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Last week, the Utah House reignited the capital punishment controversy by approving a measure to bring back the firing squad as a legal form of execution in response to growing court challenges over lethal injection. Wyoming approved a similar law in January, joining Oklahoma as the only states with the firing squad approved in the event of court rulings against lethal injection. Too often, the death penalty debate centers on what the Founding Fathers meant by the phrase "cruel and unusual pun

Without a doubt, almost every American knows the name Benedict Arnold. Arnold was the worst form of traitor: one who does the damage, then flees without taking responsibility for their actions. But another largely unknown traitor was among the highest ranks in the Continental Army, holding the post equivalent to a modern Surgeon General. This unknown traitor tells us a lot about the generation and times of the Founders, the legal system of crime and punishment, but more importantly, how we shou

Ready to have everything you ever learned in school about the nation's first president thrown out the window? It wasn't George Washington. While George Washington was our first president under the Constitution, Samuel Huntington was president of the Continental Congress when the Articles of Confederation were ratified by all thirteen colonies, thereby officially forming the United States of America. While the Articles of Confederations usually have a negative connotation in American history,

Independent voters are the fastest growing voting bloc in the U.S. The number of people who self-identify as neither Republican nor Democrat has been on a steady incline since 2008. In the last two years alone, the number of voters registered without a party preference has increased by hundreds of thousands of voters, increasing the number of states where independent voters exceed party registration. There are several states that do not require voters to declare their political affiliation whe

As expected of every election season, political gaffes were bound to happen. Gaffes have been associated with campaign exhaustion, an unsuccessful attempt at humor, or a lack of emotional discipline. Aside from acting as fodder for jokes or fuel for opponents, flubs made by political leaders and candidates alike can create a personal insight that their political image would not allow. Scott Walker Even after a successful 2014 reelection bid, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) still managed to la

A projected total of $3.6 billion was spent during the 2014 midterm election, according the Center for Responsive Politics. According to the Supreme Court, unlimited spending on elections is protected speech under the First Amendment, leaving the floodgates open for high-wealth individuals and organizations to assert their interests. Some, like Thomas Hayes, a professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, argue such an arrangement can be toxic for democracy. Professor Hayes h

Republicans swept the 2014 midterm elections on Tuesday, capturing the Senate and delivering a stinging defeat to Democrats that will likely define the next two years.If the 2010 midterms were a “shellacking,” as President Barack Obama famously called it, the 2014 midterms were probably more comparable to an alleyway beating. Republicans not only won the out-of-reach Senate with 52 seats by Wednesday, but also entrenched their formidable 244-member House majority and picked up three more governo

It seems almost crazy to bring up an Aesop's fable in a series about the Founding Father's legacy to America -- but the fable of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse really exemplifies many of the problems the Founders faced when drafting a Constitution that served the whole United States, not just one aspect, demographic, or region. Examining this can give us very good insight into the modern political dilemma, and shows us that the Founders faced the same voting issues that the parties scanda

1. Albuquerque Journal says open primaries are something Democrats and Republicans can agree on. "More than one in five voters in New Mexico declined to state a party when registering to vote. About 38 percent of registered voters ages 18 to 24 fall into that category. And because many candidates in New Mexico face no opposition beyond the primary, the winner is often declared before independents get a chance in weigh in." While the Journal is only advocating for "limited primary reform," the

Chances are you clicked on this link in order to confirm whatever partisan narrative you happen to have. Maybe you want to understand how conservative policies and practices, at a deep and fundamental level, were responsible for the death of one of America’s best-loved entertainers. You know that conservatives are dangerous, and this just proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Or maybe you wanted to sneer at some misguided liberal who doesn’t know anything about anything and wants to divert atte