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There is big news for the Libertarian Party: It can add one more state where it has official party status and ballot access for the 2018 midterms. Ballot Access News reported Monday that the LP's petition for party status was validated by the Arkansas secretary of state on July 7. This means the Libertarian Party has ballot access in 39 states, plus the District of Columbia for some or all races in the midterm elections. RELATED ARTICLE: Libertarian Takeover: More Lawmakers Are Ditching The Ma

DC politics has gone mad. Americans are now treated to a 24/7 freak show of government dysfunction, charges and countercharges, midnight tweets, and a myriad of other forms of dystopian political theatre. Politics has become toxic. The professional pundits and their assembled panelists profess their disgust at the toxicity — and then gleefully throw another log on the fire. Is there any way for the American people to intervene? Across the country, in inner cities, suburbs, and in rural area

The "travel ban" is a clickbait phrase that's become a popular subject for the 24-hour news cycle. SCOTUS's decision to mostly reinstate President Trump's ban is certainly getting most of the attention, but there's another travel ban that should be making headlines -- but has largely gone unnoticed. California has banned state-funded and state-sponsored travel to EIGHT states that it says has laws discriminating against LGBTQ groups. The eight states are: Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, North Caroli

The Texas House approved a bill Saturday that eliminates straight-ticket voting, which allows voters to choose a party's entire slate of candidates in a single ballot marking. Texas will likely become the second state in 2017 to eliminate straight-ticket voting, following Iowa. The bill, HB 25, originated in the state House, and was initially approved by the chamber in early May. However, before passing the Senate, an amendment was added to the bill that required the bill to go back to the Hous

A true demonstration of democracy is underway in Florida. Over the past two months, the Constitution Revision Commission -- a political body that will select constitutional amendments to place on the 2018 ballot in Florida -- held nine public hearings across the state where voters could speak out about the issues they want addressed. The final hearing took place in Tampa Wednesday night. Thus far, one of the most popular topics of conversation was open primaries. Dozens of voters turned out at

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order to establish a commission that will investigate possible voter fraud and voter suppression in the American election system. The executive order outlines the work of the commission and that it will study the laws, rules and policies that make up the voting experience in America, and where changes need to be made, changes will be made. It will also, for the first time, use the federal government’s voting registry to find vulnerabilities in the

Recording Votes: Fixing the Electoral College Our Electoral College (EC) is out of date. Powerful coalitions exist to push for its effective abolishment and a switch to a popular vote, but the support for this movement is not as strong as proponents had hoped. Constitutionally speaking, it will be easier to update the EC and improve it. In this section, I discuss three proposed methods for use of the EC: Winner-Take-All, District Plan, and Proportional Plan. Winner-Take-All method for the Elec

In November 2016, Tom Price, my congressman, was nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Trump administration. I was still working hard in my natural gas vehicle conversion business, but I felt that an opportunity to have my voice heard was something I just couldn’t pass up. So I worked feverishly to shut down my business and invest my hard-earned money into a congressional run. I was just a 33-year-old kid from Alabama with no name ID, no financial backers, and no politi

Last week, Congress avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded for another week. Then over the weekend, US lawmakers agreed to a deal that will extend funding through September while Congress and the White House continue to negotiate longer-term fiscal policy priorities. The US House passed the budget deal Wednesday. But amidst Washington's annual kabuki theater dance around fiscal policy and possible government shutdowns, a litt

Many independent-minded voters turned to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential election for his populist, anti-establishment message. To them, he represented the kind of statesman who was willing to put people over party interests. Now, these same voters may have a new politician to get behind, one that doesn't always toe the party line, and is willing to challenge the partisan elite that is out of touch with the American people: U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). Gabbard (D),