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When Pat Tiberi finally got around to resigning after 17 years in office representing our district, he had more than six million dollars in his campaign account. Had he chosen to ride things out indefinitely, he could easily have financed another four hotly contested races to retain his seat without raising another dime. And he hasn't had a hotly contested race for more than a decade. Why? Because he had six million dollars in his account. For that reason, he has quietly sat on the Ways and Me

Hello fellow independent voters! This is your weekly Independent Thought Alarm: Hashtag Russian Bots Edition. In case this is your first time reading Independent Thought Alarm: These are thoughtful missives about controversial subjects with some thoughts that are so novel, independent, and outside the mainstream of acceptable opinion, that repeating them might trigger a call to security to have you escorted off the premises! Now a lot of people are saying a lot of things about Russian "bots" i

Note: The author of this article is Emily Matthews. Emily has worked in a vast array of jobs in the political arena and strives to find common ground across party lines. As the one year anniversary of the 2016 presidential election passes into history, an election people will continue to analyze, critique, and study for generations to come, I, a responsible voter, reflect on what was one of the most exhausting yet meaningful years of my life. My journey certainly wasn’t an easy one, nor one I

Before the 2016 presidential election, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer had some choice words for then presidential candidate Donald Trump. In a May interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board, Faulconer said, "I'm not endorsing Donald Trump. He hasn't earned my vote." Now, about a year and a half later, political expediency could be changing for Faulconer, and so his tone towards the president could be softening. Here was Faulconer's announcement on his twitter feed: https://twi

With the second annual Women's March taking place this past weekend, feminists nationwide came forward to resist the Trump administration's actions against women. However, one obvious change that would impact many women's lives for the better was often ignored: the move to a single-payer health care system. How Single-Payer Can Help Battered and Disadvantaged Women Imagine having a chronic or life-threatening illness. Now imagine that your health insurance coverage is dependent upon you stay

In 2016, Donald Trump ignited the imaginations of a vocal and politically-potent-in-Republican-primaries minority of American voters with a promise to build a big beautiful Wall across our border with Mexico. Publicly and privately, current and former border state officials — like me — scoffed at the idea and dismissed it as a simplistic political ploy. And that part about making Mexico pay for it? Well…that was met with a great deal of amused head-scratching. Why the scoffing, dismissing, and

Vermont is the first state to legalize adults’ possession and limited cultivation of marijuana legislatively Marijuana will be legal in nine states and the nation’s capital when Vermont law takes effect MONTPELIER, Vt. — On Monday, Gov. Phil Scott officially signed a bill into law that makes marijuana legal for adults in Vermont. H. 511 eliminates Vermont’s civil penalty for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana and removes penalties for possession of up to two mature marijuana plants and

To focus the combined strengths, skills, and experience of some of the nation’s leading election reform organizations toward increasing voter participation and electoral competition, a prominent group of nonpartisan political reform leaders have formed the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. Founding members include representatives from the Bridge Alliance, Independent Voter Project, the Chamberlain Project, FairVote Action, Open Primaries, the Centrist Project, California Forward, a

Update: The Senate voted Monday to reopen the government, and extend funding until February 8, setting up yet another potential shutdown fight. The recent government shutdown is only the latest manifestation of the partisan logjam gripping America, and sure not to be the last. All the political rhetoric over the past few years — ever since the rise of the Tea Party and the subsequent focus on emotions over results — has been driving us to this point, and it was obvious. Sadly, it may have also

Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has made the headlines seemingly every week since his spat with President Trump back in 2017, and since then, it has been a war of words: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/898136462385979392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffreewheelus.com%2Fsenator-flake-actions-speak-louder%2F Senator Flake is a man capitalizing on the emotions President Trump brings out in our society, especially those who identify as “anti-Trump”. His speech on January 17 didn’t