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To wrap our minds around violence in America, we must step back and look at the whole. Violence has many forms: child neglect and abuse, spouse and partner rage, school bullying, sexual assaults on campus and in the military, violent incidents with law enforcement, harassments and humiliations at work. At the same time, institutional violence impacts our lives as federal policies destroy local economies, poison our air and water, incarcerate unreasonable numbers of people of color, and damage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52hu0ilm4E Video Credit: RT A widely circulated article by Fox News Tuesday reports that the U.S. Army, struggling to meet its recruitment quotas, will be lowering its standards for new recruits by lifting a previous ban on recruiting "people with a history of mental illness, self-mutilation and drug abuse to serve in the military." The Army signed off on the new policy earlier this year because it is behind schedule to meet its target of recruiting 80,000 new

The point of electing Centrist Independents is to empower the political center, to build a bridge between Republicans and Democrats, and to get things done. As I’ve written before in our Finding Common Ground series, there are a host of issues on which Centrist Independents could be the catalyst for productive legislation: infrastructure, health care reform, even gun policy. But there are also times when a handful of Centrist Independents might play a crucial role in stopping a legislative tra

Mass-Care is the name of the Bay State’s campaign to bring affordable health care to all Massachusetts residents under a single-payer system. Such a system could serve as the archetype for all of the US. However, even making strides at the state level can be difficult in the current political climate. Massachusetts lawmakers seem open to the idea. The State Senate recently voted 33-6 (with all Republican senators dissenting) to further explore the single-payer option after prolonged debate and

In September, President Trump issued a presidential proclamation adding a number of countries to his travel ban that made headlines earlier this year. The original list of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen now includes Chad, Venezuela, and North Korea. Taking effect on October 18, this travel ban has restrictions that are indefinite and subject to change, ABC News reports. While there has been much speculation about how this travel ban might affect citizens from these countries, many hope

In a nutshell, here’s how I would describe the state of American politics. The regulators are unqualified to regulate. The parties are unqualified to govern. The political scientists are unqualified to call themselves scientists. A sorry state of affairs. These days it’s very fashionable to require “evidence-based research” to confirm pretty much anything and everything, including things that are obvious to the naked eye. This “standard” has spread like wildfire through the social sciences and

The experiment to save American democracy is happening, right now. And if you’re an American desperate to see a solution to the corrupt status quo, you should be paying attention. In late 2015, the people of Seattle voted to free their political system from the corrupting influence of big money. Through a ballot measure, they created Democracy Vouchers, a simple yet revolutionary system where each Seattle voter can give up to four $25 vouchers to candidates running for city office. The catch?

Eighteen attorneys general were anticipating this day in court. The day they believed a judge would strike down the Trump administration's order denying payment of Obamacare subsidies. The payments from the federal government had kept health care costs down and affordable for low-income families. However, the US District Court Judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration, paving the way for skyrocketing Obamacare premiums next year. Judge Vince Chhabria Judge Vince Chhabria of the US Dist

As we do each election cycle, FairVote has projected the partisan results of the next elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the results show a shocking lack of competition or fair representation. Since our first edition in 1997, we have called this biennial report Monopoly Politics - with good reason. Take a look at Monopoly Politics 2018, a fascinating companion report simulating the Fair Representation Act in all 50 states, and our interactive spreadsheet tool. FairVote’s metho

Washington is a mess. Our politics doesn’t work. Politicians are pointing at the voters as the problem -- that somehow we’ve become less civil, more polarized and less able to come together across partisan divisions. But we know that’s not the case. Millions of Americans are now attuned to the ways that partisan gerrymandering and closed primaries exacerbate partisanship and gridlock, and allow Congress to get away with not doing their jobs. Roughly 95% of congressional races were determined