at what we can do to place our laws, our rhetoric and our politics squarely on the side of equality under the law and against any form of discrimination."

Check out the full op-ed here.

For First Time, US Rep. Meets with Julian Assange

For the first time, a U.S. congressman sat in a room with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to discuss the allegations that Russia meddled in our 2016 election.

The remarkable details have been published in a number of online websites. The Hill reported the following:

"Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year’s election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.

"Rep. Dana Rohrabacher became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years."

Assange has always maintained Russia did not hack the DNC and the e-mails provided to his group did not come from a Russia-affiliated organization.

Rohrabacher says he has shared the information with President Donald Trump. He is the first member of Congress to visit Assange in Ecuador. The meeting was also attended by a WikiLeaks attorney.