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The hits just keep coming for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. For weeks, stories of the deplorable policies and procedures in place at VA Medical Centers across the country have continued to surface and have stirred outrage among service members, veterans, and Americans at large. As these accounts continue to emerge, an increasing number of Americans are calling for justice, but justice doesn't seem to be forthcoming. Earlier this month, more accounts of "secret wait lists" emerged in

The way we elect the president and vice president in the U.S. is quite unique compared to the way we elect every other elected office. We don't elect them directly. Instead, we vote for electors who then cast votes for a presidential ticket. Electors from each state are supposed to cast their votes for whichever candidate won that state's popular vote -- "winner takes all."  However, every once in awhile there is a rogue elector who casts a different vote as "winner takes all" is not required b

Idaho attorney Gary Allen clearly recalls how he was received by state legislators when a federal district judge ruled that the state’s open primary system was unconstitutional. “I stood in front of the legislative committee and told them, ‘You don’t have to do this,’” he said in an interview. “It isn’t in the interest of the voters or democracy or the state." "I might as well have been talking to a wall,” he added. Allen, a partner with a Boise-based law firm, saw his coalition group lose th

Service generals and former acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine Fox testified before a Senate panel in February that military members were ok with the proposed budget cuts to pay and benefits in favor of increasing training and outfitting expenditures. But according to a new survey from Military.com, the general consensus among the troops is that these so-called leaders are way out of touch, and that they are being less than honest with Congress and the American people about how the ran

As anyone who has read my book knows, I do not consider “original intent” a legitimate principle of Constitutional interpretation. Constitutions, like most laws, are the products of compromise and negotiation among people with very different intents. That said, when we have access to clear and direct statements about what the writers of laws (or constitutions) imagined themselves to be saying, we ought to at least treat them with some respect. By this standard, at least, today’s Supreme Court d

A national discussion regarding the state of civil rights in the U.S. exploded after racial comments made by Clippers owner Donald Sterling were made public, followed by news that he has been banned for life from the NBA.However, another story broke on the same day NBA Commissioner Adam Silver held his press conference that might be even more important for the future of civil rights in the country: a federal court struck down Wisconsin’s voter ID law. The law first passed in 2011, as a measure

May 1 is the National Day of Prayer, created in 1952 by a Joint Resolution from Congress and the signature of President Harry Truman. It is a day, according to the website promoting it, that “represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.” And it is a bad idea. National Days of Prayer have been around for a long time. George Washington had them. So did John Adams. B

Presidential politics are all about numbers, from campaign spending, third party interest funding, and electoral votes (EV). Battleground states, by definition, shift the winning side every 4 years or so, hence they are where both Democrats and Republicans fight the hardest for each vote. Florida has nearly as many registered Democrats as Republicans, a diverse Latino population, and pockets of densely populated urban areas. It is expensive to run a campaign in the Sunshine State and with 29 el

This month’s sharply split decision of McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission has once again renewed interest in the history of campaign finance reform in our republic. The history of campaign finance in national politics in the United States can be divided into five distinct eras: the legacy of the Founding Fathers, cronyism, the rise of the corporations, the progressives, and post-Watergate. Arranged as a two-part feature, this first article will cover from the Founding Fathers to the ris

"To help liberals understand (and be civil to) conservatives." "To help conservatives understand (and be civil to) liberals." "To help everyone understand libertarians, who are often ignored because they don't fit on the left-right spectrum." On the website of CivilPolitics.org, readings and resources in each of these areas aim to foster mutual understanding in our divided political environment. The three phrases also succinctly sum up their efforts. CivilPolitics.org is an organization devo