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Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul announced on his Facebook page and Twitter account that he has taken the Senate floor to begin his filibuster of renewing the PATRIOT Act, specifically provisions in Section 215 that are set to expire at the end of the month. Check out the live footage of Paul's filibuster here. https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/601079082676318208 1:15 pm ET - Rand Paul takes the floor by saying, "There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow pow

The 2016 election is already in full swing with eight candidates having officially declared their candidacy (two for the Democratic nomination, six for the Republican nomination). Polling of these candidates among potential constituencies has already begun as well, to wildly different projections. With 18 months still to go, a lot is sure to change. However, one factor is sure to influence the election, and that is the changing demographics in the American electorate. Much has been made of the

The phrase "democratic deficit" is somewhat of a wonky term usually only used in the world of political science nerds. But its basic meaning is simple: it is the situation that comes about when a government does not have much input from its citizens. Obviously, no level of government in the United States can be labelled "undemocratic," but in the context of the expectations that Americans have for their representative governments, the situation in Virginia is somewhat concerning. On April 15,

Controversy over Indiana's " Religious Freedom Restoration Act" is being heralded as a bellwether for national opinion by some LGBT advocates. The bill gave businesses the right to deny service to someone if providing that service conflicted with the owner's religious beliefs. After national backlash, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a revision to the law specifying that private business owners cannot use it to justify discrimination based on sexual orientation. "I think everyone on both si

Last week, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced his candidacy for President of the United States to over 10,000 students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. His announcement makes him the first of a plethora of possible GOP candidates to do so. WATCH: Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks to Liberty University Several concerns have arisen regarding the venue by which Cruz decided to make his announcement, and now Americans United for Separation of Church and State has sent a complai

I was impressed to find such a far-reaching conglomerate of individuals at the National Conference of Independents in New York City, which took place during the weekend of March 13-15. Illinois, California, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Virginia, Oregon, Mississippi, Colorado, Kentucky, New York, Arizona, and the list could go on and on. We all know that New York City is not cheap, let alone travelling from the other side of the country, but we were primed and ready for a fine weekend of events.

There is an old axiom that history repeats itself. Some may dispute this claim, but it is hard to argue with what a person can witness happening right in front of them. One just has to pay attention and know history to know what the outcome of certain things will be. After the Reconstruction period ended following the Civil War, southern states (the old Confederacy) began enacting Jim Crow laws. These laws mandated that all public facilities be segregated. They were also used in an attempt to k

On Monday, March 23, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) became the first candidate from either major party to announce his candidacy for president in the 2016 election. His announcement, in which he promised to stand for liberty and asked his audience at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia to imagine a president who acted on a purely conservative agenda, has become the subject of much controversy. As soon as news broke Sunday that Ted Cruz was going to be the first high-profile candidate to

In Athens of antiquity, the inventors of democracy set up a law that required every person to vote. Anyone found not voting would be publicly marked and labeled an idiot; someone who thought their own personal needs trumped those of the society around them, wrote Isaac DeVille. I begin here by asserting that the one certain measure of any democratic society is the measurement of those who vote and those who don't. That said, looking at the general elections in San Diego and California last yea

There is an ongoing lawsuit attempting to close Montana’s open primary system. This lawsuit is being joined by the Montana Republican Party. State Republicans support closing their primaries because they argue Democrats and other nonmembers have been influencing their elections for years. "One example given during the state GOP’s meeting to make the case for joining the lawsuit was a vote in the state House of Representatives ... in which some Republicans supported an amendment to House procedu