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This week’s offerings are from California, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. Different topics all tied together. Thanks for reading! Change election laws? That’s the question before Christie Source: Associated Press, AsburyParkPress.com A piece from the Asbury Park Press about how New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s negative views on election reforms authored by Democrats -- designed to increase voter turnout -- may play with Republican presidential primary voters. My Take: I just f

In an exclusive interview, I recently had the privilege of speaking to an American hero, William Binney, NSA whistle-blower. We discussed how NSA mass data collection makes us LESS safe; how the intentions behind it are not misguided but positively nefarious; how the lies that have been told about it are snowballing, and how Rand Paul's presidential candidacy may uniquely represent an opportunity for change. Listen to the interview below or read the full, astonishing transcript that follows.

The big story this week was how Donald Trump, aka The Donald, pulled ahead of the crowded Republican field by taking the lead in the latest poll. POLITICO's headline read: Donald Trump leads GOP field in latest poll. He topped the Republican field with 17 percent. The establishment-favorite, Jeb Bush, was in second with 14 percent. From the Suffolk University/USA Today Poll: Among voters who identify either as Republicans or independents and who plan to vote in their states’ Republican primari

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- California legislators introduced a bill last March that will automatically register citizens to vote when they obtain or renew their driver's license. The new law follows in Oregon's footsteps with the hopes to increase California's record-low voter turnout of 42.2 percent. California's new Motor Voter Act (AB 1461), introduced by Secretary of State Alex Padilla and jointly authored by Assemblymembers Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), Luis Alejo (D-Salinas), and Kevin McCart

With the Looking to the Founders series running its natural course, it seemed appropriate to move to the next stage of American History. Not that there was a lack of material, but a realization that the 2016 presidential election is going to be an all out brawl over the concept of federalism. Looking at the origins of federalism can help us understand many of the problems we still have today, and sometimes, just sometimes, we might actually find some common ground when we have an honest introsp

A Pew Research study released on July 3 has found that Americans are sharply divided on what they see as the key to America's success -- and that divide falls roughly along racial and political demographics. Americans are well-known for their sense of patriotism. A 25-year Pew study found that over 85 percent of respondents each year agreed with the statement, "I am very patriotic," which is an overwhelmingly consistent level of agreement in what seems to be a polarized and divided country. Wh

On July 1, Kathryn Steinle was shot and killed on a popular pier in San Francisco. Her murderer, 45-year-old Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, had taken sleeping pills he found in a dumpster hours before the shooting. He claims he found a gun wrapped in a T-shirt on a bench and accidentally let off a shot, not realizing he had struck Steinle until he was apprehended an hour later. San Francisco has drawn criticism since the discovery that Sanchez was in the country illegally and had a long criminal

A coalition led by the Independent Voter Project (IVP) filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday in a case challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s closed primary system. The coalition, which includes IndependentVoting.org and 7 individual plaintiffs, argues that the current election process in New Jersey gives political parties and their members a decided advantage in the election process at the expense of individual voters, includ

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of independent redistricting commissions to redraw electoral districts. The ruling was a major victory for voters, because it also validated the citizen initiative process and the voter's right to decide how they are governed. But the legal battle over redistricting is far from over. Politico reported Tuesday that major litigation remains in key battleground states ahead of the 2016 elections. Continued redistrictin

Arizona Public Media reported last week that former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson is once again leading an effort to implement a top-two primary in Arizona similar to the electoral systems in California and Washington state. Johnson led the push to put the top-two system on the 2012 ballot, and voters rejected it by a two-to-one margin. He thinks putting a top-two ballot measure in front of Arizona voters in 2016 would have different results. “The grassroots, nonpartisan movement is really a natio