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Last week, Congress avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded for another week. Then over the weekend, US lawmakers agreed to a deal that will extend funding through September while Congress and the White House continue to negotiate longer-term fiscal policy priorities. The US House passed the budget deal Wednesday. But amidst Washington's annual kabuki theater dance around fiscal policy and possible government shutdowns, a litt

A recent Gallup poll listed ‘dissatisfaction with the government’ as the highest ranking problem facing Americans. They found that fewer than a third of Americans are happy with the direction the country is going. More concerning, partisanship is more strident than ever -- preventing any kind of pragmatic reform before it even starts. With that type of gridlock, it’s no surprise that nearly 40% of voters now self-identify as political independents. Now imagine if instead we had legislators tha

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade agreement between mostly Asia-Pacific countries. The original countries included the United States, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Peru, Australia, Brunei, Chile Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and possibly Korea in the future. America exited this agreement with an executive order issued by President Trump on January 23, 2017, just two days after he entered office. The inclusion in this trade pact would have affected about 40 percent of America's i

At no time in history has the issue of “open v. closed primaries” been so prominent in the national discussion as it is today. This is, in large part, because Bernie Sanders made it a plank of his presidential campaign. But it is also a consequence of an important reality: independent voters are the fastest growing segment of the electorate, by far. Yet, the first and highly important stage of our election process most often serves the exclusive benefit of the voters who choose to join one of t

Third parties had their best showing in nearly two decades last November, but they still face major ballot access hurdles in future state elections across the country. Tennessee is a prime example. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson ran as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president and drew over 70,000 votes in the state which, theoretically, would give his party recognized status in the state. But Tre Hargett, the Tennessee secretary of state, has yet to provide clarity on the issue

On Wednesday, March 1, a nonpartisan, top-two bill proposed by Illinois state State Rep. Sara Jimenez (R) was assigned to Election and Campaign Finance Committee. The bill, HB3655, was originally introduced on February 10, and would make Illinois the third state to adopt a top-two primary system for statewide elections. IVN reported in January on another bill, HB0285, introduced by state Rep. Mike Fortner (R) that would reform state primary elections the same way. Fortner's bill was also assign

In years of Obama's presidency, and in the first 2 weeks of Trump's, people have asked me how to convince others to disown their favored president. With Trump already underwater in favorability ratings, and hitting a record in reaching a majority disapproving of his work as president, he's got a lot of Americans looking for ways to hobble him by reducing his popularity further. Such a popularity reduction would create an incentive for the GOP-led Congress to work against him.Reducing popularity

A wave of bills aimed at reforming primary elections in four states were introduced last month. Legislators in Idaho, New Mexico, Illinois, and Virginia are looking to do away with their state’s partisan primary in favor of a nonpartisan top-two system. A top-two primary is where all candidates, regardless of party affiliation appear on the same primary ballot and the top-two vote-getters advance to the general election in November. Idaho Idaho State Senator Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, explained

In the internet age, being an activist is easier than ever. #Hashtagivism is on the rise, jumping from cause to cause and targeting companies like Starbucks and Uber, and events like the Oscars and the Super Bowl. Interestingly, the boycotts are coming from both sides of the political spectrum and are in one way or another a response to the current national political climate. Let’s take a look at some of the #hashtagivism boycotts going on right now: 1. #DeleteUber On January 27, Trump sign

At 70 years old, no one can tweet like Trump. Without Twitter, it is questionable whether he would even be president. With a single tweet, he has literally changed stock prices, influenced currency exchange rates, and even changed the policy positions of foreign leaders. For the first time in history, the President of the United States will continue to use Twitter to announce policy, contact foreign leaders, negotiate with businesses, and combat what he views as “fake news” and unbalanced media