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The fight over control of the Senate is heating up. Although Nate Silver’s website, fivethirtyeight.com, predicts that the Republicans remain slightly favored to take over the Senate, he cautions that “it is still early, and we should not rule out the possibility that one party could win most or all of the competitive races.” In many of the hotly contested races, like Alaska, abortion is again taking center stage as a major issue. For example, incumbent Democrat Mark Begich is touting his pro-c

The shooting death of an unarmed black civilian by a white police officer this month has made Ferguson, Mo., a flashpoint for some of the most divisive issues in America today. Reports show that Michael Brown, 18, died after Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson responded to an emergency call. Accounts about what happened vary, but an autopsy showed that Wilson reportedly discharged his weapon six times. Since then, Ferguson has seen protests, riots, looting, curfews, and even more death. The crisis

There are three methods of proportional representation advocates most commonly present: cumulative voting, limited voting, and ranked-choice voting. Each has been used in the United States, mainly in local and county elections, with decent success. The first two systems only simulate proportional voting while ranked-choice can fully incorporate proportional voting. Cumulative voting is a system used in multi-seat elections where the voter is given a number of ballots equal to the number of sea

Slate's Dave Weigel recently noted that the GOP response to President Obama's decision to launch airstrikes in Iraq has been "muted." The liberty movement in Congress, on the other hand, has already spoken up and has a record of past statements that offer a recommendation for dealing with the current crisis. While many in the U.S. today say that the Iraq war was a mistake, there is also a feeling that the current round of airstrikes is necessary to correct that initial mistake. Yet President Ob

Our entire system of voting in America is in crisis. Gerrymandering, voting law changes, and the "overbearing majority" practiced by both parties has left a general feeling of disenfranchisement among a growing cross-section of the population. A reasonable solution is a system of voting that does not encourage partisanship or gerrymandering. Kansas U.S. Representatives as a Case Study Kansas has been considered a safe, solid-red state for many years. Republicans have won every U.S. Senate co

How many times have we heard variations of the following soundbites from enterprising political candidates: “My business experience has prepared me to be an effective leader.” “Because of my business experience, I know how to balance a budget, not spend more money than I have, and create jobs.” “It’s time to apply good business practices to Washington.” Etcetera. Etcetera. Voters could recite them as thoughtlessly as a child singing an advertisement jingle. Yet, for all the repetition, these st

Thirteen-year-old Stephanie Roman-Reyes can identify with the tens of thousands of refugee children in danger of deportation along the southern U.S. border. Huddled beneath a tree in Lafayette Square with her infant sister and mother, the Queens, New York middle-school student began crying as she talked on Thursday about her father, whom authorities returned to Mexico three years earlier.“For me, it’s tough not to have a dad by my side,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It’s really depres

While the U.S. political scene is often described as polarized, many members within the major political parties can agree on one issue: privacy and surveillance. From Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin to Republicans like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, support for the current system of NSA surveillance and data collection is one of the clearest examples of what bipartisanship looks like in Washington. Generally speaking, centrism indicates a reluctance to make significant changes

1. The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union sues New Hampshire secretary of state over restrictive ballot access laws. "The law says third parties may not gather signatures to petition their way onto ballots before Jan. 1 of the election year. It took effect Tuesday." The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the state's Libertarian Party, claims the law will force third party candidates to "sit on the sidelines" all of 2015 before they can build support for the 2016 elections. 2. California voters wil

1. More than 1 in 5 Americans say replacing every member of Congress and starting fresh is the best way to fix Congress. "One in seven (14%) say bipartisan cooperation is the ticket to fixing Congress. About one in 10 (9%) want to "make members accountable to people, not their own agendas," an umbrella category that includes specific reforms such as limiting the number of recesses Congress takes, ending gerrymandering, or requiring balanced budgets. Another 11% favor enacting term limits or sho