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If you are a Bernie Sanders supporter, you clicked the link to this op-ed, fully prepared to defend your beloved candidate. With a #FeelTheBern hashtag ready to be dispensed, you are here to boldly proclaim that Sanders is not only the right choice for voters, but he is also the only choice. I commend the Sanders campaign for the energy and enthusiasm it has generated. Without the grassroots groundswell created by the “Feel the Bern” camp, Hillary Clinton would be left unchallenged. Sanders’ ve

Democratic candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sparred over the NSA’s mass surveillance program during the first Democratic presidential debate, hosted by CNN on Tuesday. The Patriot Act, which is used by the National Security Agency to justify its collection of Americans’ data, was signed into law by former President George W. Bush on Oct. 26, 2001. Clinton, who was a senator in New York at the time, voted for the legislation. Sanders, who was a

The California State Assembly approved legislation Wednesday that would allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. Lawmakers voted 42-33 after listening to various emotional, religious, or first-hand experience debates about whether or not California would be the next state to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients. Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) introduced the latest version of the bill during the special legislative sessi

We all know that the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution contains ten amendments. However, it is less well known that the Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratification originally contained 12 amendments. What we know today as the First Amendment – the one enumerating our basic freedoms of religion, speech, and so forth – actually appeared third on this list. The current Bill of Rights contains just ten amendments because the requisite number of states – three-fourths of those in t

While Congress has twice mandated the use of single-member districts (SMD) for electing members of Congress (once in 1842 and again in 1967), state legislatures are at liberty to determine how their representatives will be elected. According to FairVote, at one time, more than half of all state legislators were elected from multi-member districts (MMD). Fifty years ago, more than two-thirds of states had at least some multi-member districts. Today, that number has dropped to just ten: Vermont

Prominent legal scholar and political activist Larry Lessig has entered the 2016 race for the White House. Joining Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley for the Democratic nomination, Lessig has an unconventional platform. Aiming to become the first referendum president, Lessig has focused his entire campaign on passage of his Citizen’s Equality Act. The act consists of three fundamental electoral reforms that address the increasingly undemocratic nature of the American electoral

Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has made health care a central plank in his platform. At a rally on July 30 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Sanders declared that "we need to expand Medicare to cover every man, woman and child as a single-payer national health-care program." Sanders also pledged that he would introduce legislation in the near future that would enshrine health care as a right. Sanders is unique among presidential candidates in his support

On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver made the case that residents of Washington, D.C. should be represented by a member of Congress who can vote on their behalf. While D.C.’s population is larger than Vermont and Wyoming and the territory’s gross domestic product is higher than that of 16 states, residents do not have full representation in our political process, Oliver argues. "The people of D.C. clearly deserve a greater voice in their own affairs,” Oliver says. While Congress came cl

Independent Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a plan to kill two birds with one stone. The first bird? He wants to spend $3 billion to provide solar panels for America’s poor over the next 15 years. The second bird is moving us further away from our dependence on oil, coal, and other dirty fuels—and he’s going to do it not by trusting America’s corporations to do the right thing, but instead by providing for America’s most vulnerable citizens with a common

As the 2016 election cycle continues -- spanning from the presidency to state legislatures -- the Democratic Party will have its work cut out for it as slow economic growth and declining presidential approval ratings continue to wreak havoc on its electoral prospects. Early polls indicate that the Democrats may hold the White House, but a Republican hold on Congress and increased influence at the state and local levels may render a Democratic presidency muted. GOVERNORS Red: Republican     Blu