Imagine a congressional district as a community. It has about 700,000 people, including a fair number of infants, and a few folks who've lived for more than a century. It has quite a few people of exceptional intelligence, and a few whose mental abilities don't allow them to even care for themselves. Some of its citizens have specialized job skills, and some are good at simply doing the next job that needs to be done. Some are struggling to find meaningful work. Nearly every imaginable occupat...

Photo Credit: Sarah McCammon Americans clearly want a different kind of politics. Repeated sampling by respected pollsters like Pew and Gallup is unequivocal: nearly 90% of Americans are dissatisfied with Congress, half or more want a viable third party, and near 40% say they are political independents. On blogs and social networks, citizen-writers clamor for independent and minor-party candidates to be included in debates, and to get universal ballot access. Two points are vital to the discus...

Credit: politicsplus.org In 2012, at least fifty bona fide independent candidates have run for the US House and Senate.  About twenty of those candidates have already withdrawn or been defeated. If half a dozen of the remaining contenders are elected, it would be a remarkable cap to an already extraordinary year for political independents. Incumbent Bernie Sanders will likely win the Vermont Senate seat, and former Governor Angus King appears to be ahead in the Maine Senate race. Reliable poll...