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On Monday, Donald Trump imposed a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panel technology, mostly targeted at Chinese solar panel manufacturers whose prices have become dramatically more competitive in recent years. This means whatever a foreign company's price is for solar panel parts, the U.S. will make American businesses and households pay 30% more – and it will go right to the U.S. Treasury. The problem with this for conservatives is sevenfold: 1) It's a tax increase. Which is not fiscally

In 2016, Donald Trump ignited the imaginations of a vocal and politically-potent-in-Republican-primaries minority of American voters with a promise to build a big beautiful Wall across our border with Mexico. Publicly and privately, current and former border state officials — like me — scoffed at the idea and dismissed it as a simplistic political ploy. And that part about making Mexico pay for it? Well…that was met with a great deal of amused head-scratching. Why the scoffing, dismissing, and

Vermont is the first state to legalize adults’ possession and limited cultivation of marijuana legislatively Marijuana will be legal in nine states and the nation’s capital when Vermont law takes effect MONTPELIER, Vt. — On Monday, Gov. Phil Scott officially signed a bill into law that makes marijuana legal for adults in Vermont. H. 511 eliminates Vermont’s civil penalty for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana and removes penalties for possession of up to two mature marijuana plants and

UPDATE, January 16, 2018: The Local Options Bill now has a number—HB 2746—and 15 co-sponsors in the Washington legislature. The path to fixing giant problems like gerrymandering, money-soaked elections, and parties’ and officials’ accountability to voters leads through electoral reform, I’ve been arguing (here, here, here, here, here). The path to electoral reform in Washington, DC, leads through the states—the laboratories of democracy. And the clearest path to reform in the states likely lead

Update: It's being reported that Congressman Issa could fill the void left by Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. in the 50th Congressional District, should a grand jury file criminal charges against Hunter. Issa serves the 49th district, which neighbors the 50th. A Congressman can switch districts as long as they live in the state where that district resides. "I worked hard and never lost sight of the people our government is supposed to serve. Yet with the support of my family, I have decided that

The newspaper headline caught my eye. For 15 years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) illegally hired physicians and surgeons with revoked licenses and malpractice convictions. As an organizational psychologist and former political candidate, I often described the need to transform the VA and how veteran suicide reflects national questions about war and peace-building. With Steve Sanson, president of Veterans in Politics, International, I co-wrote an article about vets in prison

The holidays are over and it’s back to reality. Of course, part of that reality — for better or worse — if that the politicians have made their way back to Washington, DC. To be clear, I am not suggesting that the politicians’ reality is the same as ours. That’s a big part of the problem. First, it should be noted that most of the significant items on the agenda for Congress as they return to “work” are items that they failed to deal with LAST year. You will recall that, after knowing for mon

Say what you want about 2017, it wasn't the slow and boring year in politics many politicos would have otherwise expected from an odd year -- a year that falls between presidential and midterm elections. For independents and the reform community, there were significant events that happened in 2017 -- game-changing even -- from ongoing lawsuits against the Commission on Presidential Debates to the DNC lawsuit to the growing movement for electoral reform. IVN was here to report on them all. Here

Keeping staffers under criminal investigation employed and rigging a primary election process to the favor of the party-anointed candidate is certainly enough to make the list of "worst ethics violators." The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) released its list of "top 5 ethics violators of 2017." At the top of the list, second only to the unnamed members of Congress linked to the fresher and ongoing sexual harassment scandal, is US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). "In

Unbeknownst to most, Nebraska records some of the coldest temperatures in the United States. The reason it beats out most northern states is because it’s so flat the cold winds blow uninterrupted. Bob Krist is hoping the winds of change, political change, will blow uninterrupted as well. As America turns away from the two major parties, Bob Krist believes the time is right for him to leave behind the party which has frustrated him for years and run as an Independent candidate for Governor, hopi