Many Americans are currently wondering, “Why don’t our elections result in governments that implement thoughtful, public interest policies that are supported by the majority of Americans?” The reason is process. Most of us worry about policies -- How much are we taxed? How well are the roads maintained? Or worse, we are being distracted by issues that divide us, rather than paying attention to the rules by which we elect leaders and how we are governed. That has led to an unhealthy democracy. P...

6/1/2016 - The United Independent Party of Massachusetts has reached an agreement in principle to join with the Independent Party of Oregon and the Independence Party of Minnesota as a co-founder of a coalition of moderate and centrist third parties. The parties will convene a national conference (or teleconference) in August to discuss the joint nomination of a candidate for president. The focus on presidential politics represents a significant shift for all three parties, which have tended to...

Leaders of the Independent Party of Oregon and the Independence Party of Minnesota have reached a "broad strokes" agreement on joining together to form a national coalition of nonpartisan, moderate, and centrist third parties. The parties will convene a national conference or tele-conference this summer to discuss joint nomination of a candidate for president. The group has identified potential third-party partners in multiple states. "The Democratic and Republican parties are poised to nominat...

The Independent Party of Oregon scored a major ally in the party's effort to protect ballot access for third parties in Oregon this week, when Oregon's Senate Republicans sent a letter to Senate President Peter Courtney (D), asking him to take steps to ensure that the Independent Party and several of Oregon's minor parties would not lose ballot access as a result of the state's new "Motor Voter" law. Small parties in Oregon are threatened by the passage of Oregon's new voter registration system...

In February, IVN.us reported on the possibility that the Independent Party of Oregon might be named Oregon's third major party by registering 5 percent of the state's voters by August 17 of this year. In August, officers of the Independent Party of Oregon were notified by the Oregon secretary of state that the party has now hit that goal and will be recognized as a major political party for the 2016 election cycle. As the party secretary, I thought it would be a good time to share a brief histo...

Most Americans have come to see our political system as highly dysfunctional. An October 2013 Gallup poll shows that 60 percent of Americans do not feel well-represented by either major party and favor the formation of a third “independent” party. Another Gallup poll, dated June 30, 2014, places confidence in the Supreme Court at 30 percent, the presidency at 29 percent, and Congress at just 7 percent. Another pollster recently showed that Americans view dysfunction in government as the number ...

This fall, Oregonians will vote by mail to decide whether Oregon will join its neighbors, California and Washington, and become the third west coast state to pass the top-two primary. As expected, much of the state's political establishment, including the Democratic Party of Oregon, the Republican Party of Oregon, Oregon Right to Life, and Our Oregon, which is primarily funded by the state's two largest public employee unions, oppose the measure. (Note: three of those groups support the Supreme...