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Dear IVN Readers,It's a shame that our 24/7 mainstream media rarely finds the time for stories of substance.  One station literally participates in a revolution on the other side of the globe, then ignores the real-world devastation their power vacuum has created so they can bring you 25 hours of commentary on a tragic, but straightforward, criminal trial. Another station spends 26 hours telling their viewers why the other station has made the trial a political issue.At IVN, we are on a mission

One-hundred and twelve legislative bodies have come and gone. We are now in the midst of our 113th Congress. And since our inception, only 27 of these assemblies have consisted of a sixty percent majority in both the House and the Senate; a partisan monopoly on government legislation that eventually became known as the filibuster proof majority. With a sixty percent lead in Congress, whichever party is in control would, theoretically, be impervious to roadblocks. But is an entire nation of peop

(Credit: election.sk.ca) In the Land of Lincoln, Democrats control the governor, lieutenant governor, and both chambers of the General Assembly. After the 2010 midterm elections, Democrats strengthened their hold on political power in Illinois by keeping control of the governorship and maintaining their majorities in the General Assembly. As is becoming more the trend in the United States, victorious state political parties are drawing congressional maps that favor the majority party. In 2012

Maryna Pleshkun // Shutterstock.com There has been a lot of discussion about campaign finance reform. Many advocates suggest publicly financed elections, where each candidate gets access to an equal amount of taxpayer funds or additional donations are matched by a public coffer. All the while, donations are to be capped at certain thresholds. Critics of these types of policies say that since money equals speech, limiting donations violates the First Amendment. However, there's another idea tha

credit: Votecitizens.org Gerrymandering has become a prevalent hurdle to meaningful political participation across the country (with few exceptions, including California*). The duopoly at their finest: if you can’t win by playing fair—CHEAT. The third most important electoral reform—thy name is gerrymandering. Attention Democrats and Republicans these are Independents exhibiting open derision to your sleazy ways. Before we go on let’s review the first two important electoral reforms. The first

In 2012, states with higher taxpayer burdens had a lower recovery in home prices. The American dream is to own a home, and it’s every American’s dream that the price of his/her home rises continually. Of course, there are many reasons for a change in the price of any single house—the local housing market, a neighborhood renovation, the construction of a nuclear power plant—but there are also broad statewide trends, which leads to an important question: Can political decisions influence the pri

Credit: Shutterstock.com A divide is growing amongst campaign finance reforms on how to re-democratize the political process. On the one hand, reformers are pushing for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v FEC. On the other, publicly funded congressional elections facilitated by a more radical and arguably less democratic solution – the ‘money bomb.’ In this instance, the ‘money bomb’ is the brainchild of Harvard Law professor and Rootstriker

Credit: STILLFX / Shutterstock.com In the month of May alone, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) raked in a combined $10.8 million. Congressional Democrats out-raised Republicans by $1.4 million according to CQ Roll Call. Reported Thursday, "House Democrats raised nearly $6.1 million in May, bringing total fundraising this year to $34.1 million , according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee aide." With

Credit: Wikimedia Commons The United States Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Defense of Marriage Act (Windsor v. United States) and California's Proposition 8 (Hollingsworth v. Perry) in the next few days. There is a good possibility the decision on these two cases will be reserved for last. The Washington Post offers an easy to follow graphic on the potential rulings and what the implications would be for each decision. It also provides status for marriage rights in each state. Check

Credit: Chicago Tribune After the Illinois legislative session ended with relatively few gains, Governor Pat Quinn quickly called a special session which is set to meet on Wednesday. At the top of the agenda is the public pension reform that failed. Shortly after the original legislative session that ended on May 31, the Moody's and Fitch credit rating agencies issued downgrades for Illinois. The reason for the downgrade was due to the "unsustainability" of the state's retirement system. Estim